How do you successfully attract Web Traffic to your website?
You know you need Web Traffic, right?
Plenty of businesses and companies around the globe think that having a website is enough to attract new customers and clients. However, it is a mammoth task and one that can be time consuming- particularly if you’re not used to building an online presence.
It is true that having a website can boost the profitability of your business by increasing orders and it is without doubt a brilliant marketing tool. However, it should never stop there if you want to see real growth.
Designing a website that looks beautiful but has no enquires misses the point. What every website needs is Web Traffic. Web Traffic is the term used to describe the number of internet users that come to a web page within a period of time.
The aim of your website should be to get as much Web Traffic as possible because, naturally, the more users that come to your site, the more sales you will achieve. It is therefore the next logical step, after you’ve had your website designed, to work on increasing the traffic level to your site.
This technique of getting Web Traffic to a website is known as ‘Optimisation’. You need to optimise your website and the biggest gateway to get people to your site is known as a Search Engine.
So, when we optimise a website for Search Engine Web Traffic, this process is called ‘Search Engine Optimisation’.
Let’s talk about that a bit more…
The biggest Gateway! The most common Search Engines.
There are now almost 2 billion websites on the Internet. All of these websites hold different content, pictures and information. In order to find the most relevant information, a user will need to use a Search Engine (the most used of which needs no introduction — Google)
Many studies have shown that users do not go past the Page 1 listings of a Search Engine when searching for a product or a service. The most popular by far in the listings are the top 3 positions. It is therefore prudent to optimise your website to reach Page 1 and then aim for the dizzying heights of a number 1, 2 or 3 listing. This is not something that can be done fast and needs careful and clever work to be carried out to get there.
Here are a list of the 8 most common Search Engines:
- Bing
- Yahoo
- Ask.com
- AOL.com
- Baidu
- Wolframalpha
- DuckDuckGo
These Top 8 Search Engines are creating the most Web Traffic- more people use these sites to search out products & services than any of the others.
Which company do I choose to optimise my website?
There are so many web agencies offering Search Engine Optimisation services it can be a minefield to know who you should choose.
Have a think about some of these points which could help you when you choose a new SEO Company to work with:
- Try and look for an SEO Company that not only offers SEO but has a broad scope of experience within its team such as Web Design, Web Development and Digital Marketing.
- Organic listing experience is a must. Try and find an SEO Company who have a focus on organic listings (Paid search is a quick fix and not a long-term solution)
- Any decent SEO Company will be able to offer you a free audit of your website and offer you some free Keyword research to prove their worth before you take them on.
- A good SEO Company will be up to date with all the latest algorithms, this will keep your organisation ahead of any potential game changes made by a Search Engine. (This is important because you could lose positioning very fast if not careful).
- You should be warned about Black Hat techniques which could land your organisation in deep trouble.
- You should look for examples of where the SEO Company have helped other businesses gain Page 1 positions and ask to see proof of their true capabilities.
- Alongside SEO, the company should be able to offer you Social Media Marketing in order to create a buzz around your brand.
In all types of marketing — Content truly is king.
Find a company who do not outsource the written word cheaply — there is nothing worse than having a wrong portrait painted of your brand image. What is said about your company needs to be professional and factual. Make biggest use of the written word.
A trustworthy SEO Agency will have a team of trained, experienced and very skilled professionals working for them such as SEO Agency London.
When seeking out an SEO Agency of highest importance is the budget you have to spend on the service. Find an SEO Agency that can do quality work within your budget limitations.
Here are some of the other main factors at play:
- Results in organic listings vs Paid for adverts
Organic listings are the listings you achieve ‘organically’ (meaning you do not pay the Search Engine directly to have an advert in place). These listings are by far and above the best long-term solution for your business.
Whilst ‘paid for adverts’ can work as part of your overall marketing strategy, overriding this you really need to invest in what is known as ‘Organic SEO’.
- User engagement strategy
User engagement is a term used to explain how a person engages with your website. It is important that you choose a web company who will help you design your website in such a way as to draw the user in and stay engaged on your site. Included in this engagement strategy should be how the website looks and feels, it’s structure, as well as the speed of the pages. Do not overlook the importance of user engagement. Check out example portfolios of any SEO Company you wish to choose.
- How useful is the information?
Without doubt your number one strategy should be the usefulness of the information you create and present through your website.
Search Engines are essentially like little ‘mind banks’ for which people can search out information. So, when you are adding interesting content, or adding beautiful pictures, and working on the design of your website — keep in mind that the algorithms are watching and pushing up higher those sites who offer the most useful information.
- Conversion Rate Optimisation
Once you have achieved some good listing position Page 1 ranks, you need to then make sure you ‘convert’ that Web Traffic that has landed on your web page into real, paying, customers! This is where CRO comes into play — a decent SEO Company will have a focus on converting traffic into clients.
- Social Media Marketing
Social Media channels play a massive part in pointing traffic to your website and hold vast numbers of users — it is therefore imperative for brand awareness that the SEO Company you work with can work on the Social Media Marketing alongside the other marketing work.
- Website SEO Audit (Free)
An SEO Audit will show you the areas on an existing website that need improvement. These improvements could be things such as Broken Links, amounts of Backlinks, Page Speed, Word count, Meta descriptions, Meta titles etc Find a company such as SEO Agency London who offer a Free Audit and will help you achieve results.
- Have you thought about BRAND TRUST?
In the olden days unscrupulous SEO companies would plaster backlinks and ‘stuff’ sites with your keywords to achieve rankings (and it would work!). Those days are thankfully now gone due to the cleverness of the algorithms. Now, your brand trust is important — and the Search Engines are searching for trusted websites. Make sure you focus on quality keyword positioning and keep away from spamming at all costs.
- White Hat versus Black Hat techniques
Techniques which are perfectly legal and clean are called White Hat.
Techniques which are ‘dark’ — (eg, they are not honest) — are known as Black Hat.
It is important to only focus on the White Hat techniques so that you do not risk negative consequences such as being de-indexed completely and even in some rare cases there is a risk of being sued.
- Optimisation techniques — On-site and Off-Site
When you look to promote your website, make sure the SEO Agency you use have a focus on both On-Site and Off-Site techniques.
On-Site simply means what is done on your website- this can be Your pictures, Your Content, Your Meta Titles, Your Meta Descriptions etc.
Off-Site implies the work carried out away from your website — this can be Blog Posts, Social Media Posts, Backlinking, Directory Submissions, Comment Posting, Video Posting etc.
As you can see there are so many factors involved in getting traffic to your website.
Above all else, the focus should be on creating high quality content and you must only use White Hat techniques.
I hope this article has been useful.
