How to Increase Your Website’s Traffic

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If you have an online business or your own blog you want people visiting it, otherwise it’s just content and images floating on the web. If you want to succeed online you need traffic and lots of it. Traffic means more leads, more leads means more sales and more sales means more money. Every internet marketer’s goal is to increase the amount of traffic to their website but that can be really tough sometimes.

You have to remember though that high traffic numbers don’t necessarily mean more profits. Targeted traffic is what you should really work for because that’s what is going to generate a better ROI and conversations. We all want our content to be read and to bring ROI but even if you are doing everything right your traffic might still not growing. Don’t let that discourage you because there are always things you can improve on your strategy and new tactics you can try.

Traffic

At this point, i would like to elaborate a little bit more about the different types of traffic and where they come from. There are basically six types of traffic and this is what’s called “channels” in Google analytics.

Types of website traffic

1. Organic SearchThis is what generally comes from a search engine such as Google or Bing. You get this type of traffic from a specific search term query.  In other words, in order to get these clicks, your page must rank high for certain keywords. So, organic traffic is highly connected with SEO.

2. Referral TrafficThis kind of traffic is also organic and by that i mean non-paid. It comes from articles and links where your site is mentioned. People found your site from another site and not from a search engine.

3. Paid SearchPay per click (PPC). This is not organic traffic. I am sure you have heard the term “run a PPC campaign” before. That means that you have to pay every time someone clicks on your ad and you can usually run a campaign from places like Google Adwords and/or Bing. You can only receive this traffic if you can afford to pay for certain keywords that you believe make sense and can drive traffic to your site. Keyword research is essential if you want to get good results.

4. Direct TrafficA visit to your site without a known referral source. That simply means that the visitors who come to your website via this method have bookmarked your site, or are repeat visitors or simply know who you are. These users type your exact URL in their browser. If your brand name is very popular you can expect to get that kind of traffic.

5. Social –  Referral traffic that comes in from links in the social media, like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc.

6. Email Traffic that comes to your website from an email you send to your subscribers for example. 

The first 4 (Organic, Paid, Direct, and Referral) are really the basic traffic channels, while Social and Email, are additional traffic channels.

You can increase your website’s traffic by spending some money on advertising like pay per click advertising (PPC) or creating some campaigns on social media networks. But we will not talk about that in this post, instead, we will mention some free tips that are easy to use and can help you boost the organic traffic to your blog/website.

Free Ways To Increase Your Organic Traffic

1# Create quality content

Writing and publishing highly valuable content as often as you can is absolutely vital. Quality is very important but quantity is also essential if you want to increase your traffic. By producing many good quality articles you create more opportunities for people to find your website. Also if you are publishing frequently your page rankings will improve because Google appreciates consistency and fresh quality posts. Don’t just write posts that have to do with the products/services you promote but also write about topics that are related to your niche and your audience will find them useful. Good quality posts are also more likely to be shared on social networks and therefore drive more organic traffic to your website.

2# Optimize your meta tags

Optimizing each of your blog posts is necessary. The meta title and the meta description are the ones you should really focus on because they affect your page ranking. They are both visible to people not just to the search engines and if you use them correctly you can stand out from the rest of your competition and increase your traffic. For your title tag try to use long-tail keywords that you think your audience is searching for and for your meta description create an interesting small summary of your blog post that will draw people’s attention enough to click on your site through the SERPs. Keep your meta description below 160 characters because the rest will get cut which usually gives a bad impression and may discourage some readers from clicking your website.

The keywords meta tags are not considered important for SEO anymore and they will not help you at all. So don’t waste your time with them. Many people rely exclusively on SEO in order to generate traffic for their website and believe that if they learn everything about it, they are covered. That is not correct and you shouldn’t follow that way of thinking. Instead, you should diversify the traffic that is coming to your site and use a variety of strategies to maximize your results.

SEO traffic

 3# Internal links

If you have published a decent amount of posts you can link back to them guiding your readers to more relevant content which can result in a better experience for your audience. By doing that you can increase the amount of time your visitors spend on your site and that can help boost your search rankings. Building links pointing back to your website can help with SEO. Don’t use too many internal links though because it can start to look like spam, in a 1000-word post for example 5 to 10 internal links are enough.

4# Use the Social media

Try to use all the benefits the social media platforms have to offer. Today more people than ever before use the social networks, especially among the younger generation. Twitter, Facebook, Google+, Pinterest, StumbleUpon, YouTube, and LinkedIn are considered to be the best in terms of traffic. Share your content in all of them and engage with the groups and the communities that are related to your business. Insert your links that lead back to your site in photo descriptions and in comments when it’s relevant, try to be helpful and build relationships with other experts in your niche. Also, don’t buy followers or likes because it can lead to penalties especially on Facebook. Create a strategy of what you want to achieve and spend some time figuring out how each platform works. Get your name out there and build your presence.

Social Media Traffic

5# Guest blogging

Guest posting is one of the best ways to drive traffic to your website. Identify the best sites in your niche that get a ton of traffic and make sure that a significant amount of that traffic is made of your target audience. Don’t waste your time with low-quality sites just because they accept your guest posts easily because you will not see any significant rise in your traffic and you might get frustrated in the end. Also, don’t guest posting just for links because it’s not only unproductive but you may get penalized by Google for excessive link building.

You can find leading authoritative sites in your niche by simply searching for them in Google just type “your niche” + “guest post”. Writing for an authority site can help you to establish yourself as an expert in your field and build your reputation like nothing else. Don’t expect to see results right away because guest posting is really a long term strategy and you will have to publish a significant number of them on a regular basis in order to increase your traffic. Write quality posts that will provide value to the readers of that site if you want to stand out and definitely follow their editorial guidelines. Also, remember if you get rejected from a site it’s just part of the game you can approach them again later with a new and better idea.

6# Long-tail keywords

Popular keywords are very difficult to compete with because the authoritative sites in your niche have already used them. Instead, try to choose keywords that are more specific and not that common so you can have a chance to stand out from the competition. Long tail keywords are much less competitive and they can increase your search traffic significantly. The search engines will consider you as an expert in that specific subject and your content will rank higher over time. Targeting long tail keywords can also help you increase your conversions. It’s an easy strategy to use especially if you are just starting your online journey and it doesn’t take a lot of time before you see results.

7# Comment on blogs

Commenting on other people’s sites or blogs in your niche can be a great way to attract more traffic to your site. Try to comment on sites that are already popular and related to your industry. Don’t leave comments on websites that are not relevant to your niche because your results will be poor. Remember targeted traffic converts better. It is also important to leave interesting comments that add value to the discussion after all you want people to read your comments. If your comments are general and don’t have anything specific to say about that blog post people will not read them. So always read carefully the article you are commenting on and never spam. This technique can help you make a name for yourself assuming of course that your comments are insightful and drive more referral traffic to your own site.

Use your actual name instead of your business name so you won’t look like you are just trying to promote your blog. Also, try to use a picture of your face as your avatar if you want to look more personable and trustworthy so people will click on your name and be taken to your site.

8# Learn from your metrics

Use free tools like Google Analytics and Google Search Console to keep track of your traffic and collect valuable data for your website. With these tools, you will be able to see where your traffic is coming from, how people behave when they land on your site and for which keywords they searched for. Analyzing the data you will find out which one of your strategies works the best for you and which ones you should rethink or abandon completely. You will also see the keywords you rank for and what keywords people are searching for that are similar to yours. That will provide you with a ton of new ideas to write for and attract more readers.

Google analytics


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Conclusion

With the free traffic methods that are mentioned above, you can attract more visitors on your website and stop relying only on SEO. Use all the different tactics in any way you want (all of them together or each one separately) and check the results yourself. Although web traffic doesn’t always equal online business success generating traffic for your website is the most important task and the one you will always be working on.

There are of course many more strategies you can implement and new ones you can try so always keep yourself informed and never stop looking for ways to improve your online business.

What are your favorite methods to generate traffic? Share your tips and your experiences with us. Leave me a comment below.

 


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25 Responses

  1. Mike says:

    Thanks for a very informative post. You have put forward many good ideas to attract traffic. Overall, I believe the quality of the content is the most important, as one can draw visitors via whatever method. But if the offering at the site doesn’t add value, they won’t be back.

  2. Furkan says:

    I actually try writing quality content and do lots of research however I have no idea how long should my post be. Do you have any suggestion for better Google rankings?

  3. Brandon says:

    What a damn great article! I’m always looking for ways to increase my traffic, and these ideas have really opened my mind up to the possibilities that there are in the online world. I totally agree that commenting on blogs is a great way to get additional traffic, but not only that, you’ll gain some good backlinks – another metric that Google looks at when ranking websites.

    What a great post! Thank you so much 🙂

    -Brandon

    • Nikos says:

      Hello Brandon,
      I am really happy you liked my post and i am sure the methods mentioned in this post will help you to increase your traffic and grow your business. Keep me posted on your progress.

  4. Maurice says:

    Excellent article for everyone with an online business. This article I suspect will be welcomed and beneficial to all who want more traffic.

  5. A lot of great information. thanks a lot also for the breakdown. I am sure that your readers will love what you have done here with your post. Great job.

  6. Francesco says:

    Hello Nikos,

    thanks for posting this interesting article. I am constantly on the look for ways to increase traffic on my website and your post gives useful insights on this regard.
    Obviously, quality content is the key to get rankings.
    But there are also other key factors which you highlighted in an exhaustive way.
    Keep up the good work

    • Nikos says:

      Hello Francesco,

      Thank you for your comment. I am sure the free traffic methods mentioned here can help you increase your traffic.

  7. Darren says:

    I’m always looking for ways to increase traffic to my websites, as that’s the name of the game. Without traffic nothing happens, that’s for certain.

    I think I need to build a few more internal links, and I have thought about the guest blogging, but just haven’t taken that route yet.

    You’ve offered some handy tips on getting traffic the free way here. Thanks.

    • Nikos says:

      Hello Darren,

      I am happy you found my blog post helpful and i am sure the tips mentioned here can help you increase your traffic. Guest blogging is certainly a great way to create your personal brand and get your name out there.

  8. Andres Santos says:

    I’m glad I read your article. It let me know that I’m on the right track. Looks like I still need to work on a few of your tips, mainly the guest blogging and commenting on other blogs, but I guess I’m off to a good start since I’m here. Which one of your tips do you think is the most important. I would pick #1.

    • Nikos says:

      Creating quality content is the most important factor in order to increase your organic traffic. So, i would pick #1 too because it’s the foundation of your business. If that’s weak then the rest of the techniques mentioned here won’t help you that much. A combination of all the ways will create the best results for your website.

  9. Neil says:

    I completely agree that a website is pointless without traffic. With no traffic, there is no online business to make money from.

    Thanks for the many ways to increase website traffic. And if used correctly they can generate a lot website visitors. 🙂

    I’ve heard a lot of bloggers talking about the implementation of keyword research, and also Guest blogging too. I’ll certainly look more into these two topics and also leverage some of the other techniques you’ve mentioned.

    Neil

    • Nikos says:

      Hello Neil,

      Well, if there is no traffic you don’t really have an online business but a hobby with potentials. Organic traffic is what you should work for because not only it’s free but it’s what will also bring you the most sales.

  10. Cathy says:

    As a new blogger, this article gives me a good idea what traffic generation is all about. I’ve just started writing content so I guess the natural thing to do is to learn about SEO as well.

    But all these traffic techniques are a bit overwhelming. When do I know if I am ready for PPC? I am not a social media person – should I be bothered with it? How do I even get referral traffic when no one even knows about my blog?

    Thanks for the clarification.

    • Nikos says:

      Hello Cathy,

      Social media is a great way to promote your content and increase your traffic.So,I believe it’s a good idea to use them.Social media marketing is a very powerful tool and can help you get the best results. A PPC advertising campaign can be one of the most efficient and most effective ways to drive highly targeted traffic to your website.You should launch your PPC campaigns when you are sure that they will be well received and you have developed your strategy and your site/landing page is user friendly. It should be clear to you what you want to achieve from your campaign from the beginning.

      Sites, like Scoop.it, growthhackers.com and others, can help you with your referral traffic. Guest blogging, commenting on authority blogs is a great way to increase your referral traffic. Also creating quality backlinks can help.Even mentioning someone’s new product could get you an inbound link.

  11. Stephen says:

    Hello Nikos, greetings.

    I have learned a lot today from your article. Very informative. I personally have problems with getting a lot of traffic to my website.

    I have been trying all my best, but from this content I have come to know that there are several ways that I can can generate traffic for my website.

    Especially, I think using the social media to generate traffic would be a very good idea, also making good use of referrals would be a good idea as well.

    And I think I should be more consistent with my content creation as you mentioned.

    Thanks a lot for this wonderful information. I have learned a lot from you post.

  12. Brian says:

    Excellent article about ways to increase traffic to a website. I’m trying to get more traffic from social media and so every time I post a blog/article, I make sure to post it or a link to it on Facebook and Google+.

    What do you think of keyword tools such as Jaaxy? I use that a lot especially for doing research. One thing though I have not utilized though is guest blogging because I don’t understand it fully, it is something I want to try in the future though.

    • Nikos says:

      Hello Brian,

      Jaaxy is a very powerful keyword tool. And at the price of $19/month i believe it’s a great option. I have used Jaaxy too and it’s very helpful.

      Thank you for your comment.

  13. shrey says:

    These are some amazing tips and I really think this post is informative for anyone who has a website and wants to get some organic traffic to it.
    I myself never did the concept of internal linking on my site but I think I should try it since it has been working out for you. Thanks for the tips!

  14. Brooke says:

    Meta tags and key words. Two things I really spend no time on. Thank you for the reminder that I have to get my act together!

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