Being that the Internet has evolved and allowed for so much feedback from users over the years, it has made it very easy to turn any idea into a reality.
When deciding to make a website, creating it may be as simple as when you convince yourself you deserved that second helping of dinner since you took the stairs to the second floor and not the elevator. However, attracting website traffic is the big issue website creators face.
So you have a beautiful new website, now what do you do you? The first step is to optimize it. To have a successful business online, you have to understand the basic pillars of marketing starting with inbound marketing.
What is Inbound Marketing?
Inbound marketing is all about attracting people to your website. It starts with strangers, people who don’t know your company exists, and turning them into visitors. With the right optimization, visitors eventually turn into people who fill out some form on your website (also known as leads), and once you have this information from them, you can track their website activity.
Optimization is the process of making something as fully perfect, functional or effective as possible. If you optimize your website, this sets it up for success. Once you get people to your site and they begin to search through it, you have to have things for them to do, read and relate to. Un-optimized sites don’t attract, convert, close or delight visitors.
Who are website visitors? People who are landing on your website. They find you from different marketing channels, whether it is from Google, social media or direct traffic. As inbound marketers you want to attract as many customers because this creates more opportunities for leads who can become paying customers. One of the first things to do when optimizing a website is to develop buyer personas.
Buyer Personas & Generating More Traffic For Your Site
Buyer personas are fictional characters that marketers create through research that essentially represent your ideal customer and help in marketing and reaching out to customers. Every marketing activity you take needs to be directed toward your buyer persona so that all of your customers see how your product will benefit them.
These buyer personas:
· Use language that the targeted customers are comfortable with
· Help to create content and offers that interest customers
· Help guide customers throughout a specific path on your website
· Encourage alignment for your entire company
· Make you a better marketer
Understanding your buyer persona saves time, money and resources in the long run, so it is vital to have the right employees behind each persona that relate to it.
By solving problems and answering questions through your persona, you will be showcasing your professional expertise in your industry. Prospective customers are going to notice you stand out among competitors. In addition, they will think that you are an expert and that your products and services are as top notch as the information you are providing on your blog.
Show Customers "Why" not "What"
Give customers more than just information about your product by telling them your company’s story. Provide human elements to the story to show customers you care and strive for excellence; experience is key. Be sure to choose the right words, pictures and videos to illustrate what the purpose of your company is.
More and more customers are citing a business's culture and beliefs as the main reason they do business with them, not necessarily the price or product.
Website Design That Increases Website Traffic
Now enough with the content of your page, let’s discuss the website design. Simple is always better for everything from website navigation, color schemes, word choices and the information provided. Don’t think it’s that important?
Have you ever been to a website that had so much content and so many places to click that it was confusing and overwhelming? When you go on a first date with someone, as humans we judge every single aspect of the person and everything they do. Potential customers are doing the same thing when they first approach your website. This is why it is imperative for you to be creative and show your passion for your product through your site.
Keep in mind that many of these potential customers are first seeing your website via a search engine so it is important to keep the first things they see simple. For instance, the title of your page needs to be only a few words yet it needs to lure those customers in to read the rest of your article. The meta description, a short explanation of what your site or article, is not visible while looking at your page, but is visible in search engine result pages so be sure to keep that appealing yet condense.
Content Marketing Increases Website Traffic
Let’s talk about the information you are writing about. A business blog allows for more visitors, leads and traffic when it is updated routinely. In fact, companies that blog get 55 percent more website visitors than those who do not blog.
Blogs give us opportunities to be found via multiple channels, as there are so many topics to blog about. They also get your company’s name out there to a much wider audience. Companies that blog get 70 percent more leads than those that don’t blog and 57 percent of companies have acquired customers through their blog.
Now you may have some loyal customers and a decent amount of people coming to your website, but how do you get more customers? Blog as often as possible. Blogging has an impact on a websites search engine rankings. But, how can you market your blogs in a cost-efficient way?
Using Social Media to Drive Up Website Traffic
Social media seems like such an obvious answer, but we are lucky to have social media outlets as an option for us today. Unlike fanny packs and awful, frizzy hair-do’s, social media is more than just a trend and will continue to grow and become more popular.
Internet users spend four times more time on Facebook than Google. Of all the active social media users on the Internet, 1 billion are on Facebook, and 170 million are on Twitter, so it’s safe to say there is a group out there that will be interested in what you are writing about.
Now that you have an understanding of how to create a successful webpage, get out there and create your own website! Nobody said it would be easy, but it is definitely worth it.