Everyone’s looking for more visitors to their website. It’s a given in this new age of digital business because for a growing number of businesses it’s the only thing that matters. Spend in print and display advertising has dropped sharply in comparison to online advertising, as more business owners recognise that they need to be where the people are – and be able to measure the success of their promotions.
Even traditional advertising is morphing into a type of hybrid promotional arm of digital advertising. Smart advertisers are using billboards or vehicle signage to send people to their website where they can not only measure the “click through” of traditional advertising, but also sell to them more effectively.
So if you haven’t put much effort into your website or digital advertising then it’s getting more urgent to make the switch.
Got a great ad in the yellow pages? Nope, no ones looking there except your grandma wanting a tradesman to fix that dripping tap … but not wanting to pay more than $20. Spending thousands on TV advertising? Great someone needs to help fund overpaid TVNZ executives but if you’re not driving people to your website you’ll get some mindshare but precious little action.
So hopefully we’ve convinced you to go digital – and of course if you don’t already have a business website then check out our reasonably-priced packages. You already have a website I hear you say? But you can’t seem to get a lot of traffic you grumble? Fair enough; if you splash the cash for a website you should be expecting it to work for your business so here’s something that’s worked well for others.
The one tip for increasing website traffic
I know the heading is a little spammy – you’ve seen those click-bait headings – but I know you guys are smarter than that so I’m going to come clean. There is no magic “one” thing to boost website traffic but there are lots of things you can do; this is just one. If you’re already doing it then great, feel free to move on and check out some other tips for generating more visits to your site.
See also: Why isn’t my website showing in Google’s search results?
So ask yourself: What do visitors gain by visiting my website? If your only answer is information about my business then think about how most householders deal with junkmail – it goes straight in the yellow bin. Why? There’s nothing wrong with the presentation, nothing wrong with the wording – it’s just that it’s a sales message, pure and simple. And most people aren’t interested in being sold to (unless they’re actively searching for your product) so in the bin it goes.
The same thing can happen with visitors to your website. If your website is basically an online brochure then the visit will normally be a quick browse, and they’re gone.
But what if they got something of value when visiting your site – think of the sites you visit regularly, what do they have in common? Most likely they provide you something worth coming back for, even better when that something is free. Be it Stuff.co.nz, Metservice.co.nz or Youtube.com, they all offer you something you keep coming back for – trashy news, weather picks for your town or cat videos – so why not do something similar with your website?
Give something of value to visitors – for free
It’s that simple. You might not be able to predict the weather as accurately as the Metservice (cough) but think of something unique that your business can offer.
Maybe you’re a florist – offer tips on looking after bouquets, or what flowers to offer on what occasions. If you’re a mechanic, provide a checklist of things you should look for when buying a car.
There are so many practical things you can offer visitors, and different ways to present it – a daily tip, a weekly YouTube video or a monthly prize draw.
If you need help, either setting up a website, a giveaway page or simply tracking the success of this promotional trick, then let us know.