How to Increase Website Traffic: Basics And Fundamentals

Website traffic is characterized by the amount of data signals transmitted by visitors to a website. And ever-increasing web traffic is the lifeblood to online success. It must constantly grow, endlessly becoming greater in size.

The Internet is saturated with articles that focus on how to make traffic become larger. Articles titled “ten ways to increase traffic to your website,” or “how to increase traffic to your website by 300,000 unique visitors per month” are a dime a dozen.

Despite vast amounts of traffic building articles on the Internet, the typical webmaster mentality ‘if you build it, they will come’ is alive and well. The phrase implies that simply having a location connected to the Internet, that maintains a group of interconnected web pages of common sales hooks that make you look stupid, will some how drive huge amounts of traffic to your website.

But to achieve real sustainable growth and development, don’t settle for rehashed tips when it comes to growing website traffic. What you really need is a comprehensive plan that’s built to achieve it. Follow these rules to learn how to increase traffic to your website.

Increase Web Traffic: Basics And Fundamentals

1. If it all possible, incorporate a Kickstarter Campaign into your startup strategy (established business can utilize this tactic as well).  I cannot stress to you just how powerful this platform is, and if utilized properly, an online business won’t hit the ground running, they’ll hit it with the speed of an Olympic sprinter. 

If you’re just starting an online business, why not do a cannonball and make waves with your entry?  Building up your web traffic is just the icing on the cake, because a properly executed Kickstarter campaign will energize your social networks and turn them into word-of-mouth-advertisers, as well as produce thousands if not tens of thousands of dollars in start-up capital.  Many online businesses spend years trying to build up and monetize their traffic, why not start with a suite case full of cash and an energized audience instead?

As for established online companies, Kickstarter could of course be used in the traditional way of raising capital, or you could think outside the box and use it to enhance your company’s brand, reputation, as well as the highly-coveted “cool factor” by creating and sponsoring art exhibitions, live theater events, and music contests.

2. Make sure your website is as mobile friendly as is humanly possible.  There’s a very simple rule when it comes to online business – adapt or perish.  You either anticipate and adapt to emerging market trends, or they eat you alive and render you obsolete.

In May of 2015, Google announced that in countries such as the United States and Japan, more internet searches were conducted on smart phones than desktop computers.  Hence, those that make their websites as mobile friendly as is humanly possible will flourish and rise to the top of Google’s page rankings, while those who ignore this trend will slowly sink to the bottom. 

Speaking of search engines…

3. Always remember that Bing and Yahoo still control about one-third of the search engine industry.  Google is king, of that there is no doubt, and I’ll leave it to you to decide whether one-third of the market is worth going after.  But you should note that there are a wealth of successful internet entrepreneurs whose entire businesses are dedicated to yoking and monetizing this underappreciated part of the market, and many of them are millionaires.

4. Utilize long-tail keywords in your content and titles.  If you’re just starting out, competing for the more generic keywords can be incredibly difficult, that’s why focusing on long-tail keywords is a great way to carve out a niche within your industry.  As you slowly yet ever so surely ascend the page rankings, you can eventually challenge and take on the Big Boys for the more valuable key words.

A great way to find long-tail keywords is to simply type your niche into Google’s search engine, scroll down to the bottom of the page, and then look at Google’s “searches related to” recommendations.  For instance, if I were to type in “selling baseball cards” into Google’s search engine, some of the long-tail keywords that Google recommends are pricing baseball cards, top selling baseball cards, and selling sports cards. I would then seed my content with these key words, while also being sure to have an engaging title that has also keywords embedded within it.

5. Create a forum on your website.  There are several advantages to this strategy.  The first is that you can seed your forum with long-tail keywords, and when threads and topics catch fire with your audience, Google will recognize it and reward you with increased exposures.

Plus, forums help to convert your website into a genuine community, and this is the true key to long-term success.  The more you allow reader participation, the greater the chance your reader will become a poster, email subscriber, repeat customer, and word-of-mouth advertiser.

6. Create backlinks throughout your website’s architecture.  Cluster articles and posts under a popular keyword topic, and then proceed to create backlinks throughout your content that references other articles on your site. 

Beyond simply increasing your clicks and readership, this strategy has a couple of other advantages to it.  First, if you’re monetizing your site through affiliate marketing, a popular strategy is to create an “anchor post” that is then repeatedly backlinked by other posts that focus on great content.  This helps to reduce the “spam factor” that many readers might feel towards a site that’s overly saturated with affiliate links.

Second, a great way to enhance your authority within your niche is by creating forecast articles where you try to predict the emerging trends within your market.  Whenever one of those predictions comes true, always be sure to create a post that backlinks to the original article.  This tells your audience that, “I know what I’m talking about, and you should be paying attention to my opinion within this industry.” You can also buy backlinks to increase web traffic.

7. When it comes to content, create a schedule, and stick to it come hell or high water.  One of the quickest ways to lose your audience is to develop a pattern of content production that your audience has come to expect… and then you suddenly stop producing or become erratic with your postings.  Would The Washington Post or New York Times behave like that?  Then neither should you.  You’re a professional, act like one. 

8. Stop being a content writer, you’re now a multi-faceted content creator.  You’re strength might be writing, but if you really want to succeed, you have to branch-out and embrace a multifaceted content strategy that include YouTube interviews, podcasts, webinars, and interviews with leaders in your field.

There are several advantages to making this transition; the first is that it’s much easier to honor your content schedule when you have an entire range of platforms to choose from.  Second, you’ve drastically increased your potential revenue streams while also harnessing the power of platforms such as YouTube and Facebook in order to funnel traffic to your site.  Create a podcast series and sell it on iTunes.  Create a webinar series for your website and use it to both enhance your authority within your niche, as well as create an additional revenue stream.  Startup a YouTube channel and use it to conduct interviews while funneling traffic to your website and monetizing the channel through Google AdSense.

9. Don’t forget brick-and-mortar networking.  One of the most effective ways to build up website traffic is to simply walk out your front door and shake hands with your neighbors.  It’s also one of the key ways you can build up authority within your niche by attending workshops, seminars, and conferences.  Always keep business cards with you, and network, network, network.

10. Don’t try to use blackhat tactics to boost your page rankings, Google will punish you for it – severely.  Keyword stuffing, link farming, cloaking – just stay away from it.  Google has really started to close in on these types of tactics over the past several years in order to ensure that only quality content gets top billing and page ranks.  If you get caught doing it, then you’ll be de-listed and your business will be completely destroyed.

11. You should take your analytics seriously, but not too seriously.  Yes, you should most certainly study your analytics, especially when trying to find what strategies and tactics that net clicks and sales conversion, and which are a complete waste of time.

But you should also remember that even the most successful websites have peaks and troughs.  A perfect example would be the explosion in website traffic and sales conversion during the Christmas season, which subsequently tanks during January.

12. Build up your blog roll and funnel traffic to it, while letting the targeted blogs know about it.  You might have heard the oft-repeated strategy that the key to building traffic is to start posting on other blogs in the hopes of being recognized by the owner and complimented on the quality of your posts.

Yeah, I guess you could use that tactic, or in addition to posting on their sites, you could let them know that you’re avidly trying to funnel traffic to them through your own blog roll.  Increased traffic and sales conversions are far more likely reason that they might extend a hand of friendship to you.

An even better way to earn their friendship is through…

13. Writing an eBook and then creating an affiliate program where bloggers get paid to both sell your work and talk about you.  It’s a win-win for both parties involved, and it’s a great way to really yoke the marketing and advertising potential of your blog roll. 

14. Build traffic by allowing guest bloggers, and if you’re smart, you can also monetize guest blogging.  When it comes to the “big fish” of your industry, roll out the red carpet and do your best to tap into their readership and brand recognition.  When it comes to smaller fish, create a gig on Fiverr and allow people to gain access to your readership and web traffic…for a price.

15. Pick a “hot potato” issue within your industry and use it to bait more established bloggers.  Find the movers and shakers within your niche; the ones that have the most web traffic and brand recognition.  Then…pick a fight with them. 

You should of course be respectful, but you should find a topic or issue that they’ve written or commented on, and then take a completely opposite stance.  Post or email them the article, and if they take the bait and offer a rebuttal (or at the bare minimum mention you in a blog post), you just drastically increased your exposure.     

16. Get rid of cheap and cheesy images and start using your website’s visual content to funnel traffic to your site.  Quality content needs to be coupled with quality images, and one of the key strategies you should utilize is “stamping” your images with the title of your post as well as your URL so that if they get posted to sites such as Pinterest, they can funnel traffic back to your website.

There’s a lot more that goes into driving traffic to a website.

17. Follow what’s trending on Facebook, Twitter, and Google religiously.  You should take pride in the originality of your content, but you also shouldn’t hesitate in hoisting your sale and letting the wind from these trends help to drive traffic to your website. 

Understand that if just one post, one, manages to go viral, it can have an absolutely game-changing, life-altering impact on your web traffic, brand recognition, sales conversions, and long-term profitability.

18. Leverage interviews with industry experts to enhance your viewers on YouTube.  This is a strategy called “upward humility,” and it’s very easy to understand.  You have a YouTube channel that has 300 subscribers and 5,000 views.  The first thing that you do is find other channels that are related to your niche, and lo and behold, you find a channel that has 300,000 subscribers and 10,000,000 views. 

He’s the big fish; you’re the minnow.  The question is, how do you get that guy to acknowledge you?

An appeal to authority, that’s how you get him to notice you.  Conduct interviews with “experts” within your field, and the reason that I’ve put the term into quotation marks is that it might be a professor at your local college who agrees to sit down with you.  He might not be a brand name, but his PhD and teaching position will nonetheless afford him respect and cause a lot of people to pay attention to what he’s saying.

You might not have quantity, but you do have quality.  Use these types of interviews as icebreakers when introducing yourself to more established YouTubers.  Even though you might not have their presence yet, interviews with experts can nonetheless be leveraged to great effect.

19. Post your best articles on platforms such as Reddit, StumbleUpon, Google Plus, Twitter, and Linked In.  Only posting your articles on your website isn’t going to cut it; you need to utilize every platform you have at your disposal while also tapping into your social networks and using them for word-of-mouth advertising.

Conclusion – Don’t simply settle for tips when it comes to building up your website traffic.  What you really need is a comprehensive, multifaceted, and long-term business plan that spans many years and which encompasses many platforms. 

References

“Improve Your Site’s Rankings.” Buy Backlinks. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 Mar. 2017. <http://www.buybacklinks.co/>.

“Long-Term Strategies for Creating Profitable, Authoritative, and Engaging Website Content – Part 1.” How to Make Money Online-Tutorials. N.p., 05 Jan. 2017. Web. 01 Mar. 2017. <http://www.paypervids.com/long-term-strategies-for-creating-profitable-authoritative-and-engaging-website-content-part-1/>.