If you build it, they will come—right? Not necessarily. Since websites don’t have the obvious presence of a storefront or the word-of-mouth spread of a new local business, it requires more effort to take your website where the users are. Fortunately, there are several ways to draw visitors that don’t cost a penny—just some planning, diligent work, and time. What follows are three solid strategies that help expand your website’s reach without the overhead of an ad campaign:
Blog
If your website includes a blog, give it plenty of attention. If a blog isn’t part of your website yet, consider adding one. Provided that it is well-maintained with quality content, a blog could be a visitor-magnet for your website. Here are a few ways blogs attract new website users:
Search engines love fresh content, and blogs are the perfect platform to get the job done. Update your blog regularly with fresh, useful content (including a sprinkling of relevant keywords and links), and your blog should help buoy your site’s search rankings, as well as bring in additional search traffic through your posts.
Establish authority.
Anyone can put up a website, but it takes more expertise to regularly provide information that is truly helpful to readers. Through informative articles and helpful comment replies, you can position yourself as an industry expert that readers trust for advice—and in turn, products and services.
Guest blog on other industry websites to further promote your “expert” status, while getting traffic and links to your website in the author byline.
Get it at WordPress, an open-source blogging platform, has dozens of pre-built themes that can be installed on your website and customized to suit your needs.
e-Newsletter
If the idea of adding another piece of spam mail to a user’s inbox makes you queasy, you’re already on the right track; the most successful e-Newsletters are the furthest thing from cheesy promotions. Properly done, e-Newsletters can drive traffic and even boost ad clicks (if your site is monetized), so you should consider adding email marketing to your strategy:
Capture email addresses through an opt-in form on your website or blog. If the idea of receiving more tips doesn’t get readers to bite, offer an incentive for signing up; guides and e-books are popular offers.
Focus on content, not just promotions. Deliver value to your readers—tips, news, and other content that shows there’s something in it for them. Every so often, integrate a special members-only coupon or other discount deal that only subscribers get.
Thoughtful timing lets your subscribers know that you respect their space. By flooding their inboxes, you’re just asking readers to jump ship. If you offer frequent emails, provide an option for subscribers to receive weekly or monthly conglomerate emails instead.
Get it at MailChimp; they offer free email marketing for up to 12,000 subscribers. You can (and should) customize the emails to match your brand style and follow analytics to see what works and what doesn’t.
Social Media
It’s not just for staying in touch with rogue classmates you never talked to (although it can do that). If you’re still stubbornly avoiding the social media bandwagon, you’re missing out on a world of rewarding opportunities. Social media can be integrated into email marketing, blogging, and your website itself, providing far-reaching benefits for your efforts. For the price of free, you can’t beat the visitor-attracting potential of these social media platforms:
Facebook tops the social media list with over 800 million active users (at the time of this writing). If you only have time for one social media platform, Facebook would be a wise choice. Post links to your blog posts, interact with other users, and keep a top-of-mind presence with fellow Facebookers who may be considering your product or service.
Twitter can be a fast and effective way to spread a message, if you play it right. Since users’ feeds update so rapidly, you’ll usually have to Tweet several times a day to be heard. Join in conversations with others in your industry, and post links to your blog posts. Consider adding a widget to your site or blog with a live feed of your most recent Tweets.
Google+ may be the new kid on the block, but it’s also powered by one of the most successful web companies of all time. They recently unveiled a business/brand page to rival that of Facebook’s, with unique features like face-to-face customer chat and the ability to segment one’s audience into circles for more specific targeting.
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