10 Innovative Ways to Drive Traffic to Your Small Business Website
Once you build a website for your small business, it’s time to generate regular and targeted traffic so that you can start to generate more sales and revenue. But with all the small businesses that have a strong online presence nowadays, that’s certainly easier said than done.
Below you’ll find a list of ten innovative ways to drive traffic to your small business site, and set yourself apart from the competition. This list goes beyond quick fixes, “hacks,” and routine SEO tactics. Continue reading to see how you can drive real targeted traffic to your site while staying ahead of your online competition and maybe having a little fun along the way.
1. Expand the Reach of Your Content by Repurposing It and Structuring It Well
Creating and sharing a lot of original content that’s optimized for search engines via your website is one of the best ways to generate traffic (HubSpot, The Ultimate List of Marketing Statistics). But have you ever wondered, “How does [insert URL to your favorite website here] post 15 pieces of content a week with a staff of only three people? We could never find the time for that!” If so, you’re not alone.
Luckily, there are ways to optimize your content (other than stuffing it full of keywords) so that it generates more traffic. Here are two innovative ways to share more content, more often, without sacrificing the quality of what you create and share.
1. Repurpose Your Content
Go through your content archives and select the items that received a lot of shares and likes. Then repurpose this content by updating it to be more relevant, or by sharing it through a different medium. For instance, if you had a popular blog post about industry trends from 2016, rewrite it for 2018. And if you had a social media post with a lot of likes, then figure out a way to turn it into a blog post.
2. Structure Your Content Well
When you’re creating content, always think of how you can add to it or further break it down into smaller pieces of content, so you can turn one piece of content into several pieces of content. For instance, a white paper on industry trends for an e-commerce solution can easily be broken down into separate blog posts that highlight each trend on its own. At the same time, you can create individual social media posts about each trend.
2. Learn the Art of Guest Blogging
If you know where your audience hangs out online already, then you want to reach them where they already are. Publishing a guest post on a reputable site that your target audience already frequents is a great way for them to learn about you and your website. For instance, if your business sells organic cosmetics, you could find an established website with high traffic that publishes a lot of posts about organics or makeup trends, and post something on their site that links back to your site. And vice versa. Having individuals with a highly trafficked website or social media influence, post content on your site is another great way to draw their followers to your site.
3. Share Reviews and Interviews
Small businesses interested in gaining traction as thought leaders in their industries should share reviews and interviews on their websites and social networks. For instance, a book publisher’s website can share book reviews about their new releases, or share reviews about the best type of software to use while writing a book. They could also interview authors and ask them questions about their unique writing rituals and backgrounds. Sharing reviews and interviews is valuable, and content that provides more value will generate more traffic.
4. Broadcast Live Video
Live video will account for over half of Internet traffic and content consumption in 2018, and beyond. And it exponentially increases website traffic rates and conversion rates (LiveStream, 62 Must-Know Live Video Streaming Statistics). Using platforms like Facebook Live on a regular basis is a great and fun way to drive more traffic to your website. You can use it to demonstrate how to use a new product, to interview an industry thought leader, or to take viewers behind-the-scenes of your business. Simply mention and display your website during your broadcast.
5. Host a Weekly Podcast
To really stand out from the crowd and generate a loyal following, you’ll want to provide valuable content and information to your target audience on a regular basis, so they keep coming back and telling others about your website. Hosting a podcast is a great way to stay on a consistent content schedule that your growing audience can rely on and look forward to each week. During your podcasts, you can interview thought leaders, have your followers ask questions about topics you’re covering, and discuss anything new that happened in your industry. This will ensure that followers stay engaged and continually visit your small business website after you build it. Over time, your loyal listeners will also share information about your podcast and business with others too, and your traffic will continue to grow.
6. Interact with Online Groups and Forums
Pinpoint your target audience and interact with them on other sites — join the same Facebook groups and LinkedIn groups they’re in, frequent the same association pages and blogs they frequent, answer common questions, and share thoughtful responses with them on sites like Reddit and Quora, etc. You can include links to blog posts or podcasts that answer their common questions or concerns too, links that are hosted on your business website. Just be careful not to be too ‘salesy’; this is an opportunity to share your knowledge and gain trust for your business. Marketing directly to the groups could have the opposite effect. Done correctly, participating in groups is a great way to showcase your business’s value to users who share a common interest.
7. Run Contests and Giveaways
To keep prospects and customers visiting your site, run competitions and giveaways that they can participate in on a frequent basis. For instance, a travel site could host a quarterly contest where participants submit photos with the “best view of the beach,” and the winner of the contest wins an all-inclusive vacation to a beach resort. Not only does this keep visitors coming back to a website, but others will hear about the contest or giveaway and will want to participate too.
8. Implement Remarketing Ads
When online users leave your website without buying anything, remarketing ads can help your business reconnect with them by showing them relevant ads across their different devices. But remarketing ads also help drive traffic to your website overall, as they can also be used to attract users who are searching for businesses like yours across platforms.
9. Use Social Sharing Buttons
One of the best and easiest ways to generate more traffic to your website is to include social sharing buttons on the content you publish on your website. Allow users to share your website content on social media, via email, and through other messaging apps. But don’t only do this for blog posts. Take social sharing buttons to an innovative level by including them on landing pages, products pages, and other useful content published on your website.
10. Take Things Offline
Present at conferences, go to meetups and events, join a national association or local group, and tell everyone you can where they can find information about what your business does or what you’re talking about: your website. Word-of-mouth is still a great way to tell a lot of people about your small business website, and to get people to visit it. And a lot of businesses will miss these opportunities, in the age where everything is only thought of as existing online.
Ultimately, the best way to drive traffic to your small business website after you build it, is to find your target audience and interact with them on a regular basis using some of the tactics highlighted above.