Whenever you’ve spent time or money on your website. It’s important that you know how to drive traffic to your website, so that you can attract new customers to your business.
This activity doesn’t require lots of technological or digital skills. It is a type of pure marketing which I seek to enable you to implement for yourself and it falls within the final section of your Marketing Plan, where you use tactics to make your Marketing Strategy a reality.
As your website is a representation of your Marketing strategy, the process of developing your strategy should mean that you have a clear idea of what you want to say to your target audience. If you’d like a reminder of the tactics which are used to implement your strategy, you can revisit my blog on the 4P’s of Marketing. Today’s topic sits comfortably within the important instalment on Promotions, for which I used an analogy of a peacock. The 4P’s model was first introduced to marketers in 1960, and was expanded in 1981 to 7P’s for the use of services, rather than physical products. The additional P’s are:
- Physical evidence is the way that your customer encounters your brand prior to purchase. It includes: flyers, clinic signage, and your website.
- People who deliver your service on your behalf must do so by reflecting your brand, such as wearing a uniform.
- Process is the customer’s involvement in the production process, perhaps via a consultation or discovery call or completing an online registration form. All these steps must reflect your brand and its values.
If you’re not totally happy with your website, I recommend that you read this useful guide from a local PR professional whom I admire, Islay O’ Hara. Once you’re happy with your website and it’s published, it’s time for you to behave like the colourful macaw which illustrates this topic.
When you’re considering how to drive traffic to your website, you cannot be shy. You must be like a showy macaw, happy to be noticed. Their colourful feathers help to attract a mate because they’re an indication of good health. Your promotion of your website will be evidence of your strength and health, which is significant, especially post-pandemic. Use your website promotion as an opportunity to tell your target audience that you’re still in business and eager to solve their problems for them.
Here are my recommendations for how to drive traffic to your website:
First, find a compelling item of content which will meet your customers’ needs and which contains a call to action. The content must deliver immediate value to the visitor, which will tempt them to explore your site and respond by subscribing or enquiring. The goal for you is to make them aware of your service and trigger their interest for consideration at their leisure. Once you’ve selected your compelling item of content it will be time to squawk about it loudly to your target audience. Social media is the medium I recommend for you to do this, thanks to the option of embedding links in digital posts, which means that your prospect will enjoy a frictionless journey to discover your site. Do this by asking a simple question which highlights the problem which you aim to solve, followed by a link to your compelling content on your site. If they click through they’ll have entered your sales funnel and either your new website will deliver a sale for you, or your response to their completion of your call-to-action.
How will you know if you’ve cracked how to drive traffic to your website?
Track your web traffic using tools like Google Analytics and Sprout, both of which offer free introductory options. You can find out more Tips to improve your SEO here in this blog from Emma Langridge of Bramley Business Solutions, who helps me to run my business more easily.
By linking to Emma’s and Islay’s sites in this Memo, I’m taking advantage of an SEO tip which Emma taught me. When this Memo is posted onto my website, it will be more likely to appear high up in a Google search, thanks to its links to these external, relevant sites which is a mutually beneficial collaboration. I improve my Google ranking while they may attract new visitors. It’s a proverbial win-win.