When planning your small business marketing mix, your website is the most important element. Many people think it’s a brochure or business card, but in today’s marketplace the first thing people do when make a buying decision is search online. So your #1 job is to make sure that potential customers can find you on the internet. If you’re ready to get started, here are 8 ways to boost traffic to Your Small Business Website:
1. Update Your Website. Not only should a website be professional looking, but make sure all the links work! Include clear information on how people can hire you, a place to add their email address and use a contact form. Have a plan for at least three ways to engage visitors when they arrive on the site. Examples: Offer them a free quote, monthly e-newsletter, give away a free e-book, or ask them to sign up for automatic updates from your blog.
2. Update Your Keywords. Depending on the industry, your keywords can change every 8 weeks, so you need to stay on top of the top ways customers are searching for you online. Select the top five keywords you want to be known for. It is particularly important to place the words in the titles of your blog posts. They should be used throughout the website content too, but be careful not to overdo it. You could easily turn off your target audience or search engines by stuffing your site with unnecessary keywords.
3. Start Blogging. Develop a list of pain-points that potential customers have, and develop solutions as blog posts. Create content that specifically addresses their needs. Blogging is not just about writing; you can also produce videos and podcasts that answer questions and provide solutions. To be taken seriously, blog two to three times a week. It will help you stay on your customers’ minds. As long as you can keep up the quality, the more blog posts, the better. Blogging is also one the best ways to position yourself as a thought-leader in your industry. Quality content is your best social media marketing strategy.
4. Optimize for Search. SEO is the process of improving the visibility of a website in search engines via “organic” or unpaid search. Having meta data on your site can keep the visitors coming even while you sleep. If you are using the WordPress platform, it is already technically quite a good platform for SEO, but you might want to invest in some plugins that will help you optimize your content even better, such as WordPress SEO by Yoast; it forces you to choose a focus keyword when you’re writing your articles, and then it makes sure you use that focus keyword everywhere.
5. Build an Email List. You should create a resource guide or Ebook from your signature content to give away in exchange for an email address. Start off the relationship right by giving away your best stuff. You can build a client for life by giving them a chance to preview what you offer.
6. Focus on Building In-bound Links. Make a list of 10 websites per week that you can get linked from. List your business in directories, comment on blogs and send out press releases to help achieve weekly goals. SEO optimization is highly reliant on in-bound link numbers, but the quality of where the links come from is important, too.
7. Know Your Numbers. Reviewing Google Analytics will help determine “bounce rates.” Do people leave your site quickly after they arrive? If so, why aren’t they staying? You can do a lot to draw traffic, but if they come and leave quickly, you’ve wasted your time. Review your Google Analytics results monthly and use the information to tweak your site. Once you figure out what your audience likes, give them more of it.
8. Make Social Connections. Choose the top social network where your target customers are hanging out online. Use social media to connect and share your blog content. Use a 4:1 ratio of promoting other people’s content over your own. Remember that social media is about mutual interaction, so don’t just promote your business, build real connections to gain trust. Share other people’s content, and they will promote yours.
If you treat your website like the hub of your entire business, use social media to ask and answer questions, and develop quality content to build your online reputation, this will help you demonstrate your thought leadership. It will be the most valuable asset to bring in more website visitors which will promote and grow your small business.
“Seo Pyramid Showing The Use Of Keywords Links And Optimizing” courtesy of Stuart Miles / www.freedigitalphotos.net
Do you have another method to promote a small business website?
SEM and behaviorally-targeted display are just two ways to drive audience. A paid digital marketing plan has a better return on investment than you might think.
Melinda,
If there was a #9 on this list, it would be to write a monthly blog and then use pay per click to promote it. So long as you don’t bid on popular (and expensive) keywords, this is a very cost-effective way of quickly building up a loyal following that will, in turn, help build up your internal e-mail list.
Melinda- Good article. Excellent points. Thanks.
Great ideas! I will start to update keywords more frequently.