Driving online traffic to your website

The internet is an increasingly competitive and congested space to try and get noticed. One way is to build targeted online traffic to your website or social media platforms.

There are a number of things you can do when seeking online traffic. Keep in mind you’re aiming to drive qualified traffic (potential customers) rather than just traffic. Better to have 100 visits from possible customers than 1 million visits who won’t engage.

Get to the top of search engines

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) increases the chance that a customer finds you online. This can include having relevant keywords on your site, text or questions that your customers may be asking online or making sure headings and titles all point towards what you do and the reason why a customer would buy from you.

SEO should be seen as a major marketing tool as long as you’re converting your visitors into leads.

Other tactics to be at the top of search engines include being mobile-friendly. People often use their smartphones to research so optimize for mobile views. It’s also useful to blog to enhance the ‘personality’ of your website and demonstrate your expert knowledge. The pain points that your clients have – which you blog about – will be the same issues faced by your prospects.

Offer online payment options

If your business can take online payments it will speed up the collection of funds and offer immediate fulfillment to your customers.

Have clear calls-to-action (CTAs)

The whole idea behind a CTA is to make it easy for people to get in touch with you. This means having clearly visible contact details, good contact buttons and a visible, easy-to-use appointment booking system. Also consider offering whitepapers or reports in exchange for contact details.

Case studies and testimonials

Word-of-mouth is one of the most powerful marketing tools available and case studies and testimonials are a way to channel it. If you can get current clients to talk about your business in a way that can be illustrated on your website, you’re helping prove your credibility (people tend to trust what other people say more than they do your advertising message).

Get better website results in six steps

Discover the 6 steps necessary to conduct a website audit in this 3-minute video.

Build a social media presence

Because social media gives you scope to focus on more personal communications, it’s an amplified word-of-mouth tool. It’s also a great way of engaging potential customers, keeping in touch with current customers and forging valuable networking contacts within the industry.

Of course, the good news is that signing up to use social media is free. If you haven’t already, sign up for a social media outlet that your customer target is likely to engage with (Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter or Instagram are good examples).

Main ways to make the most of social media:

• Paid advertising. All of the social media sites allow you to advertise to a specific target.
• Share content that has value to your customers like blogs, articles or any information relevant to your industry.
• Research to find out what’s going on in the business community, your industry and keeping on top of what matters in an up-to-date way. Social media is a great way to follow thought leaders and industry influencers to tap into their knowledge and expertise.
• Become a thought leader yourself to build credibility.
• Network to interact with people you don’t already have a personal face-to-face connection with.

Social media makes everyone more accessible, which means that it’s easier to start conversations with prospects, get involved with groups that are relevant to your industry and generally engage with people. If you gain their trust through personal communication and prove that you know your stuff, they’re more likely to convert into a client.

Make a list of all the changes you want to make to your website, set a weekly schedule to post on social media , develop content you can post such as blogs and follow social media influencers in your industry to keep up to date.

Summary

Online marketing is the method you use to forge the beginning of a relationship, not an end unto itself. It’s how you engage with both prospects and current customers that is key and it’s a great way (especially social media) for helping to maintain relationships. But it’s important not to lose sight of the fact that it’s a tool with (usually) one goal in mind – getting people in your door (real or virtual) for an actual, real human interaction.