Generating website traffic is of paramount importance when it comes to determining the success of any online business. Traffic is the ‘currency’ for your website through which you establish an online presence, showcase your products and services, get connected with the world and make money.
In the present day and age, competition is tough with website owners using the same kind of marketing strategies to showcase their products and services. How does one make their website stand out and attract people towards it?
The most effective way to do that is to differentiate your website from everybody else by attaching your own personal brand to it. While marketing strategies can be replicated by everyone, branding is something unique to every business. Having a strong brand reputation will naturally direct people to your website and eliminate competition in the process.
In order to create that positive brand image, it is important to be known as the ‘go-to person’ or expert in your area. Being considered an authority in your field will not only help you in establishing a good reputation, but also instill confidence amongst people about your knowledge and credibility.
Following tips can help you increase traffic to your website by making yourself relevant:
- Create your own blog – One of the easiest ways to showcase your knowledge to the world is to start a blog on your website. Having your own blog works in your favor in two ways. First, adding quality blog content regularly helps you reach out to your audience. Second, it not only helps attract traffic to your blog, but also gives a reason for visitors to come back to your site to view new content.
- Guest blogging – When you write a blog for somebody else, you not only share your expertise with like-minded individuals, but also gain visibility on a platform other than your own. Providing a link to your website at the end of a post is a good idea to direct traffic to your website.
- Participate online – Regular participation in forums and discussions related to your field is a great way to establish a good online reputation for yourself. You can answer questions posted by others, leave comments and exhibit your knowledge to people.
- Join niche social networks – Being part of a social network related to your area of expertise connects you instantly with people having similar interests and keeps your knowledge up-to- date.
- Create e-mail newsletters – Sending out e-mail newsletters at regular intervals will help you reach out to your audience in a much more personalized manner. They can also be used as a means to communicate latest news and information revolving around your product/service offerings.
- Your website- Creating a website is one of the best ways to market yourself and generate web traffic on to your primary website. Use your website to let people know you better by creating a biography, uploading pictures, displaying your work and highlighting your achievements.
Once you have established a position of repute, all you need to do is leverage it to your advantage to increase the popularity and visibility of your website. In this way your personal brand will help enhance the image of your business giving you an edge over others and drive traffic towards your site.
Establishing your image in your respective field is the part which requires some amount of work. Once that is taken care of, website owners can then concentrate on maintaining the reputation built around their name by following a few simple strategies:
- Increase visibility through social networks – One of the easiest ways to increase your visibility is to cross link the profile pages of various social networking sites with your website and blog. Besides revealing your online presence, this will help direct traffic to your website from all mediums.
- Create your own domain name – Another way to use your personal brand to the advantage of your business is to use your own name as the name of your website. This not only strengthens your brand in people’s eyes, but also fortifies the image of your business. In this way, people looking for you will be directed to your site in addition to people looking for the specific services you offer.
- Use signatures – Creating good email and forum signatures is a great way to use your name to the advantage of your business. If done in the right manner, it can help direct a lot of traffic to your website frequently. Make sure the signatures that you use are well structured, simple and to the point.
- Publish RSS Feeds – Publishing an RSS feed will enable visitors to subscribe to your website using an RSS reader, allowing them to get new content automatically and visit your website on a regular basis.
- Create back-links – Linking other websites to yours is one of the easiest means to drive traffic to you. It expands your reach and network automatically besides improving your search rankings. While linking your website to others, it should be kept in mind to link to websites having content relevant to yours.
- Post advertisements – Post advertisements on websites offering free classified ad spaces. The traffic you’ll get this way will most likely be the traffic you want to target, enabling you to get to know a wider audience.
In the end, we should remember that generating website traffic is a people-driven process. While you can use many ways to get people to visit your website, the only way they will come back is if they identify with you and your business at the most basic level. Use your name to build a brand which people would love to identify with and successfully drive your business forward.
