3 FUNDAMENTALS TO DRIVE WEB TRAFFIC TO YOUR SITE
There are over 110 million websites on the Internet today. Trying to offer a unique product or service that can be found by global consumers and businesses is an extremely tough task. Banner ads, e-mail campaigns, yellow pages, or any other online marketing methods can only do so much. So, what other tools can a business use in order to drive traffic to its website? The three fundamentals that can help any business drive more traffic and potentially great prospects to their website are strong content, a well-optimized site, and continual pay per click advertising.
- Strong content-creating user and search engine friendly content is a task on its own. All the bells and whistles in the world will not hold an audience like compelling information. Ask yourself: Why would prospects stay on my website? What do I have that they need? What are they seeking? What keeps them there once they visit? One technique you can use to good effect is that of writing articles pertaining to your site's topic. After all, who knows more about your products and services than you? Not only does this give your visitors yet another reason to keep coming back to your site, but it also allows you to reach out beyond your site. There are many other websites out there looking for authoritative information about specific topics. Find those sites and submit your articles to them. This creates a "win-win" situation-the other website gains the benefit of your knowledge, while you are further recognized as an authority in the field. Getting a link from that site back to yours brings more visitors to your site, and increases your site's link popularity. Keeping an archive of articles on your website builds your knowledge base. You can refer visitors to your articles when answering their questions. People searching for information on the topics you have written about will find your articles listed in their search results. Other content solutions include professional product reviews, FAQ's about your products and services, video tutorials, photos (i.e. Flickr) or even blogs and RSS Feeds. Blogging and RSS Feeds are great ways to show your visitors what's new in your industry. Blogging will inform the search engines and directories automatically that you have new content. RSS Feeds allow your regular users to receive new information about your site.
- Well-optimized site-search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of analyzing your site and modifying it to enable search engines like Yahoo! to read it, understand it, and index it correctly. It is an important component of the backend programming and tagging of your existing Web content. This does not mean you have to run out and change your site; it could mean subtle content changes and adding or modifying text so that the search engines can read and interpret it more accurately. A good Web developer or a search engine optimizer can do wonders to your organic search engine rankings.
- Pay per Click Advertising (PPC) or Search Engine Marketing is the third element that helps drive Web traffic to your site. PPC is a cost-efficient way to get your ads displayed at the top of search engines like Yahoo! and Google. With PPC, the advertiser can control its spending budget and select the geographical region for which he/she wants their ad to appear. PPC allows companies to purchase keywords that relate to their product and services. Search engines offer numerous tutorials to help businesses better understand the features and benefits of search engine marketing. They also provide tools to better track the budget, the traffic, and the conversion rate (which is a topic on its own-I will discuss the next issue of Enterprise). In conclusion with the right, updated and relevant content, proper search engine optimization and an organized pay per click campaign, your business will reap the tremendous benefits of your online marketing investment.
Maor Daniel is the National Marketing Manager @ Yahoo! Search Marketing. Maor is responsible for all Canadian Marketing operations including acquisition, retention and education of small and medium businesses focusing on online marketing. He can be reached at mdaniel@yahoo-inc.com.