Insider Secrets to Increasing Traffic to Your Website

The volume of traffic to your website is a simple yet powerful metric that reveals a lot about your marketing strategies, and the overall success of your business. Positive trends in traffic lead to more hype, more traction, and more sales.

With so many marketers talking about how to increase traffic, we thought we’d go straight to the source and ask current business owners about their insider secrets on the topic. Stay tuned to hear their game-changing tips.

Brand Visibility

While most businesses go through the motions for SEO, others take it more seriously and get real results that result in more traffic to their sites. Now is the time to focus on SEO if you’ve been putting it off.

“To get more potential customers on your site, they need to actually be able to find your site,” said Bill Glaser, CEO of Outstanding Foods. “Optimizing your site for SEO and publishing content regularly can help potential customers find your website organically through search engines, and it’s of the utmost importance if you’re trying to build an online presence. The other side of this coin is social media – paid ads, influencer partnerships, and strategically-timed posts are all necessary to create an audience that translates to web traffic and sales.” 

Balance organic SEO with paid ads to get the best of both worlds.

Top Performers

Do some digging, and you can figure out more about the type of traffic coming to your website, where it’s coming from, and some other interesting patterns that help you strategize smarter.

“Analyze every angle of your marketing strategy and determine what is doing most of the heavy lifting in terms of traffic generation,” said Ashwin Sokke, Co-Founder of WOW Skin Science. “Try to pinpoint the most effective assets with the greatest ROI, and double down on the things that work best.”

Let analytics guide the way, but also be ready to take risks outside the norm.

Content Variety

What content is really bringing in the traffic to your site, and what does this tell you about your content strategy moving forward? On-site or on social media, it’s all beneficial.

“By posting our video podcasts to YouTube, we can acquire website visitors who have watched these lengthy podcasts and are clearly interested in the health-related issues we want to help people with,” said Ben Teicher, CEO of Healthy Directions. “This is helpful for us because it ensures that at least a group of our visitors are already enthusiastic about what we do.” 

Track the performance of different content types to see where resources should go next.

Beyond Products

Now that so much marketing happens through ads and on social media, you need a better reason to bring users to your actual website. What’s the main attraction?

“While promoting your products is extremely important, so is promoting your website itself, especially in ecommerce,” said Eric Wu, Co-Founder and COO of Gainful. “Our website includes features you can’t use on other aspects of our promotions, including our quiz to find which protein powders will work for your health needs, which gives customers a better idea of which of our products will be right for them and guarantee satisfaction. Promoting certain features on your website that create a better user experience can also entice customers to further engage with your brand.” 

If your site needs some more work, put in the effort so that traffic will generate sales.

Promising Leads

Only a small fraction of traffic will be people intent on buying or starting research that will soon lead to a purchase. Figure out who these qualified leads are so that you don’t miss out.

“Increasing traffic to your website is important to your bottom line, so it’s important to take the necessary steps to ensure that you not only receive traffic, but the right traffic,” said Jordan Dwayne, CEO and Founder of 6 Ice. “Work with an SEO expert who can help discover the ideal keywords for your target demographic, and then implement them in exactly the right spots. SEO doesn’t create a giant spike in your traffic overnight, but you will begin to see the needle move in the right direction.”

You can build your list of promising leads with the right tactics, and it’s worth the work.

High-Performance Pages

The better your site performs, the more likely visitors are to stick around and make a purchase. Plus, it helps Google recognize your site as reliable and high quality, which always helps.

“Emjay focuses on website user experience to increase SEO,” said Chris Vaughn, CEO ofEmjay. “We strive to make sure that our website doesn’t just look its best, but operates the best for site visitors. This includes image optimization for its ecommerce extension, mobile-friendliness and page speed.” 

Work on optimizing your site from a tech standpoint, and in terms of user experience.

Quality Content

Many brands lead off with flashy, attractive social media ads, but invest little into their actual websites. Don’t neglect the importance of great content on your site to keep traffic chugging along.

“Social media can be an excellent tool for bringing new visitors to your site,” said Timmy Yanchun, Co-Founder of LTHR Shaving. “Post blog content that will provide actionable tips and how-to guides, which will make your site a go-to source for niche information. Then, you’ll find yourself with leads and, ultimately, conversions.”

Take inspiration from top-performing sites and get some content ideas in the works.

Authoritative Resource

What does the Google algorithm care about these days? Authority and credibility. To earn these key attributes, be ready to go all-in on great content and build an ecosystem of backlinks.

“Your website should be an authority in your industry, whatever that means to you,” said Dr. Livingood, CEO and Founder of Livingood Daily. “When other publications and influencers see your site as authoritative, you start earning backlinks and other networking opportunities that boost your organic SEO.”

It can take months, even years, to become an authority site online, but the rewards for traffic and sales are tremendous.

Better Social Presence

Every company has a social media account on the major platforms, but that’s just not enough anymore. To generate traffic on a large scale, your social presence needs to be active and engaging every day.

“Social media can be a great tool to promote your website and create events that encourage others to visit,” said Eddie Huai, CEO of Luna Blanket. “Your website should also be in the bio of all your social media handles, if it’s not already, so it’s easily accessible across all platforms for your customers, besides in their Google searches. Promotions that lead to your website are also a great way to bring more direct traffic from your social media platforms to your website and encourage people to engage with your website rather than just your social media.” 

What can you do right now to make your social media strategy more compelling and drive clicks to your site? A few quick fixes can make a big difference.

Never Stop Networking

Earning traffic online is not totally unlike in real life. If you want more people in your store, you have to broaden your reach and spark interest everywhere. This requires networking, plain and simple.

“If you’re really wanting to increase traffic to your website, then networking is the answer,” said Jared Zabaldo, Founder of USAMM. “Share every blog post on your social media platforms, and ask questions in the comments to encourage interaction and site clicks. In return, share the love with those who do interact with your posts, and before long, you’ll have a group of mutual collaborators who can help drive traffic to your site on a regular basis.”

Since networking happens so much faster online, you can accelerate your results and see your business take off fast.

Authentic Marketing

Nobody likes to be pushed towards a sale. That’s the beauty of targeted marketing campaigns that take a different approach and show users what they want to see.

“With a million resources at the click of the button, the consumer is now the focus of marketing campaigns, instead of the product,” said Business Writer Ana Gotter. “Consumers are smarter than ever before, continuing on the trend that we’ve seen through history; and don’t respond to obvious product placements; instead, they respond to more authentic forms of marketing.”

Keep your ads relevant, authentic, and not too aggressive – that’s the combo you need to boost traffic nowadays.

Image Formatting

For every image on your website, there’s probably something you can do to increase it’s impact from an SEO standpoint. Format correctly and miss no chances to improve your rank.

“If you really want to increase your website traffic, give your images a little SEO love,” said Heidi Robinson, Chief Operating Officer of Because Market. “While we all know about keywords and proper formatting, placing your main keyword in the alt text of your featured image could potentially earn you some traffic from Google Images. As Google Images begins to grow in popularity, this may become a much more viable way of increasing traffic than you might think!”

Search is expanding rapidly, and therefore, so should your SEO strategy.

Influencer Impact

Strong messaging and content will speak for themselves and drive traffic, but every brand could use an extra boost from influencers with a broader reach and wider audience.

“Influencers and brand ambassadors are great resources for reaching more audiences that can relate to your brand,” said Dylan Kim, Co-Founder and Marketing Head at Brevite. “Not everyone may be following your brand’s Instagram page, but they may be following that travel blogger that used your product in their latest post. When working with different people on different platforms, make sure your website is clearly presented when they discuss your brand, so there is a clear call to action from their audience.” 

Connecting with influencers doesn’t have to be expensive or complex if you know where to look and how to manage these partnerships.

Reason to Visit

More brands are realizing the truth about web content: it actually needs to be valuable for people to care. Think about what users want from their content and deliver beyond expectations.  

“An important thing to keep in mind when trying to increase your website traffic is to offer a reason for visitors to actually visit,” said Travis Killian, Owner and CEO of Everlasting Comfort. “Most people start with high-quality content, which can bring readers back time and time again for how-to guides and actionable tips. Be sure to keep your content fresh, and publish often so that there’s always something new to learn.”

When your website is recognized as an authority in your niche, that’s when the traffic really starts to flow.

Put in the Work

Not sure where to begin in your quest to get more clicks and traffic? Start with laser focus on one lagging element of your SEO, the build from there. Whatever you do, don’t delay.

“SEO is no secret, but it is commonly overlooked or ignored when developing an inbound marketing strategy,” said Milani Chatani, Co-Founder and Head of Brand at Wild One. “And truthfully, it’s labor-intensive work to do the keyword research, make optimizations onsite to your sitemap, content, and site performance, secure backlinks and create keyword rich content, but it totally pays off in the long run.”

Since SEO is a constant work in progress, the most important thing is to just get started.

Inspire Action

Web traffic is only useful if it compels visitors to take action on your website. This could be signing up for a newsletter, taking a survey or quiz, or simply making a purchase.

“Creative content can really make an impact on website traffic and engagement,” said Cody Iverson, Co-Founder and CEO of VisCap Media. “At VisCap Media, we plan our content creation around direct-response content that leads to not only brand awareness, but calls to action. Quality content can also have a lasting impact on viewers as opposed to just making as much content as possible, so be sure to market and use your content strategically so your message stays consistent no matter where your potential customers find you online.” 

Make sure your website is action-oriented and encourages visitors to engage.

Build More Backlinks

Think of backlinks as votes of confidence from other pages for your website. The more you get, the higher your page will climb in search results.

“Blogs and news articles are a great way to receive links back to your website, especially if you are building brand authority in the process by educating people in your field,” said Michael Fischer, Founder of Elite HRT. “At Elite HRT, we use our blog to educate potential patients on different hormonal topics, as it’s a field that people do not typically think about in daily life. Finding your niche and becoming the expert to turn to can build trust with your customers and the brand and create better relationships that last longer.”

To expand your collection of backlinks, focus on making quality content and distributing it through the proper channels.

Ongoing SEO

As long as there are search engines leading customers to websites, SEO will be essential to increasing traffic. Take a consistent and steady approach that will last, rather than trying to accomplish all of your SEO goals at once.

“[Content marketing] is a more competitive environment certainly, but those who have real empathy for web users and influencers and have the SEO skills to infuse their work with great keyword targeting, search accessibility, etc., are going to have ongoing success,” said Rand Fishkin, Co-Founder and CEO of Moz.

With more web traffic comes a higher profile, more customers, and greater market share in your corner of the ecommerce universe. Apply some of these insider tips to get an edge and keep that traffic flowing to your site.

p538428
Login/Register access is temporary disabled