You’ve chosen a great product and designed your store. Now, all you need to do is figure out how to get traffic to your website so sales roll in. how to increase website traffic ?
From social media to nontraditional marketing hacks, this article will help you figure out what it really takes to learn how to increase website traffic on your store. You’ll also hear what the experts do to increase traffic on their websites. And we’ll throw in some website traffic checker tools for you to find out how much traffic you’re getting and from where
What is Website Traffic?
Website traffic tells you how many users visit your website. Analytics tools will often tell you both the number of pageviews and the number of unique pageviews. Pageviews are the total number of times anyone has visited your site, while unique pageviews tell you how many people visited your site — some multiple times and some only once.
The idea is that the more website traffic you get, the more opportunities you have to convert users.
But you’ll often see that with more traffic comes lower conversion rates. This could be because the traffic isn’t as targeted — though more people are coming to your site, they might not all be highly qualified leads likely to purchase your product(s).
35 Ways to Increase Traffic to Your Website
Here are the top 35 ways to increase website traffic in 2020:
#1. Optimize your website for search
When you’re starting out, focus on finding keywords that represent your niche to base your blog content and store pages on. Typically, you’ll choose to focus on one or two main keywords per webpage. You can use SEO tools like Keywords Everywhere to help you find relevant keywords.
In the beginning, focus on keywords that have the search volume of under 10,000 searches a month. After a few months of creating blog content and optimizing product pages, you can then focus on going after higher volume keywords.
The trick to getting website traffic is to build a strong foundation of relevant keywords first. Be sure to take advantage of the blog on your online store as it can have the biggest impact on driving organic traffic to your website.
#2. Experiment with content freshness
Content freshness is an SEO hack people do to drive traffic to your website in a big way. Essentially, you’ll need to remove outdated content from your webpage and add new sections to keep your content relevant. It’s basically a quick touch-up on old webpage content.
#3. Submit your site to search engines
Also helpful for SEO, you can request search engines to crawl and index your site, increasing your odds at appearing on results pages for relevant queries.
- For Google: Submit your site via Search Console.
- For Bing and Yahoo: Learn how to submit URLs here
#4. Build out your backlinks
Backlinks are another important component to SEO. When an external site links to your site, it’s signalling to Google that your site is trustworthy and relevant to the words in the anchor text (the clickable words).
Beyond SEO, backlinks have the potential to drive traffic to your store in and of themselves. Users on those sites may click through and explore yours — hopefully leading to a purchase.
#5. Spy on your competitors
I talked about some of my secrets when it comes to competitor analysis. Whenever I start a new online store, I’m always curious to know the main traffic sources of my competitors. This helps me understand which marketing channels I should prioritize.
I sometimes use the free Alexa tool. All you need to do is type in your competitor’s website, scroll to “Upstream sites,” and look at the list of websites that were visited immediately before landing on your competitor’s website.
If you see that Google tends to be the top choice, then you need to focus on Google Ads and SEO. If Facebook is the top website then you know you’ll need to create Facebook ads. Or if a niche blog is the highest source of traffic you can then focus on building out an outreach strategy to collaborate with that blog.
#6. Optimize for long tail keywords
While many shorter keywords may come up in your keyword research, it’s important to also pay particular attention to the long tail keyword opportunities. Often, these keywords are more specific. As such, they typically have less search volume and, as a result, less competition. That means it’s not only easier to rank for relevant long tail keywords, but it’s also easier to guess the searcher intent.
When you create a website experience tailored to the searcher intent, you’re more likely to deliver the content that they’re looking for. This will help drive more organic search traffic to your site from a targeted group of users.
#7. Add new products or content to your website daily
Because one of Google’s ranking factors is how fresh the content is, it’s also a good idea to update your website content on a regular basis — daily if possible.
But this isn’t just a good move for SEO. It also gives users a reason to keep coming back to your site. If they know there’s something new to discover, they’re more likely to visit your site to find out what that is.
#8. Host exclusive content on your website
Start a blog, create a free course, develop Slideshare presentations, host webinars, and publish other relevant content on your site. Maintain a regular publishing schedule and allow users to subscribe so they have a reason to keep coming back
#9. Create quizzes with share results features
But let’s get back to the main goal: website traffic. When users finish a quiz, they get shareable results. They then post those results on social media, and their networks can click on the link and take the quiz themselves. Use this tactic to drive more traffic and grow your email list at the same time.
#10. Start a podcast
51% of Americans have listened to a podcast, and 32% have listened to a podcast at least every month. Podcasts have a huge audience, and starting one to support your online brand can also drive traffic to your site.
Podcasting benefits you in a number of ways:
- Brand awareness: Users might discover you first through your podcast, and then visit your site to learn more.
- Nurture customer relationships: Provide extra value to your customers through podcast content. You could also incorporate an interactive component to give them a more intimate brand experience.
SEO: If you transcribe your podcasts, you can embed the audio and post the text to your site’s blog, giving you more opportunity to optimize for search.
#11. Host contests and giveaways
If you make contests and giveaways a regular part of your ecommerce strategy, you’ll give users a reason to visit your site — and to keep coming back. Not to mention the word-of-mouth marketing you’ll ignite, especially if you incorporate a social-sharing component to the campaign.
When users enter your contests and giveaways, you’ll also have a chance to market to them in the future. Just about one-third of contest entrants are willing to receive information from brands.
Plus, you’ll have specific insights about them as far as their interests go, so you can tailor strategies to their shopping preferences. Personalization is a huge opportunity for brands, considering 71% of consumers are frustrated when their experience is impersonal.
#12. Write on Medium
Medium is an online publishing platform where people and brands can post blog posts with basic HTML and CSS editing and styling. The platform has also created a community of publishers who can follow, engage with, and promote others’ posts
You can tap into this existing community and introduce your brand. After you’ve invested resources in creating a great content experience on Medium, you’ll gain traction and readers. By including links back to your site, you can lure readers to your online store.
#13. Master YouTube marketing
You can increase traffic from YouTube by creating YouTube ads, adding links to your description, adding annotation links to your video, or by getting other YouTubers to share your links on their videos. By creating a new video at least once a week, consistently and over the long haul, you’ll be able to drive more traffic back to your website.
If you don’t have an audience yet, you can reach out to YouTubers with sizable audiences and ask them to become affiliates or pay their fee. This could work well in the short-term but it’s always a good idea to try to build out your own channels to lower your acquisition costs.
#14. Get involved with guest blogging
Guest posting works two ways: You can submit posts to other sites or you can accept posts from external contributors. (You can also do both!)
Search for popular publications and blogs in your niche. Pay particular attention to those with active, engaged audiences and posts that get a lot of social media attention. Some blogs will have guest post submission guidelines, so it’s important to check for that first. If you can’t find it by clicking around on site, do a site search via Google — something like guest post site:URL.com.
Remember to follow guest post guidelines carefully. Offbeat Bride, for example, has a detailed page and form where users can submit their pitches:
Many times, guest posts will include a link to your site — in the content, your author bio, or both. This will drive traffic from that site to yours.
On the other side of things, invite niche bloggers and complementary brands to post on your blog. It’s a good idea to share what’s in it for them: Do you have a lot of blog traffic? A big email list? A huge social following?
#15. Drive website traffic with Facebook
While Facebook’s organic reach continues to decrease, as Facebook prioritizes posts from users’ friends and family members, that doesn’t make this platform less of a powerhouse. You can obtain website traffic from Facebook groups, Facebook Ads, Messenger, social media posts, and of course your own business page.
For online store owners, you can promote products in buy and sell Facebook groups to help ensure you receive website traffic from people who are interested in buying your products.
Also, by combining Facebook ads with consistently posting on your Facebook page, you’ll increase the chances of getting website traffic from various areas in Facebook. Feel free to check out the Facebook Chat app, as you can share links to product pages or blog content to potential and actual customers.
#16. Try Instagram marketing
As time passes, Instagram becomes a better marketing channel for online retailers because of its business-friendly features and large audience size.
While you can increase traffic with the link in your bio, you can also do so by having affiliates, people who market your products for a commission, add their referral link to their Instagram accounts. Or reach out to influencers with big followings to share your link in their bio. You can boost website traffic by creating traffic ads. And you can even add links to Instagram Stories, posts, and photos. You can use free tools like Showcase to create Instagram galleries.
So, if you add the link in your bio, it directs Instagram followers to the shoppable galleries on your website instead of a third party app. It also helps boost overall conversions since it allows people to buy the products in specific Instagram posts you create.
#17. Increase website traffic with LinkedIn
For most online retailers, LinkedIn often seems like the last place you’d get traffic from. And while it might not be the biggest priority, you can still get a steady stream of traffic from this source.
Many online retailers use LinkedIn to share their PR news. For example, if you recently donated to a charity, want to highlight an employee from your team, or achieved a big milestone for your business, you might share an article from your website on LinkedIn.
Sharing product links is uncommon, unless the product is the first of its kind. Videos tend to do really well on LinkedIn in terms of views and engagement. By adding a link to your website in a post with a video, you could increase website traffic.
#18. Add social share buttons
Add social share buttons to shareable pages like blog posts, product pages and images, and other website content. These social share buttons make it easy for users to post your content (with links!), giving you social proof and traffic. When their network sees these posts, they can click through to your site.
Skincare brand Speak has social share buttons beneath product descriptions and above customer reviews on their product pages.
#19. Engage in email marketing
With email marketing, you’ll be able to keep driving website traffic to your store as long as your customers stay subscribed. With social media sites continuously limiting your reach, email marketing is one of the only marketing channels you can have complete control over.
Building a list for email marketing can take a long time, so it’s important to start on day one. You can build an email list by adding Email Pirate, which adds opt-in forms to your website.
#20. Maximize Twitter marketing
While Twitter has been cracking down on spam automation, you can still take advantage of this traffic source. If you’re still just learning how to increase website traffic, Twitter is a great platform for experimenting. You won’t need to worry about limited reach. With the help of relevant hashtags, you could reach an audience bigger than your follower count.
When it comes to content marketing, a little trick I do to get traffic from Twitter is to share a click to retweet link with people featured in the article. This allows your original tweet to get more visibility, especially if a hashtag is used in it, because it can help you rank higher on the feed for the hashtag used. As a result, more eyes end up on the tweet, and you’ll get a higher click through rate to your website.
#21. Check out Pinterest
Pinterest is one of the best ways to get website traffic flowing. By pinning your products and blog content multiple times a week, Pinterest traffic can potentially outperform powerhouses like Facebook. All it takes is for one pin to go viral to get an endless stream of traffic to your website.
If you’re sharing a blog post, you can pin all of the images within the post. This gives you multiple opportunities for a pin take off — one of your pictures could potentially outperform the rest. As a result, you could drive even more traffic back to your website.
Let’s say you want to promote a product page. You can upload custom pictures to entice clicks to your website if the product photos on that page aren’t the most inspiring. To increase website traffic from Pinterest, you can try the Pinoculars app which re-targets visitors on Pinterest.
#22. Get into Facebook Groups
Facebook Groups have become particularly popular as of late, and ecommerce brands are tapping into the opportunity to get involved in thriving online communities.
Search for groups relevant to your niche, sit on the sidelines, and join conversations when you have value to add. Just like with forums, it’s important to avoid being overly promotional. Relationships first, traffic second.
#23. Reach out to affiliates
Affiliate marketing works when companies pay affiliates to promote their products. Affiliates earn a percentage of the revenue from every sale they refer. Often, these sales come through website traffic. Maybe the affiliate is a blogger or social media influencer who posts a link with their referral or tracking code. Each time someone makes a purchase with that code, you pay the affiliate the agreed-upon fee.
#24. Advertise via ad networks
If you have a budget (it doesn’t have to be big), tap into the opportunity of ad networks. Create digital ads that promote your website, target ads towards your ideal customer, and watch the traffic roll in.
Some ad networks to check out:
#25. Collaborate with other brands
Brand partnerships validate your company and put you in front of a targeted audience. Every brand collaboration should have some sort of digital component, especially if you want to drive traffic to your site.
This could include cross-promotion on social media or email, as well as links to your site from theirs.
