You can have the most pristine website in the world and offer the best services in your field, but you still might not get any traffic. Why is that?
1. Optimize Your Content Strategy
SEO content creation is the key to gaining traction. There are three main types of SEO, including:
- Technical
- Off-site
- On-page
Technical SEO deals with the backbone of your site. Is it optimized for mobile viewing? Is the loading speed fast enough? Is it secure? These are things that your web host and website platform will likely guide you through, if not take care of completely. Off-site SEO includes backlinks. These are links to your site from other sites, and this makes search engines like you. You are established as a site with expertise on certain keywords.
You can have a stellar main page and secure some backlinks to it, but the real kicker is on-page SEO. This has to do with how often you are pumping out well-crafted content. It also depends on how well you are researching your keywords and placing them within that content. Find a balance. Don’t “keyword stuff”, meaning don’t place as many keywords as possible in content just to rank. This may work temporarily, but quality content will keep readers coming back for the long haul.
2. Share Every Time
Every time you create that content to enhance your SEO, a social share adds to this effort. You likely have a social platform that you favor over others already, because it just fits with your brand. Focus on one or two platforms to start, and really hone in on sharing all of your content. You can even create evergreen content that can be shared repeatedly at later times. If others share your content, that’s even better! It shows search engines like Google that people value your content and want to see more of it.
3. Comment Elsewhere
Don’t just type into the void. There are likely other similar sites or blogs in your sphere. Go there and join the conversation. Just be wary of adding links right away. It’s best to start with adding something of value to the conversation. This will establish your credibility with other creators and their audience.
If you do decide to drop a cheeky link to your site, make sure it’s natural and doesn’t sound like you are begging for clicks. If you have the approach that your link can really add to the conversation, that’s the best way to drive readers to click through and engage. You may even check out guest posting opportunities on like-minded sites.
4. Offer Something of Value
Similar to the value you are providing to the conversation, you also want to add value to the community. This goes along with creating that content in step one. Sure, you are likely driving traffic to your website in order to sell a product or service. That is still the end goal. However, a great tip is to always offer your audience something for free. You can garner information from this, like email addresses and interested demographics for future ad targeting. The readers are getting something for free, and this gives them a preview of what they just might pay for down the line.
5. Build an Email List
Those freebies you’re giving out will likely be dealt out in return for some basic information from your readers, like their name and email address. Provide a short consent form and allow them to unsubscribe if necessary, but build your email list this way. Then, you can send all that content you’ve worked so hard on straight to their inbox.
Whether you are a small business, large corporation, or hobby blog, you will benefit from optimizing and content creation. Act as an expert in your field. Stick to your tone and voice, and don’t waver. Your brand will evolve over time, but consistency will keep your audience coming back to watch the process.