Even though you might understand the importance of a high quality professional website and all the jazz that goes into goes into creating a great small business website design (if you need a refresher check out 7 killer tips for your small business website design). However, it’s also important to realize how to drive more traffic to your website. And not just any traffic. You want the right traffic coming to your site, who will (at the end of the day), become qualified leads and happy customers.
Now, the good news is you’re not alone! And to help you out I have outlined what I believe are the BEST 3 strategies to drive more qualified traffic to your small business website. Ready?
1. Utilize the Right Keywords
Your potential customers will start their buying process online, usually by searching for something they have questions about. Therefore, if you want them to find your site you need to ensure your small business website is appearing on the first page of search engine results when they perform an online search (seriously, who, besides my mom, goes to the second page anymore?). And this is the first strategy – realizing the importance of your keywords.
You need to think about which keywords or phrases your potential customers would use when searching for information about your products or services. Understanding how your consumers think and use search engines is critical when it comes to selecting keywords that will attract qualified traffic to your website.
Once you have created a list of relevant keywords you want to conduct your own research to find out which keywords your website audience is commonly searching for in regards to your small business. And by performing this research you can find out if there is a high amount of competition for those keywords and/or phrases.
The end goal is to find keywords that have a low amount of competition and a large amount of monthly searches. If you can find relevant keywords and properly use them throughout your website, then you can potentially drive a lot of traffic to your site.
2. Invest in Business Blogging
Blogging is one of the best ways to attract more visitors to your website. According to HubSpot, “companies that blog 15 or more times per month get 5X more traffic than companies that don’t blog at all”. That is huge!
To get found by qualified prospective customers you must create high-quality, educational content that is optimized for your audience. Think about what your audience finds interesting or appealing, and how you can solve their problems or meet their needs. By publishing valuable posts consistently you’ll be sure to attract more traffic to your website.
Additionally, if you’re producing quality content that your readers find valuable you’ll begin to build a relationship with them, resulting in loyal visitors who check back frequently to view your posts. But don’t assume your visitors will take action on their own to share your content. You need to make it easy for them. Therefore, try adding social sharing buttons to your blog posts (if you haven’t already done so!) to ensure you attract more traffic from social networking sites.
3. Create a Powerful Social Media Presence
Creating a strong presence on social networking sites is a great way to help drive more traffic to your website, as it can help you promote your content and reach a larger audience. Now, you don’t need to create accounts for every platform out there. Think about which social media channels your ideal customers frequent and start by creating accounts for 1 or 2 of these sites.
Once you’ve set up your accounts you need to share remarkable content and valuable information with your audience. Each social networking site is different so you need to figure out the optimum content for each platform you are using. If your audience finds the content engaging and valuable they will mostly likely share it with others, which will help improve your visibility and increase traffic to your website.
These are just 3 of the many ways you can drive more traffic to your website. What other strategies do you use to attract qualified traffic to your website? I’d love to hear about them below!
