Resources for Increasing Website Traffic

Although there are many steps you can take and tools you can use to help get people to visit your website, the following methods will help you promote your site quickly, so that web users can find you easily.

 

Pay for Search Engine Advertising (Paid Search)

If you want to get traffic to your site immediately, you can display ads you’ve created to show up on Google and Bing (MSN) when people search for specific keywords. For example, if you wanted your site to show up when a person types in “widget A” in Google, you could bid on Google for the keyword “widget A”. If your bid was high enough, your site would show up on the right side of the Google search results, and you would only pay Google if someone clicked on your ad. Our article on Pay Per Click Strategies for Beginners is a great place to learn more on Pay Per Click Advertising strategies.

Below are the paid search interfaces for the top three search engines. Although these search engines are similar, you should expect to pay significantly more for Google because they display your ads on page one of the paid search results more often than Bing (MSN) does.

Some great tools to find keywords to bid on for your website are:

 

Submit Your Site to Search Engines’ Local Listings

On top of submitting your site to the three main search engines, you can also submit your site to the search engines’ local listings. Local listings are returned in search results for searchers with locations close to your business. How To Use Local SEO To Attract More Customers In Your Area is a great resource that gives information on how to add your local business to Google Places.Submitting your listing is free and can be done using the following links:

Another great resource  for adding your website to the local listings is 'The Local SEO Formula'. This is a step by step video process that offerse a do-it-yourself local Search Engine Optimization course that is simple and easy to follow.

 

Boost Your Visibility on Search Engines

SEO or "search engine optimization" is a fancy term that simply refers to best practices to help get your website listed higher in the search results on top search engines (like Google). This helps people searching on keywords (the specific terms entered into a search engine) relevant to your site find you quickly and easily. The following steps should help you improve your visibility on search engines (SEO):

Use the Right Keywords

To help your website rank higher in the search results list, you should focus on each of the following bullet points:

  • Focus on a couple of keywords per page and different keywords for each page.
  • Use those keywords in your title tag, headings and content.
  • Don’t overuse those keywords.
  • Write your content for your visitors – not for search engines.

Read our article "How do I get my site ranked at the top of the search engines?" for more information on using the right keywords for your website.

Submit Your Site to Search Engines

 Submitting your website helps notify the search engine of websites they should consider adding to their index. Submitting your site to the search engines is free. The three main search engines are: Google, Yahoo, and Bing (MSN). To add your URL to those search engines, please visit the following links:

Submit Your Site to High Quality Directories

One of the most important factors in determining where your site ranks for search terms on the major search engines is the number and quality of websites linking to your site. Directory links are one good method for both increasing traffic and links to your website. The following are some very strong paid directories. The high price point keeps spam and low-quality websites from being listed in these directories.

Submit Your Site to Free Link Directories

Free directory links are good for increasing the number of links that point to your website. The following website gives you 1,245+ directories where you can submit your website. The Page Rank of each directory is listed for you.

Additional ChooseWhat Search Engine Marketing Resources

The following posts from ChooseWhat’s Best Business Tactics article series give additional guidance on getting traffic to your site through Search Engine Marketing:

 

Off-site Branding Website Promotion

In addition to utilizing best SEO practices, you can also use the following marketing tips to increase traffic to your site.

Send Out a Grand Opening Email and Start a Regular Email Newsletter

Sending out a regular email newsletter is a great way of interacting with (and getting repeat business from) existing customers. You can keep your customers up-to-date with your latest products and services as well as offer them coupons that incentivize them to buy more often. Email marketing services provide you with a professional, inexpensive, and effective method of sending regular emails to your customers. Be sure to include a few links to your website in your newsletter, as well as some calls to action.

Visit our Email Marketing Software comparison page to compare the various providers of email marketing software and select a service to send out your first newsletter:

Promote Your Website on Your Business Cards

Promoting your website on your business card is a great way to drive more traffic to your site. In case people don’t remember your website name when you tell them, they’ll be able to refer back to your business card to go to your website.

Visit our Business Cards comparison page to compare business card printing companies and select one that can take you from printed page to web page in a jiffy.

Utilize Social Media to Promote Your Website

Create a Twitter and Facebook account and then link to your site. You can easily friend and follow friends and family at first and then expand your social network to include other people in your field. You're building a community so that other people will want to follow or friend you in return, so make sure to post often to these sites and not just promotional links. Also, feel free to comment on others' tweets or retweet them. Twitter is all about reciprocity, and if you're generous, chances are others will be too. Use Social Networks the Right Way-and Drive Your Business is a great article that provides more in depth information about using social medis to promote your website.