In this collaborative article, experts share diverse strategies to increase website traffic. Colm Docherty highlights relevant content, backlinks, and E-A-T principles in securing search engine visibility. Bill Napier emphasises the shift towards social media as the primary search tool, urging businesses to invest in engaging content across platforms. Aditya Pandey offers a tech-savvy approach, advocating for SEO mastery, custom GPT creation, and rigorous fact-checking. Paul Zanelli focuses on the significance of high-quality content, social media promotion, and targeted advertising for increased visibility and engagement. Sam Johnston proposes a multifaceted strategy integrating SEO, social media, and personalisation to address evolving audience needs and behaviours. If these sound interesting to you read their full contributions below:
Colm Docherty
Founder, Edge45
- CONTENT! For search engines to show your webpage on page 1 for a particular search query, they need to ascertain whether your page is relevant and related to that query. If it isn’t, you won’t show. So if you sell double glazing in London, make sure your page talks about double glazing in London, for example, client case studies, radius you cover etc. Search engines are not mind readers, you need to feed them content.
- LINKS! The search engines consider a link from another website to yours as a vote of confidence, an endorsement if you like. When websites b,c,d,e and f all link to website A, the search engines believe that website A must be important so will be promoted higher in the search engine rankings.
- E-E-A-T! Search engines do not want to promote websites that could cause harm to the end user, that’s not good for their business. Websites that can evidence their Experience, Expertise, Authority and Trust will get a favourable boost over those that do not. What does this mean exactly? Well, let’s say you are a dental practice promoting your various treatments, put yourself in your customers’ shoes, what would sway them to go with you over a competitor if all things regarding price etc. were the same? Would you go with the one that had genuine positive reviews, names and qualifications of the dentists as well as their years of experience and a brick-and-mortar address? Or would you go for the one that had none of these?
Bill Napier
Napier Marketing Group, LLC
Of course, content is always King.
Most e-commerce websites show pictures with minimal content. This “minimal content strategy” ensures you will not get the traffic you may deserve. You must have descriptions; and unique attributes that define the product, how to use it, and why you need it.
People are starving for content, NOT just pretty pictures, unless they are positioned with engaging content, not just specifications. We are marketing to the “ME” generation today. They are tech-savvy and are abandoning traditional search in favor of social media. If you don’t embrace this trend and fact, you may be abandoned too.
Second, Websites are NOT necessarily SEARCH DESTINATION AS THEY USED TO BE. They are more transactional and devoid of specialty search terms as I mentioned above.
The new search King, is Social Media. Gone are the days when your website is your primary discovery search tool, why, because social media is fast becoming the primary search tool for virtually everything; product recommendations, unique furniture styles and functions, how to do things, where to go, and even apartment tours.
Social media has quickly become the sales funnel path that your social media followers go through from discovering your product on social media to making a purchase. Websites are quickly becoming more obsolete as a stand-alone destination. They are merely a shopping tool, not a browsing tool. Our target markets are engaging with content on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, YouTube, Pinterest, and even Reddit.
You MUST invest in all the social platforms that your audience engages with. And NOT to post pretty pictures, but fun, engaging, and relevant content of course.
Here’s an example of a 12-second video that shows the unique functions and attributes of a sectional sofa on TikTok. It has 482,000 Likes, 1,500 comments, and 42K shares. It’s simple, informative and shows you exactly why you may want and need this item.
Lastly invest in a person or agency to manage your SEO, content, inbound marketing, and especially Social. This is how you’ll get noticed, increase traffic to your website, and more transactions.
Remember, Websites are NOT necessarily SEARCH DESTINATION AS THEY USED TO BE.
Aditya Pandey
Digital Marketing Manager at Anthony Gold Solicitors
My top 3 ways to increase traffic to your website:
1. Taking care of SEO basics:
With the introduction of ChatGPT and other AI tools that have led to a sudden rise in long-format blogs, most of which contain generic information, businesses need to have the basics cleared:
– Detailed information based on proper keyword research
– Search volume
– Ranking difficulty
– Content structure (Headings and sub-headings to be added in a Markdown format).
2. Creating custom GPT for your business:
While ChatGPT 4.0 is a massive improvement from the previous 3.5 version, it can still be extremely exhausting and time-consuming to prepare it for writing a blog set to match your expectations and requirements, from the perspectives of SEO, branding, internal links and a markdown format.
Furthermore, ChatGPT’s 40-command restrictions may sound like a lot, however, they go by in an instant when you are trying to optimise the different aspects of the blog.
One way to therefore reduce the blog-writing time, while ensuring good quality content would be to create your own custom GPT. Spend about an hour configuring the GPT by giving it a set of basic instructions that it will remember forever (so that you don’t have to do the prep-work every time you need a high-ranking blog). Add instructions like:
– The list of blogs and service pages to choose from, when internally linking the content.
– Remembering to add a dedicated Call to Action wherever required.
– Using British English or American English
– Surfing the internet using Bing for trending topics and data while doing research work.
– Integrating DALL-E for image generation, wherever required.
3. Fact-check the content thoroughly
No matter how advanced AI gets, ChatGPT’s tendency to hallucinate and ‘make up’ data out of thin air will always haunt me in my dreams. Therefore, it is extremely important to fact-check the content from top to bottom before publishing it on your website. This is not only important to maintain and develop your Topical Authority – one of the leading factors for Google, when ranking your content, but also to save your reputation in the industry. There is nothing more insulting and counterproductive for a business than a bad reputation.
Paul Zanelli
1. Deliver High-Quality, Valuable Content. Focus on creating content that addresses your target audience’s interests and pain points. Use keyword research tools (like keyword planner) to uncover search terms that your audience uses, incorporating them into your content naturally. This approach ensures your content is both informative and search engine friendly. Good quality content will be more shareable and promote links. A good link-building strategy (internal & external) is a must as part of your overall plan.
All content you post online should be primarily for the user. Doing you will increase engagement and conversions. However, in order to rank well, you do need to consider optimising for Search Engines. Ensure your site’s technical health by adhering to SEO best practices, such as a well-organised site structure, quick loading times, responsiveness to mobile devices, and accurate meta descriptions and title tags. These elements are crucial for improving your website’s visibility in search engine results pages (SERPs).
2. Social Media Promotion and Engagement Share your content on social media channels where your audience is most active. Use high-quality visuals, engaging captions, and hashtags to increase visibility. Tailoring content to each platform can enhance user engagement and drive traffic to your website. It also helps with your overall reach and brand awareness at various points of the buyer journey.
Foster a Community: Engage with your audience by responding to comments, participating in relevant discussions, and conducting targeted social media campaigns. This not only boosts your brand’s presence but also encourages regular visits to your website from engaged community members.
3. Consider implementing targeted advertising campaigns. Platforms like Google Ads, Microsoft Ads, and social media ads can complement your organic efforts, reaching a broader audience. Define your audience precisely, set measurable goals for your campaigns, and use analytics to track performance and ROI. Adjust your strategies based on these insights to ensure maximum effectiveness.
4 (Bonus Tip). Leverage Analytics for Continuous Improvement: Regularly reviewing your traffic data through tools like Google Analytics is vital for understanding your audience’s behavior and preferences. This data allows you to refine your strategies, enhance user experience, and adjust your tactics to keep pace with evolving trends and maintain traffic growth.
Sam Johnston
Co-founder nth Venture and CSO SBR2TH
When addressing the challenge of increasing website traffic (A fundamental metric of digital marketing success.) I would propose a multifaceted strategy rooted in data-driven insights, customer-centric content, and technology leverage. This approach, reminiscent of discussions found in the Harvard Business Review, underscores the necessity of integrating sophisticated marketing tactics with a deep understanding of our audience’s evolving needs and behaviors.
1. Leveraging SEO and Content Marketing Synergistically:
A cornerstone of my strategy revolves around optimizing our website’s search engine visibility through a combination of SEO best practices and compelling, value-driven content. By conducting thorough keyword research and competitor analysis, we can identify the search queries our target audience uses. This insight allows us to tailor our content to address their questions, pain points, and interests more effectively. Furthermore, optimizing on-page elements (like meta tags, headers, and images) and ensuring our content’s relevance and authority not only improves our search rankings but also enhances user engagement. This strategy is not about gaming the system but about becoming the best answer to our customers’ questions, thereby driving organic traffic that is both high in quantity and quality.
2. Embracing the Power of Social Media to Amplify Reach:
Social media platforms are invaluable for increasing website traffic, not just for their ability to reach millions of potential customers but for their capacity to engage audiences in meaningful ways. By crafting platform-specific content that resonates with our audience’s preferences and behaviors, we can foster a community of engaged followers. This involves not only promotional content but also interactive and shareable content that encourages participation and sharing, thereby extending our reach organically. Additionally, leveraging influencers and brand advocates can amplify our message, tapping into new audiences and driving traffic back to our site. The key is to maintain a balance between promotional and value-added content, ensuring that our social media efforts align with our brand’s voice and values.
3. Investing in Data Analytics and Personalisation:
The final pillar of my strategy is the sophisticated use of data analytics and personalisation technologies. By analysing user behavior on our website and other digital touchpoints, we can gain insights into user preferences, pain points, and journey paths. This data allows us to personalise the user experience on our website, tailoring content, recommendations, and offers to match individual user profiles. Personalisation not only enhances the user experience but also significantly increases the likelihood of conversion, as users are more likely to engage with content that feels specifically crafted for them. Furthermore, leveraging A/B testing and continuous optimisation ensures that our tactics remain effective and responsive to changing user behaviors and market trends.
In conclusion, this collaborative article provides a comprehensive roadmap for businesses seeking to increase website traffic. Our experts, including Colm Docherty, Bill Napier, Aditya Pandey, Paul Zanelli, and Sam Johnston, collectively stress the importance of relevance, content richness, and embracing new trends like social media as the primary search tool. From SEO mastery, custom GPT creation, and fact-checking to high-quality content delivery, social media engagement, and personalized experiences, the strategies offered cater to diverse aspects of digital marketing. The overarching theme revolves around adapting to changing user behaviors, staying informed with data-driven insights, and leveraging technology to create a holistic approach for sustained website traffic growth.
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