5 Strategies Proven to Boost Web Traffic

If you’re looking at your website traffic for the month and are disappointed by it, know that it doesn’t have to be this way. No matter what your product, service, or industry, there are things that you can start doing today to boost web traffic to your site. 

These 5 strategies are proven to boost web traffic and can help you turn around those disappointing numbers.

Write More Content

More isn’t always better, except that it is, especially when it comes to content on your website. The equation is simple: more content = more keywords used = more opportunities for searchers to find you. 

We can complicate that a little by adding that your search engine ranking will increase the more you use keywords in unique instances in your content (i.e., the more blogs and pages you have on a subject, the higher your ranking for the related keywords).

While average blog content length is between 500 and 800 words, we’re finding out that the optimum content length for blog posts is actually much longer—think in the thousands of words. Digital marketing influencer Neil Patel says that the best blog content (most shares, most engagement, etc.) is actually 3,000 to 10,000 words.

But aren’t people’s attention spans shrinking? I thought no one read anymore?

Here’s the deal: people aren’t necessarily reading all of your content. They’re skimming it. The more content you have, the more they’re going to get out of it, since they’re only seeing and digesting less than a third of the words on the page. 

Plus, it establishes authority for your organization—the more you have to say about something, the more it seems like you know what you’re talking about. 

Get Active on Social Media

Social media is one of the best tools for reaching potential customers and leads. Everyone (or nearly everyone) is using at least one form of social media, if not several. 

For those reasons alone, not to mention the advertising, sharing, and engagement capabilities of these platforms, social media is a critical part of any digital strategy, and for increasing traffic to your website.

So, first of all, have a social media presence on all of the platforms that are relevant to your industry, whether that be LinkedIn and Twitter or Instagram and Houzz. Ensure that your website URL is in your bio (Instagram, Twitter, and Pinterest) or in the designated profile field (Facebook, LinkedIn, and Houzz) so that people can find it. 

You should also be using your social media to promote your content. Share your blog posts across your social media channels so that followers and their followers can read, like, and share them. You can also refer users to relevant content when they have questions about your company, products, or services. Those shares will bring users directly to your content on your site, boosting traffic.

Use Mobile-Friendly Design

Mobile-friendly design or mobile-responsive design is web design that accommodates different types of devices and different screen sizes, as well as the differences in the way that internet users interact with websites on different devices. 

A website with mobile-friendly design will have pages that adapt to various screen sizes, ensuring that design elements and text scale to the appropriate size for the screen they’re displayed on and that text, buttons, menus, etc. are readable and usable.

Additionally, internet users searching on mobile are going to have different behavior than those using computers. They’re less likely to read long content (scrolling thumb is realllll) and they’re also less likely to complete long forms. 

So, you may want to consider how your content presents to the mobile user, as well as shortening or autofilling forms. 

Over 60 percent of searches are performed on mobile devices, and, according to HubSpot, 63 percent of people expect a mobile-responsive website design. What this means is that website visitors want to view your site on their tablets and smartphones. If they can’t, you’re going to lose their attention and they’ll navigate away from your site.

More to the point though, mobile-friendly design is crucial if you want to boost web traffic. Why? 

The answer won’t surprise you: Google’s algorithm. 

Since 2015, Google has been using mobile-friendliness as a ranking signal for mobile searches. In 2016, Google began mobile-first indexing, meaning that rather than the desktop version of sites being what the algorithm uses to determine the value of the content to the user, mobile pages are indexed first. 

[bctt tweet="If your site isn’t mobile-responsive, you’re going to be penalized by the Google algorithm, which will affect the volume of traffic to your site." username="Evenbound"]

Use Google Ads

People are using Google all day, every day, everywhere. 

That means that people, all day, every day, everywhere are seeing Google ads. And that’s why they work. 

Google ads are a simple, comprehensive, and targeted way to reach your desired markets and direct them to your website and landing pages. Whether through paid search or the Google Display Network, Google ads can drive traffic to your website.

Write Guest Blogs

Guest blogging is the practice of writing blog posts that are featured on other blogs in your field or industry. 

You might be thinking, Why should I write content for someone else’s blog and boost their SEO and web traffic when I could post it on my blog? 

Well, guest blogging:

• Builds credibility—By being invited or allowed to guest blog, you’re having other industry professionals vouch for your knowledge and experience. 
• Reaches new audiences—The site you’re guest blogging for might have a greater or slightly different audience than your blog, and by writing a guest blog, you’re reaching a new audience for whom your products and services are relevant.
• Gets your site a link—The site you’re guest blogging for is going to include some information about you, the guest blogger, and your organization. This will include a link to your site (or it should!). Google takes into account the number of inbound links to your site in search engine ranking, and higher search engine rankings equal more web traffic.
• Doesn’t preclude similar content on your own site—Obviously, you can’t just copy one of your existing blogs and send it to another site as a guest blog, or they’ll get penalized for duplicate content. But what you can do is write on the same subject as a guest blog you wrote on your own site. Make sure the wording and formatting are fresh, but the ideas conveyed can be reimagined and posted.
• More content to promote on social media—just because it’s not on your blog doesn’t mean you shouldn’t promote it through your social channels. Your followers may find the content interesting and useful and choose to engage with it and with your company. 

While you’re at it, you should have guest bloggers on your blog as well. The benefits of guest bloggers on your site include:

• Building credibility by linking to other, credible industry professionals
• More content and unique instances of keywords
• Outbound links to reputable, relevant sites
• Social sharing of the content by the author, amplifying your social media activity

Tried everything and still not seeing a traffic boost? Let's chat. Inbound marketing is our thing, and we're experts at driving the right, qualified traffic. We'd love to see how we can help.