Today we are going to look at some alternative methods of obtaining website traffic. Of course being ranked number one for all of your search terms in the major search engines is everyone’s goal, but these days with the competition for major keyword phrases and terms that is not realistic for all website owners. The good news, however, is that you do not need to rely on top rankings for all of your traffic.
There are many alternative methods of obtaining traffic to your website, and diversifying your traffic sources is going to do nothing but good for your site and business moving forward. As many found out last year, relying on only one source of traffic can be devastating if that source of traffic goes away. Instead, we recommend casting a wide net across many traffic channels.
One great source of traffic is an email list. Regardless of the business you are in, a targeted opt in email list is going to ensure you have people reading what you have to say and visiting your website. If you have never done any type of emailing before, now is a great time to start. Sign up for an account at Aweber, they are the leader in email marketing. You can create an opt in form and put it on your site very quickly. Offering a free report or a weekly newsletter is a great incentive for people to sign up. These people are already interested in what you have to say, and many will turn into long-term followers of your site/blog/newsletter and more.
Another great source of traffic is local listings. I am not talking about only the Google local listings, but all different types of local listings. Yelp is great. Bing has a local listing feature. Online yellow pages are another place to get listed. In addition, you can do a localized search for what your business does and see what directories or local listings show up. Get listed with those directories or local listing sites. You will not get a huge amount of traffic from any one of these sources, but you will get a little from each. If one goes away you lose only a tiny bit of traffic. Even better than that is the traffic quality, this type of traffic is typically going to convert much better than general search engine traffic.
Pinterest, Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin and other social media type sites are also great places to have a presence. You want to be found on all of the major social media type sites, but if you are doing all your marketing yourself, chances are you will not have time to maintain all of these outlets. Choose one or two and concentrate on them. I like Linkedin, and have joined and created many groups that send me qualified leads on a semi-regular basis.
Finally, find a few forums that are frequented by your target audience. Take part in these forums and add a link back to your site in your signature. You do not need to be overly promotional here, just a link so people can find your site online if they want to learn more about what you do or offer. Be helpful, answer questions and you will get some traffic in return. Again, this will be traffic that will convert much better than search engine traffic.
By marketing your website like a real business, you will find that you can pick up a lot of little chunks of great quality traffic from many places. Not only is this simply good marketing, but it also helps you to avoid putting all your eggs in one basket!
0 comments:
Post a Comment