We’ve talked about increasing traffic to your website through paid advertising.
It helps you lead more people to your website — but it may not be a viable option for brands that are tight on the budget.
Want to save while still getting the traffic you desire?
These cost-effective ways can help skyrocket your traffic and sales, plus build your online reputation.
How to Direct Traffic to Your Site on a Tight Budget
SEO
People now rely on search engines like Google, Yahoo, and Bing to search for information or purchase products and services.
They help us find the best businesses, such as restaurants and cafes nearby by displaying them on SERP’s first page.
But how do search engines come up with those results?
That’s because of SEO.
SEO is the practice of boosting the quality and quantity of your site’s traffic. This, by using different optimisation methods, such as keyword research, link-building, building SEO-friendly web design, and more.
Aside from giving you quality traffic, SEO offers various benefits as well.
Strengthen your digital marketing strategy
SEO is a vital tool in creating a successful digital marketing strategy. It boosts your search rankings for better online visibility, conversion rate and ROI.
Recommended: Why You Need Both SEO and Content Marketing to Drive Online Success
It also increases your competitiveness in the online market. With a comprehensive SEO plan in place, you have a higher chance to rise above the competition.
Enhance online credibility
With your website on SERP’s first page, you don’t only gain more attention. It gives users the impression that search engines find your website valuable and trustworthy. Thus, improving your online reputation and earning your customer’s trust.
Improve brand awareness
When users type “the best pizza in Melbourne” on their browser, they’ll most likely visit those brands that are on Google’s first page.
Let your website rank higher on search results. Create a well-planned SEO strategy and apply the right SEO techniques.
Get better conversions
An SEO-optimised website is also built for a better user experience. As a result, visitors stay longer on your website, giving you a higher chance to convert them into customers. As a result, they’re more likely to stay loyal and even recommend your brand.
Create SEO-friendly content
Search engines, like Google, favour web pages that offer quality and well-structured website content. Their algorithm is designed to let users see the best and most relevant content immediately.
So, how do you write quality content?
Google has a checklist on how to optimise your blog posts for better site traffic:
- Write relevant topics
- Create short by concise titles
- Optimise blog images, such as using alt texts
- Do link building or link to other websites in your niche
- Provide meta titles and descriptions
- Utilise H1 to H6 tags properly
- Make your content readable and easy to digest
You can start with keyword research to narrow down words or phrases your target audience is searching for to find businesses like yours. In other words, it’s about learning your potential visitors’ language and using that knowledge to improve your content.
Keyword research also allows you to fine-tune and complete the structure of your web pages. You can choose the main keywords for pages that should be placed at the top of the hierarchy based on their search volume and organic traffic potential.
However, it’s also important to properly and strategically place your keywords. Because by getting them right, Google will recognise the subject matter of your content, allowing it to appear at the right time in response to a search.
Here’s how you can target keywords for your website:
- Analyse what you’re already ranking for
- Think about the overall objectives for each page
- Think about what people might be Googling for
- Know your search intent
- Sort keywords by opportunity to know where to hit
DOWNLOAD: How to Conduct SEO Keyword Research
The bottom line is, when you post regularly and produce content that audiences want to see, there’s a higher chance your website traffic will improve.
Tap SEO experts
The word “experts” may have taken you aback because it usually means “expensive”.
But that’s not always the case.
In fact, outsourcing your SEO would save you time and money. Time because an expert team will handle all SEO-related tasks for you – from planning to implementation. As a result, you can focus more on other important aspects of your business. Money because you can avoid the hassle and costs of building an in-house team.
With Crazy Domains Managed SEO, you can sit back and relax while a dedicated SEO specialist works in getting your website on top search results – all at a low-cost price.
Social Media
Social media websites like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram have become cost-effective platforms for brands to grow their audience. In fact, 73% believe that it has effectively helped their business.
Take note of these best practices when doing social media marketing:
Don’t spread yourself too thin
It’s tempting to create accounts on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Pinterest, Tumblr, Google+, YouTube, Medium, Flickr, LiveJournal, Reddit and Vimeo right away. This is a big no.
Remember, it’s better to do one social platform effectively than do fifteen badly.
Only use social media platforms that your target customers are most active on. Then focus on optimising them to promote your brand.
READ: 10 Clever Content Marketing Tips to Improve Your Small Business Website
Connect
Just like in the SEO section of this article, you need to connect.
The idea that you can operate as the biggest, most famous brand globally and just publish funny content only leads to frustration.
Reach out to other people – comment on their posts, share their content, and remember…
Be a human being, not a brand
That’s what it takes to promote your site for free. Remember that people don’t connect with brands; they connect with personalities.
You can optimise everything, but if you act like a robot, people will treat you like one.
Start planning
When planned properly, you can come up with a winning SEO strategy using those three ways above. You can increase your site’s traffic and save costs at the same time.
As soon as you’re satisfied with your cash flow, start investing in tools like Crazy Domains’ Managed SEO to take your online marketing to the next level!