If you’ve recognized the value of a solid conversion rate and followed our guide to cultivating a reliable one for your website, you stand to capture more value from your investment of time and energy by turning your attention to the task of increasing traffic to your website.
The task of increasing conversion rate is subject to a law of diminishing returns. Initially, even small adjustments and improvements generally have a significant improvement on conversion rate. As conversion rate climbs, you’ll find that your website reaches a certain ‘equilibrium’; a healthy threshold that is difficult to exceed without expert-level insight and professional work.
The precise numbers that define this threshold vary depending on the circumstances of one’s business, but the fact that a different kind of work is required to improve it further remains the same for any business.
When you find that your conversion rate has reached what you believe to be its ‘healthy equilibrium’, you can maintain a steady rise in the value your website generates by investing turning your attention to the task of cultivating traffic.
Like increasing a website’s conversion rate, there are plenty of techniques available to those that don’t specialize in digital marketing that stand to generate significant profit without significant investment. Here are a few techniques you can get started with today to generate significant traffic results with not-so-significant effort:
1) DIY Content Marketing
A single mindfully produced blog post can have a dramatic effect on traffic. Incorporated as a part of a broader content strategy, this impact can be made a lasting one.
‘Content Marketing’ is a form of marketing, especially relevant in the digital space, that emphasizes the creation and distribution of valuable content to attract and retain audiences. When done well, content production generates positive impact across a wide range of important metrics of marketing success. Here are three (of many):
Google Ranking:
Google’s algorithms scan your website to establish keyword profiles and assess the value of your website to prospective searchers. When you consistently produce content that reflects your expertise in your niche, you are inadvertently loading your site with valuable information that will positively impact ranking. As your ranking grows, so too does the traffic that Google sends your way!
Social Engagement:
Social media is a powerful tool to solve problems. When we have issues with our cars, are looking for a better mortgage rate, want the best Mexican food, etc; we turn to social media to access the thoughts and experiences of our friends and communities. There is a constant conversation occurring concerning the problem your products and services solve. Producing a blog post that provides a solution to this problem allows you to participate in this conversation, and direct the attention of all participants to your business.
Lead Generation:
Content that provides audiences legitimate value lend credibility to your expertise and cultivates the trust of your market.
By solving the problems of your audience with the information contained in your content, you build brand awareness but also authority; generating new leads and raising the value of your products and services.
How To Get Started Content Marketing
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hen it comes to content marketing, there is a low ‘floor’ and high ‘ceiling’ to success, but both require consistency.
Short blog articles are enough to realize benefits to your ranking, but only if produced consistently. No matter what you do, the key is to make sure you do it on a regular basis and don’t stop!
For more information on how to approach the task of content marketing, check out our 7 step guide to content strategy and planning!
2) AdWords PPC
If content marketing seems a little too in-depth for you, then keep things simple with a simple PPC campaign!
What’s PPC?
PPC stands for ‘Pay-Per-Click’, and it refers to the results seen on search engine results page (SERPS) that typically show up with a slightly orange background.
These are results that have been placed at the top of search engine results intentionally, not organically. Google ‘Local Therapy ‘, and you’ll see that PPC ad’s get front-and-centre positioning:
PPC is a quick and easy method to increase traffic to your site. Cost-per-click varies depending on a variety of factors, but mindfully managed campaigns are almost always worth the effort!
Paid search is especially advantageous to websites that are new or struggling to rank. While not generally the best strategy, in the long run, PPC is a powerful method to ‘bridge the gap’ as other marketing efforts gather momentum.
How Do I Get Started With PPC?
PPC is a broad domain and can get fairly technical. For the sake of preventing this article from turning into a textbook guide, consider these resources:
(Video) Jerry Banfield’s Complete Adwords Tutorial
(Free Ebook) How To Use Google Adwords: A Beginners Guide to PPC Advertising
(Article) How to Create a Profitable Google AdWords Campaign (from Scratch)
3) Giveaways and Contests
Everybody loves gifts and winning, and when all it takes to enter yourself into the prize-pool is a couple of clicks, it’s tough to say no!
Contests and giveaways have long been a staple of traffic generation strategy. So long as the message of a contest/giveaway is broadcast far and wide, it will continually generate a traffic for as long as free stuff is up for grabs, and especially when winners are announced!
Get The Most Out Of Contests
Those who regularly visit your site will be thrilled to have the ‘first shot’ at winning prizes/giveaways. Offer them the ability to increase their chances of winning by sharing and spreading the message of your contest, and not only will you increase their delight, but guarantee widespread brand awareness. As more people sign up, more shares are generated, and more traffic comes to your site!
Offer The Right Prizes:
The best contests have the best prizes, but they don’t have to be expensive.
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imple prizes that are useful and fun (not to mention inexpensive to your business) perform just as well, if not better than expensive/premium products and services.
Offering a brand-new car might seem like a valuable prize, but is a recipe to trigger the doubt of your audience. It’s too easy to lie online, so offering prizes that are extraordinarily valuable actually works against the interests of your contest!
Require Something of Participants
Clicking ‘share’ to enter into a prize-pool creates value for you, but requires very little of a Facebook user.
By offering more value to them in the form of multiple entries for things that are of value to you, contests can do far more than just increase traffic to your website!
Consider offering the ability to fill out simple surveys in exchange for multiple entries to help you get to know your visitors with. Finding out where they live, how old they are, what they’re interested in, etc. equips you with valuable information you can use to inform future marketing efforts!
More Traffic Generation Techniques
Content marketing, PPC, and contests/giveaways do not even approach the full gamut of tools, strategies, and techniques available to increase website traffic.
We chose these 3 because they have broad applicability, and are generally useful for any website. But among the long list of available strategies exists options that are optimal for yours.
To find out how your site can best deploy the available techniques not on this list, sign up for a free website evaluation here. Use the form to quickly describe your current and future goals for your website and business, and we’ll analyze your site to help you meet them!