Driving Traffic to your Website

Mik talks about how to get more people to go to your website

So, you have a website. Now what?  Well, obviously you need people to go there, check it out, and maybe buy your products and services.

How do you get people to go to your website?

The first thing you should do is consider your own behavior when you are online. How did you find out about any new website? Were you looking for a specific service, or were you just browsing and happened to stumble upon it?

The next think you should consider is how those links got to where they were so you could click on them.

It's pretty simple, and boils down to three basic steps:

  1. Content -- Have good text on your website and especially your home page: both keywords and compelling content.
  2. Inbound Links -- Make sure you have links coming in, from Google or other websites.
  3. Work It -- Never stop creating interest in your website by continually checking your existing inbound links, creating new ones, and updating / adding to your website so there's a reason for return visitors.

Content

The most important thing you can do for your website is to make sure the content is worthy of a visit. At the very least your homepage should have two paragraphs that briefly outline (a) what you do, and (b) where you do it (if your main thing is being a "local business"). I have said this to many of my customers, and I'll say it again here: your home page text should be a heart-attack sandwich of keywords.

Here's an exersize. Spend five minutes writing down all the words you think people would use in a search that you would want them to find you with. This is a little bit of a brain bender, as you might not think of all the lay-person terms people may use to find your services, and it's called "outside-in" thinking. Take five minutes right now. I'll wait.

[ humming to self ]

Ok. Now that you have your list, go to your home page and see how many of those keywords are in there. If you don't have at least half of them on the page, you are missing out on a lot of search traffic. And you are not really explaining to the people who do find your website WHAT IT IS YOU DO.

Make an appointment with yourself right now to edit and update your home page.

Content is king. Make sure your website has everything you do written out clearly, cleanly, and in a uniform fashion. Less is more in terms of layout tricks and snazz, and definitely don't use too many different fonts and colors on any page. This is not a circus poster. Keep it simple, clean, and packed with good stuff that people would want to read, and rich in search engine keywords.

Create In-bound Links

The first thing you need to do is make sure Google and Bing even know your website exists. If you search for specific text, like a sentence, that appears on your home page and Google can't find it, then perhaps they don't know about your website. You should go here:

Next thing you need to do is get active on social media. If you don't have a Facebook account, you're missing out. I know, who needs Facebook. But, if you consider how many people use it on a daily basis, you simply can not ignore its impact and influence in everyday life for a large section of your potential customers / members / constituents.

Next you need to think about those in your industry, either potential partner relationships or expert analysis sites that offer links out. Or maybe a community website that provides message forums in your field. You can post advice, and include a link back to your website in your posts.

Either way, you want to create links back to your website from as many respectable and popular websites out there. Not just so people willfind them and maybe click on them, but also so Google and other search engines will see that there are multiple websites that link back to you. This raises your "relative importance" in their indexes, and that means you'll show up higher in their search results.

Try this: Go to Google.com, and in the search bar type LINK: and then your website address, ie; link:montaguewebworks.com

You should get a list of all the websites that link back to your website. If the list is short, you have some work to do.

Working it, always.

Your website is never done, and your job of making it findable and worthy of a visit is an ongoing process. Make it part of your monthly routine, like paying the bills or whatever else you save for your once-a-month task list.

Here are some things you should consider making your ongoing tending tasks:

  • Do a search for important keywords through Google or Bing and see where you come up. If you're low, make sure those words appear on your home page somewhere.
  • Write a news item now and then, even if it's something tangent to your industry. Do you do office / furnace cleaning? Write up a seasonal maintenance tips. Are you a farmer or a store or any direct purchase that has a changing inventory? Write about the newest items in stock. Are you a lawyer? Write about new changes to the law in your area of specialization. You get the idea.
  • Visit social media sites, such as Facebook or any community forum websites that let you post. Post messages that include links back to your website. If you've written a news item, post the first paragraph and include a link to the article. Build a web of links back to your site.
  • Make sure you have a Google Place Page.
  • Make sure you have a Google Analytics account, and check the reports to see where traffic is coming from, and maybe boost those areas and keywords.

It's up to you. If you need help, give Mik a call. Montague WebWorks can do some of this for you as well. And don't forget to attend the monthly WebWorks University classes. We sometimes bring in experts on this and other things.

Good luck!

There are several websites that come up when you search for "driving traffic to website." Below are some good ones:

Here are some handy SEO tips, from Google themselves / itself!

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