There are many available guides and articles discussing various methods to increase traffic. Yet, many of the times, all the different options can lead to confusion instead of helping you.
In this guide, instead of adding to the confusion, we will compile all the working strategies you should focus on. Then, these methods we will discuss can act as a building block where you can expand your strategy in the future.
Without further ado, let us begin.
Contents
The Top 5 Most Effective Methods To Increase Traffic
#1. SEO
Most of our activities on the internet begin with a search, and it is the main way we found a new company or product. According to Google, 51% of smartphone users discovered a new product or brand with a Google search. That’s a lot.
So, if you haven’t put enough effort your SEO, you are definitely missing a lot. SEO by itself is a pretty broad subject, and we won’t give it much justice by discussing it here. However, here are the key principles you should focus on:
Publishing relevant, valuable contents
The modern SEO is, in many ways, about content marketing. If you can regularly publish relevant contents that are: 1)targeting the right keywords and 2) are valuable to your human readers, your SEO homework is halfway done.
Have an optimized website
Thanks to RankBrain, Google’s A.I.-driven algorithm, they now consider bounce rate and organic CTR in their ranking algorithm. So, make sure your website is well optimized with reasonable load speed, proper interface, and responsive for mobile devices.
Link Building
The essence, and arguably the hardest part of SEO is link building. Again, link building tactics are a pretty broad subject on its own, but the principle is: as long as you have valuable, relevant contents, someone will link your content sooner or later.
#2. Leveraging Content
We have discussed a bit of content marketing above while discussing SEO. Most businesses are now content-driven in one way or another in this digital era where content is king, yet we can actually leverage our contents to bring even more traffic.
The idea behind leveraging contents is to recycle your contents whether in other forms or other channels. So, there is a virtually unlimited amount of different options. Here are some ideas to help you get started:
- Recycling Articles: If you have short written contents, consider expanding them as longer, in-depth articles. On the other hand, you can create short versions of your longer articles. Consider using various channels, or if you want to post both on the same site, make them different enough from each other.
- Video Contents: You can develop a video content from your written articles, or you can record an audio over your written contents to turn into a video presentation. Check out this guide by Entrepreneur.com about video marketing.
- Podcast: Similar to video above, you can record your posts as an audio.
- Visual Assets: Infographics and useful images are valuable for a lot of people, and so this is also a good way to get a lot of backlinks. You can then leverage them through social media channels like Instagram and Pinterest.
As mentioned, there are many other ways to leverage your content. With every piece of content you have, always consider the potential to get more traffic by leveraging them.
#3. Social Media
The idea of using social media to get more traffic is familiar to many marketers. Yet, very few are using social media to its full potential.
The main benefit of using social media to get more traffic is its versatility: it is very effective when you need a quick, short-term traffic increase, and it is also useful in nurturing long-term relationships. Social media tactics will also work extremely well with influencer marketing tactics, which we will discuss below.
The idea of using social media to get more traffic is fairly simple: post valuable, engaging contents regularly, and include a link back to your site. So, again, the quality of your content is key.
#4. Influencer Marketing
It is really, really hard to get your voice heard in this saturated digital ecosystem. This is why influencers are now so valuable due to their loyal followers. Yet, targeting influencers is easier said than done, but here we will discuss some of the key principles.
Not all influencers will want to promote your brand for many possible reasons. So, the key here is to build a relationship with influencers, which might take some time before fruition. You can engage influencers by:
- Personal emails, arguably still the most effective way
- Offering to do a guest post, as well as accepting guest posting
- Linking their contents
- Offering benefits to them (be careful when doing this) or their followers
- Collaborating with them to create new products or services
There are obviously many other options, and check out this guide by Kissmetrics to help you further.
#5. Paid Options
The more competitive your industry is, the more you will need to invest in paid traffic options. Paid streams will GUARANTEE traffic increase in a relatively quick manner, but you might end up losing money if you are not careful.
To optimize paid traffic sources, here are some guides that can help you:
- A guide by Searchenginewatch on Google AdWords
- A guide to Facebook ads by AdEspresso
- Another guide to Google Adwords by the marketing guru Neil Patel
End Words
In this maturing digital age, your website is the equal of a storefront, the main way customers can learn about, and interact with your brand. So, website traffic is now very valuable, and it is no wonder many marketing agencies like Nine Peaks Media are offering performance-based strategies that help increase traffic.
With so many different traffic generation tactics available, admittedly it is very easy to get confused. The tactics we have shared above can act as a building block before you expand to other strategies, and will give you decent options for both short-term and long-term traffic gain.
The easiest way to find the right tactics for your niche is to see what your competitors are doing. So, analyze your competitors, find out their strategy, and adapt.