If you build it, they will come... well, that's not exactly true in the online world. Once you have your website live, you actually need to tell your audience about it. Driving website traffic with a digital marketing strategy is key to your small biz success. I recommend starting small, automating and optimizing and then and growing as you have time to add to your strategy. Here are my four proven methods to increase the right traffic to your website:
1. Long form content. Newsletters and blogs are excellent tools to drive traffic to your website. You can provide helpful information, special offers and educational how-to like content to help draw in your audience while providing value. You can then take multiple snippets from your blog post or newsletter and split it into 3-7 pieces of social media content (work smarter, not harder). For my blogger friends out there, the SEO goddesses love it when you refresh your website with new and frequent content so that weekly or monthly blog is actually increasing your organic search engine ranking over time and showing you off to more of your ideal audience.
2. Optimize your social media platforms. Social media sites are a great way to reach out to a broad audience and get more visits to your website. Pick one or two of your favourites and do them well (or somewhat consistently). Make sure your website is connected to your social accounts, so that people can quickly find your other channels of connection. Additionally, your social posts need to provide value and showcase your story in a clear and concise way.
Social tips: Consider selling the solution your products and services provide rather than selling your products and services directly. Your audience won't know they need you until they connect your products and solutions to their own personal roadblocks or problems. And don't forget a CTA (call to action) at the bottom of each post! 80%+ of your posts should have a strong CTA - "schedule a free consult in my link in bio"; "read the full blog post on my website"; "schedule your next appointment today to get ahead of the rush". You get the gist. Lastly, the more you do it, the more comfortable you get and you'll get better at seeing what performs best and do more of that. It takes time to optimize and most of us don't reach overnight success on social media (even though many claim to be able to teach you this lol).
3. Experiment with digital ads. Investing in digital advertising is a great way to reach out to the right people and drive more website visits. Ads can be targeted to specific individuals, so you can ensure that your digital campaigns are reaching the right audience for maximum success. I often compare my time (value) with the money spent on digital ads. Sometimes it's more cost effective to spend $$ than it is to spend my time. Even a $200/month ad spend budget can prove to be successful with the right ad strategy.
4. Additionally, you can use lead magnets (like e-books, podcasts, webinars) to engage website visitors and drive website traffic. Lead magnets are great to take your social following and have them land on your website. This conversion tool is effective because it also helps you grow your email list by gifting a valuable (free or low cost) offer in exchange for their email address. This email list can then be used to send website visitors more offers and content in the future which creates that long-term, loyal relationship we all desire as business owners.
These four website traffic driving methods will help you increase website visits to help grow your audience in no time. Remember to focus on providing value, creating content that drives website traffic and continue showcasing you and your offerings through authentic storytelling.
