Your website is your online home base. If you know what to do and how to do it, it can be a lucrative asset for your business. If you don’t, you can waste a lot of time and money that could have been better spent on growing your business.
Today, nearly every business owner has a website. However, with so many people looking online for what they need, there is plenty of competition. The more successful your site is, the more traffic it will see. And with traffic comes customers and sales.
If you haven’t ever considered your website traffic and what you can do to grow it, today is the day. Here are five tips that you can apply to your website.
1. Search Engine Optimization
For those who are already familiar with search engine optimization (SEO), you’ve probably seen some of the headlines. From Google’s Panda Update to Facebook’s algorithm changes, there are plenty of new and noteworthy aspects of SEO. But it’s not just an update in how search engines are receiving data.
Search engine optimization has always been important, but recently it has taken on a new face. Instead of just looking for key words to boost page rankings, businesses are using keywords in their content. Not only will this improve your website’s ranking, but it will also make it easy for searchers to find it.
Search engine optimization is similar to content marketing. Businesses must create valuable content and keep it relevant to people’s search queries. It will also help you find more potential customers.
2. Encourage Online Story Content
Online content has become a necessity to survive. A majority of people are making their purchases online and, in many cases, are searching for ideas. Without content, they will move on to the next thing they see on the internet. You should give your website visitors some type of incentive to come back.
This doesn’t have to be a big money making opportunity. It could be something as simple as a coupon or coupon code to get visitors to come back. But it needs to entice them. This tactic will not only encourage visitors to return but will also encourage people to tell their friends about your site and what they found.
Encourage your visitors to create content that is relevant to your business. Put together a list of keywords related to your niche. Also make sure that it is well written. Try to think about your readers in general, as well as what they would find valuable in a certain topic.
3. Prioritize Quality Over Quantity
If you’ve ever gone to a restaurant or retail store and seen that it has only a few choices, you know what happens when it has more than 10 options. People tend to pick the one that is least noticeable.
There are plenty of website statistics that show that people only look at a website for 30 seconds or less. If you want to have visitors find you again and again, make sure that they have plenty to read on your site.
Set up a website builder if you don’t have one already. Check out tutorials online or YouTube to learn about design concepts and options. However, don’t just copy what you see on other sites. Instead, learn to make your website work for you and for your niche. This will help you improve its usability and gain more visitors.
4. Engage with Your Virtual Customers
Your website is your home base and the primary place for people to communicate with you. If you ignore it and don’t try to interact with your audience, they will see you only as a business that you interact with online.
Engagement is the most important part of your marketing plan. Make sure to listen to what people have to say and what they are looking for. The more valuable your relationship with your visitors, the better chance you have to increase your sales.
Engagement can be as simple as sending out a newsletter to your loyal customers and visitors. Don’t forget to respond to comments that have been left on your website or that show up on social media. Make sure to ask for their opinions, which will help you improve.
Also, follow the news. Like any business, you need to stay up to date with the trends in the market. You should be able to easily add a link or banner so that you can get to news, blogs, or articles related to your business.
5. Keep Sharpening The SEO Saw – Learn At Every Step
When you first started your business, did you know that you would need to deal with SEO? Now that you have a following, you have to learn how to use SEO to gain more traffic to your site. Take advantage of all of the strategies that have been proven successful in the past and focus on SEO.
Today there are a lot of free tools such as RankMath and Yoast SEO which guide you at every step. Use a Google Search console and trends data to optimize the keywords on your site.
It might not be the most exciting part of your marketing plan, but it will make all of the difference in the long run. If you can get your website on the first page of Google search results for your topic, it will help you to grow your business and your audience.
There are plenty of other ways that you can make your website effective and as useful as possible for your readers and customers. Take the time to learn about them and start doing them. You will be glad you did!
(The author is editorial assistant & content writer at Startupanz.com)
