Let’s face it, the world today is nothing like it was, say 10 years ago. Almost everything connects to the internet these days. I mean, just the other day my toaster was displaying the worlds current events to me. Putting this all into perspective means that you need to target traffic to your website if you are going to make it in the digital age. You can have the most beautifully designed website in the world, but if nobody visits it, then you might as well take it down. Does this remind you of the saying, “If a tree falls in the woods does anyone hear it?” phrase?
Most large corporations with unlimited marketing budgets have no trouble targeting traffic to their company website. But if you are a small business what do you do? You could hire a search engine optimization company..or an online marketing firm. You can read about search engine optimization tips on blogs, in magazines, books, etc.
If you know the right strategies, and where to find the proper techniques you can get plenty of targeted traffic without spending a lot of money.
1. Build an E-Mail List
This is a frequently overlooked technique that the small business minded individual forgets about. If you are out on a job, performing one of the many services you offer to your clients, try to get your customers email address. Of course you can collect this information on the web with a simple contact form, but word of mouth works just as great. When you are filling out the bill for your customer, kindly ask them for their email address. If they get hesitant, explain to them that their email address will be kept private, for your use only, and that you frequently send out coupons to loyal customers.
2. Focus your efforts on Organic Search Results
Organic Search Engine Optimization (SEO) has the ability to pull in large amounts of traffic without pulling out your wallet (if you do it yourself, if you hire a company, it will cost money). Organic search is the unpaid listings of websites that show up when someone performs a search on a search engine site like Google, Yahoo! or Microsoft Bing – basically it’s the “non-advertisement” links on the Search Engine Results Page (SERP). With almost 80% of all online transactions starting out with an internet search, not only is your targeted audience ready to buy – but you have the potential to bring in more traffic then paid advertisement (search engine marketing) results have.
Sometimes getting organic website traffic is easier said than done. And you should be aware that some companies will have a full-time employee, if not a team, of individuals who only focus on organic search engine optimization.
3. Social Media Marketing
Social media marketing is employing the use of social network sites such as Twitter, Facebook , YouTube or LinkedIn to connect with potential customers on a social level. Of course there are many Social Networking websites available, so choosing the ones that fit your company’s needs is also important. Social networking sites allow you to connect with and converse with other users who have similar interests as you. This is the perfect opportunity to build brand awareness of your website, product, or service with your audience on a personal level which is more effective than a push media level (ie. radio advertisements, television commercials)
Of course you need to remember that when you participate in social networking sites on a corporate level, you need to make sure anything you do, publish or say on these sites is done in a way that actually adds value to someone’s day. If you are going to sign up just to spam website links, or content, then you will likely have sub-par results.
4. Develop Public Relations
Public relations is a valuable part of any marketing campaign no matter how big or small your business is. It can build traffic and awareness of your business, product or service. There are public relations (PR) companies out there that can write articles about your business, website, product or service. PR News Online is a great resource of everything public relations. They offer all types of information relation to PR Firms, Article Writing and more, they are definitely worth a look.
5. Add Value to Other Sites
Have you heard the term, “Web 2.0”? Web 2.0 is basically user created content on another site. So contributing to forums, discussions or some other type of user-created content that is relevant to your business will help boost organic search results because of the back links that you are building and so on. There is almost a niche forum site for any type of business industry out there, Lawyer Forums, Question and Answers, Ask a ______, whatever your flavor, there is something out there for everyone. For instance, XTELWEB is a website design and search engine optimization company – we provide help on a website developer forum called DaniWeb,
6. Get Others Involved
Sometimes the best way to build brand awareness is to focus on word of mouth tactics. Word of mouth is actually a very effective form of marketing online and offline. Word of mouth is actually not that far behind celebrity endorsement when it comes to marketing effectiveness. This marketing method can drive traffic to your website by using both of these proven techniques. When you get people involved in your website (either as guest bloggers, by giving them an interview, etc) you are doing two powerful things. First, you are actually giving people a small portion of ownership in what you are doing. When they invest the time to contribute and assist the site they buying into the idea that it is worth their time and effort, this will make them much more likely to want your website to succeed and tell other people about it.
And if you can get a well-known figure to contribute to your website, you get their endorsement and it can boost your creditability (even to the point of matching their own). This tactic will subconsciously resonate with users and put the site at higher status than they would previously, making site visitors more eager to share your site with others, contribute to the site and return for future visits.
7. Syndicate Your Content
Creating high quality content is very important for this next technique to work. First of all, high quality content creates a win/win situation for everyone involved. Your customers, or website visitors learn something from high quality content, and in turn will share your content with others. Approach popular websites and offer to publish (syndicate) your articles on their site. Their websites win because you are providing high quality relevant content to their readers without them having to provide the work. And you are building brand awareness/traffic to your site through the article byline.
Even if you can’t find a website that will allow you to publish on to theirs, don’t worry, there are plenty of directory websites that allow article publishing. One thing to remember though, the article you write must be unique, relevant and useful. You cannot copy and paste another person’s article, or an article you have already published somewhere else, and expect it to be re-published.
8. Offer Contests
I know I said free ways to generate traffic, but this is a no brainer. Contests are very effective any way you look at it. Everyone wants to be a winner, right? Offer contests on your websites, the prize can be a gift certificate to your company, a free service of some sort, or a free product. Contests are great for everyone, and they usually get shared through social networking sites. A contest can build brand awareness and interest for your company, product or service. What do people have to do when they enter a contest? Fill out forms…right?… And what is on those forms?…email addresses! This relates to seo tip #1, build an email list. This is the perfect opportunity to collect information about your customers, by collecting their email addresses. So even though you will be giving something away, you will also be receiving, so they cancel each other out, and this will end up being a FREE SEO technique to generate website traffic.
9. Be Remarkable
This next tip comes from a marketing guru who goes by the name, Seth Godin. He often talks about the importance of “being remarkable”. The idea to keep in mind is that if you are “the best in the world” at something it will naturally market for you. The important part of achieving this status is by picking a very specific and narrow niche or specialty. If you have a content focused website, what particular topic can you cover better than anyone else in the marketplace? If you run a company that provides services, what very narrow and specific niche can you serve better than any of the other companies in the market?
By narrowly focusing your attention on becoming the best at this specialty you will become remarkable, and an expert too. Your demand for YOU will increase and people will start finding your site naturally! This is actually very effective and will generate traffic then if you try and be “good” in a market that is already saturated with those who can do a better job than you.
10. Start an Organization or Group
Throughout the history of mankind we have always had a desire to belonging and community. It does not take much looking to find a group of like-minded individuals that share the same interests you do. By starting a weekly meet up through the use of online social networking, you can collaborate on business ideas, marketing ideas, and basically just brainstorm about things that work and do not work. You will be surprised how quickly everyone in the group grows, and how much you can all help each other. As the founder and head of the group or organization, you will receive a lot of notoriety and interest. This will provide great opportunities for you to have links and advertisements for your company or website throughout the areas in which your group interacts.
Conclusion
It is always great to get something for nothing ( see #8 ) , and search engine optimization, higher organic rankings in the search engine results page (SERP) is no different. If you market your website correctly, through the use of social networking sites like Twitter, Facebook, YouTube or LinkedIn, or one of the many social networking sites available, and combine several techniques together, you will find that search engine optimization is not that difficult. One important, key factor to remember is that organic SEO takes time and also is not “one time”, meaning that you have to work on it monthly.
If you feel like you don’t have the time for your own search engine optimization. Contact XTELWEB and we will be glad to give you a hand.
