How to increase qualified traffic to your website with Internet marketing techniques
Most companies have one common goal online, to increase the number of conversions on their site. In general an increase in traffic = an increase in sales however that traffic does have to be qualified traffic. The internet is now the largest advertising medium in the UK and for good reason. The internet can offer unrivaled results per pound invested as well as giving you the ability to track your return on investment at every stage of the campaign.
So you have an all singing, all dancing website with all the latest features which cost you a few grand but you are not getting anywhere near the
results you expected from it.
You keep asking yourself why is my site not working?
The simple answer is you do not have targeted traffic visiting your website on a daily basis. Imagine a retail shop that has all the designer clothes and the best prices on the high street. If you open your shop but do not put a sign outside and leave all the windows and doors blacked out the people walking by will have no idea that it is open for business and therefore will walk straight past. You must let people know you are open for business and you need to tempt them in. The same rules apply online you need to make it easy for people to buy from your website.
10 ways to increase targeted traffic to your site
1. Search Engine Optimisation (SEO): Search engine marketing uses keywords in the text, headings, page names and META tags. Links from other relevant websites are another important factor. Relevant is the key here the link must be relevant and the content on the site linking back to yours must also be relevant.
2. Pay per Click (PPC): Advertise on Google and other search engines to get almost instant results. These adverts are displayed based on the search term typed by the user and you pay each time someone clicks thru on your advert and lands on your website. This is a highly effective strategy and gives invaluable data for your Search Engine Marketing campaign.
3. Article Writing: Write and publish informative articles, white papers and place them on article marketing
sites. Other site owners can publish them on their web sites. Links in the bottom resource box will lead interested people to your site.
4. Blogging: Blog marketing attracts readers. Blog regularly (at least once per week) about related topics your targeted customer is interested in. Include links back to your website. This is very effective and if you produce good quality content people will follow your updates and the search engines will too.
5. Social Media Networks: Set up profiles at popular social networking sites like LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube etc. These
social networks are highly effective however you must be active and they are very time consuming so make sure you plan time to do this.
6. Promo Items: Purchase things like pens, cakes or stress balls with your company name and URL on them and give them away at trade shows and industry events. If you can think of something a little different it will make you stand out from the crowd and be remembered.
7. Affiliate Marketing: Advertise on other relevant websites and you pay the website owner each time a referral purchases or takes a particular action such as signing up. Very effective for the right market but always research before signing up.
8. Video: Setup viral video about your company, products and upload them on to a video network site such as youtube or vimeo and also put them on your site.
9. Forums: Participate in online forums as an expert. You get to advertise your business “quietly” in your signature line. However this only works if you actively participate and contribute so make sure you plan time to do this.
10. Free Offer: Offer a free ebook or white paper on your site. Give away a free report or analysis. Promote this everywhere on your site in your emails on social networks and even offline.
Doing all of the above is very time consuming and highly complicated so I do not suggest you try to implement everything all at once. If you do want to tackle internet marketing yourself then write a plan and begin with one or two key techniques. Study these and begin slowly and as your targeted traffic and therefore conversions increase then you can start to free up more resources and tackle other techniques. Alternatively get in touch with an web consultant and discuss your options. Any good Internet consultant should be able to help you with this and should be able to start you off with a reasonable budget and grow the campaign from there.
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