So you built a website for your business, setup all of your call to actions but your analytics show no traffic. Why are you not getting any visitors?
The simple answer is that a new website will take some time to build traffic. It will require you to write new content that your visitors are searching for. But you don’t have to wait too long because there are other ways of driving traffic to your website. Today we are going to share the top 5 ways you can drive traffic to your new business website.
1) Friends and Family
The easiest way of driving traffic to your website is by reaching out to family and friends. These are your biggest fans and best customers and a lot of tend to forget about them.
You can do this by using social media like Facebook and Instagram and send out a feed sharing the launch of your new website. Don’t be afraid to ask them to share with their followers as well.
If you are not big with social media, then contact individuals through email. Send them a short message asking them to check out your website. You can ask them to forward the email to friends and ask them to share your website on their social platforms.
2) Social Networks & Forums
Social Networks and Forums are a great way to drive traffic to your website. Facebook and Instagram are probably some of the largest networks you could be part of. Posting a news feed, and image or a video and attract users by hashtags and other methods. Then there are other networks like Pinterest, Tumblr, Etsy which tend to have a more targeted audience so depending on your business niche, those platforms might or might not work well for you.
Then there are networks like Reddit and Quora. They are still seen as a social platform but with more a forum feel where individuals interact by providing each other feedback on topics or questions. These types of sites do not like spam, so don’t signup and just tell people to visit your website. You want to help individuals by answering their questions and not marketing yourself. By helping them and becoming an expert you will see individuals will naturally want to learn more about you and your business.
Then there are your regular website forums. Some of these actually allow you to directly let members know your are a business and advertise your services to its members. You still want to be certain that is the case and make sure that you are still an active member and provide help to forum users as that will help drive traffic.
3) Directories
There are tons of directories out there that you should sign up for and make sure to include your website link. Directories like Google Profile (Google My Business), Yelp, BBB and much more. You want to make sure you build a profile to every available directory. There will be a lot out there that might also be dedicated to just the niche you are in.
Best approach would be to run a Google search, for example “plumbers near me”. In the organic results you will start seeing directories that have lists of plumbers. Write all of them down and once you have a large enough list, visit each directory and sign up for a profile. Some might ask for money, so try to do as many free ones at first.
4) Direct Mail
Direct mail is another great way of driving traffic to your website. While there are paid options, you could still easily find free methods of getting your word out.
For example if your business is in a large property, speak with your property manager. They tend to have mailers that they send out to tenants informing them of recent news. See if they would be willing to send a mailer for you. Normally providing some sort of an offer to tenants can also help.
Another method would be networks or organizations you might be a part of. Your local chamber might have a mailer program you can use. And if you don’t have any free options then try USPS Every Door Direct Mail. It’s a paid solution from USPS which can send direct mail to businesses in your area.
5) Write Content
Writing content that your audience is searching for is another way of driving traffic. This one is a bit more difficult because it can take some time for a new website to start ranking for certain keywords. Especially if there is a lot of competition. One easy way of knowing what to write is asking your current clients questions. Ask them why they use your service, how does it help them, and how would they search for a business like your online. These questions can help you understand what your potential customer is searching for online. And if you can write content that has less competition you can rank pretty quickly and start driving in some traffic.
Tracking Your Efforts
Now that you have tried multiple ways of driving traffic, make sure you are tracking all of your efforts with tools like Google Analytics. With most of these methods you really don’t need to do anything as Google Analytics will automatically break down the traffic source. But other things like email and direct mail do require a bit more of a setup to track their efforts properly. And if you don’t have analytics, then next best approach is to just ask how they heard about you, or contact us and we can help integrate your website with your analytic tools.