Top 10 tips for getting traffic to your website

Over the past 10 years as a Digital Marketer and eCommerce Manager, I’ve worked with brands from fashion and beauty retailers to service industries in roofing, medical, building and cleaning. I’ve learnt several ways to get leads to sites, and here are my top 10 tips for getting traffic to your website!

Tip #1 – Collab Queen

If you are low on marketing spend, focus on free traffic first. You’ll get good results early through collaboration. Find businesses that share a similar audience so you can leverage each other’s following. Collabs happen from micro to macro scale, and the options are endless. Consider doing Instagram competitions, product offerings or promoting each other’s services.

Tip #2 – Get Social, Duh!

Instagram and Facebook are the default platforms everyone visits, so yes, these are important. However, consider the industry you are in. Take a deep dive into your audience and who you want to target. Are they all on TikTok, or are they skewed towards a professional crowd on LinkedIn? You don’t need to cover all platforms, and you really shouldn’t. Look at what your target audience is on the most and invest your time into that platform.

Tip #3 – Your Grid Is Essential!

This is predominately for Instagram but can work for most social platforms. Think of your social page as an extension of your website it can be the first time someone is introduced to your brand.

Ensure that your content is clear, has good branding, and your bio provides relevant information about your business. Your profile is all about getting traffic to your website, so make sure you provide a call to action and link to it. Otherwise, you’ll just be building a community, which is lovely but doesn’t necessarily pay the bills!

Tip #4 – Have More Spend?

Google Ads are a great way for getting traffic to your website. Many new businesses might steer away from this option as it can be too expensive; however, considering the return on ad spend (ROAS), it may be worthwhile. My suggested budget is $1500/month (minimum) and test for 3 months minimum. Obviously, if you are not getting any return, it’s time to revise your ad strategy or look at engaging a freelancer (oh hey there) who can help you set it up or manage the campaign.

4.1 Google Shopping Is Free*

You do not have to pay for ads to be part of Google shopping. See here for more details. This is a great (and free) way to get more traffic to your website.

Tip #5 – Influence Is Key

You may have worked with influencers and not been particularly impressed with the results. Don’t write them off just yet! There are so many ways you can get more from an influencer partnership. Most importantly, don’t just go for popularity. Make sure there is an authentic connection between your brand, the influencer and their audience. Work with them to ensure they link to your product or website and give them an incentive/offer/promotion/value add they can share with their community. Working with an influencer is about creating a partnership. The more you treat them as a valued part of your business, the more return you will get.

Tip #6 – On the First Page

Ohhh boy, this is a big one. In my opinion, SEO is the most important element to getting more traffic to your website. The challenging part is it can take months, if not longer, to rank on the first page for your target keywords (if ever depending on your competition).

The key is working on SEO. ALL. THE. TIME. This is hard when you have a squillion things to do, but it will benefit you in the long term. SEO is key to driving organic and unpaid traffic to your website. You are more likely to convert because you are reaching users in a time of need. They are literally looking for something that you provide.

Tips on how to rank higher with google search:

• Content marketing consistency
• Regular blog posts, multiple times per week if possible (It’s a lot, I know!)
• Researching relevant keywords and identifying keyword opportunities
• Ensuring information on your website is optimised for SEO
• Correct heading tags
• Relevant image alt tags
• Your sitemap is active and up to date
• Extra points for using structured data
• Developing a backlink strategy

There is a lot to unpack here, and perhaps some terms that aren’t particularly familiar. If this is all too much, I can help!

Tip # 7 – Advertise Socially

A lot of smaller businesses are utilising Facebook Ads to generate site traffic, and why not!

It’s relatively cheap (we’ll get to that) and easy(ish) to use, but the great thing is you can be highly specific with who sees your ads. FB lets you target based on location, demographic, interests or what they had for dinner (almost!).

Something to keep in mind is that you may need to spend more to see results. FB ads operate in a learning phase until they hit a certain amount of clicks or sales (based on your campaign goals). If you don’t hit that target, you stay in learning limited, meaning your ads don’t perform as well. This is unfortunate for low marketing budgets. With FB, the more you spend, the more you’ll get.

I suggest starting with $50/day for traffic or conversion campaigns and amending your budget based on results.

Tip #8 – Get Them Back

Retargeting is not as common as some of the previously mentioned traffic tips but still very important. With this you’ll be reaching previous visitors to your site with ads. It can be through FB or external parties such as Criteo. Remember those shoes you were looking at that kept following you around on other websites? That’s retargeting.

This can be very effective in driving traffic back to your site and making the sale. Keep in mind, you need a minimum of $2k/month to be in the game here.

Tip #9 – Emails Are Still Important 

Emails are a great way to stay connected with your customers and get them back to your site.

There are multiple ways to communicate with email; some of the most common are blast EDMs, personalised emails, abandoned baskets and a welcome series.

Email might not be as sexy as social media outreach, but it is one of the most critical traffic drivers. Build your email database. It should give you a higher conversion rate than most other channels.

Tip #10 – Affiliates May Be Your Thing

Another lesser-known traffic source is affiliate programs. This is where deal sites, bloggers and loyalty programs drive traffic to your site for a sale commission. This option isn’t for everyone as specific programs require a minimum amount of website traffic. However, it’s worthwhile to research which affiliate programs are relevant to your product.

The top affiliate platforms are Rakuten, Commission Factory, Unidays.

BONUS – Don’t Forget Networking and Offline Activity

You are operating digitally but don’t forget about the analog world! Anywhere with high foot traffic is an excellent opportunity to display your brand. Popping up an eye-catching poster at your local café or leaving business cards with a nearby business will help spread the word.

Don’t forget traditional advertising. Magazines, publications, bus-stop boards or radio ads are still good ways to generate business. If you are a bit daring, guerrilla marketing could be an option. Use your hustle muscle and think outside the box.

Try the above list for getting traffic to your website and see which tips work best for your brand and product/service offering. If you still feel overwhelmed, please reach out as I’d love to help.

About the author

With a passion for all things digital, Melissa is a Freelancing Gems member with over 15 years experience in sales and marketing. She has worked with global fashion and beauty brands such as ghd, Triumph International, Oscar Oscar, Active Skin, Alpha-H and Dissh. A strategic mind and a lover of data, Melissa is the Digital Marketing Manager behind Adjective Digital and is dedicated to fostering success for her clients.

Contact: melissa@adjectivedigital.com.au

Follow: @melissa_adjective