While ranking high on search engines is a goal most marketing departments actively vie for, a good ranking is only as good as the traffic it supplies. After all, what’s the point of getting more visits to your site ifno one ever buys anything? While some SEO strategy is the same for any kind of traffic—be it likely to covert or not—other strategies are more specific. If your business needs a boost in the quality of its website traffic, here are four tips that are sure tohelp you out.
Understand Your Basis
The first step in any marketing strategy concerned with conversion (i.e. getting better traffic) is to find out what isand isn’tworking. Google Analytics is an ideal tool for helping you uncover how people get to your website and what they do once they get there, and because it’s free, you won’t have to spend any money in pursuit of this invaluable information.
Google Analytics will help you find out which pages on your site get the most views, which links throughout your site get clicked most often, where your site visitors are from, the amount of time each visitor spends on the pages they peruse and how they found your site to begin with. The insight you’ll gain is multi-fold. From which pages seem to invite the most interest to which aspects of your online marketing are most effective in driving people to your site (Google AdWords, search engines, social media, etc.), Google Analytics will help you understand what aspects of your online marketing are currently working and which ones need to be retooled.
Do Keyword Research
Keywords still form the backbone of all Internet searches, and to ensure that the right kind of traffic finds its way to you, you’ll need to be embedding and utilizing the right kinds of keywords. When people are looking for your particular kind of product or service, they use particular phrases and words to find you. While some phrases and keywords can be considered standard, Internet use is always in flux.
As many as 20 percent of all queries are brand new each quarter, according to the senior director of Yahoo! Search Advertising, which means you need to keep updating your content and maintaining flexibility in your marketing. As you conduct your keyword research, it’s also important not to just aim for the lowest common denominator, i.e. popularity. Keep in mind user intent and conversion as well. So, how do you find out what keywords are being used for your industry, services and products? Here are a few helpful and free to inexpensive tools:
Go to Where Your Customers Are
Your customers—the ones who want to purchase your products and services and, hopefully, develop an ongoing relationship with you and your business—can’t come to you if they don’t know about you. While almost everyone uses the Internet for practical purposes, the vast majority also wile away the time on websites that satisfy curiosity, offer social interaction, provide entertainment and disseminate useful information.
To that end, go to where your customers are. Facebook, Twitter, Yelp, YouTube and the like are popular places your customers likely frequent, but don’t stop there. Special interest sites, forums, threads and blogs related to your industry are useful, too. Become an active, non-sales-pitching participant, and watch your customers find you.
Provide Content Your Customers Want
Your customers have needs that go beyond purchasing needs, and when a website or business provides the means to satisfy those other needs they’re more likely to do business with you. Better content will also aid you in getting better search engine rankings and more specific traffic, investing time and resources in providing your customers and potential customers with content that will inform, educate and stimulate, will help you kill multiple birds with one stone.
If you run a flooring company, post blogs regularly about tile installation, repairing grout, refinishing hardwood and the like. If you own a restaurant that specializes in local fare, post recipes, food facts and farm-centered content that your patrons will enjoy. Whatever you’re in the business of, give your customers the wealth of your expertise and know-how in bite-size chunks over time. They’ll greatly appreciate the useful information, and it will help establish you and your business as trustworthy and authoritative.
Everyone is trying to drive more traffic their websites, but wise online marketers know that not all traffic is the same. With these four simple guidelines, you’ll not only get more visitors to your site, but you’ll get the kind of visitors who are more likely to do business with you.
