Matthew Widdop
Matty is a Junior SEO Executive at Intelligency, helping our clients to improve their digital performance. Matty is currently studying for his Level 3 Multi-Channel Marketer apprenticeship and has completed a Sport Journalism Degree at the University of Huddersfield.
Improving website traffic is fundamental for any business wanting to achieve growth online. More visitors improves brand awareness, drive sales and other KPIs. In this article, we will be looking at 5 different methods you can use in order to increase traffic and grow your online brand.
SEO
SEO is the process of optimising your website content for search engines. By doing this the expectation is that users will appear higher on search engine rankings, improving their online visibility and increasing traffic levels. SEO can be broken up into three different areas and all of these areas need to be targeted in order to see significant improvements in growth: On-page SEO, Technical SEO and Backlinks.
On-Page SEO
On-page SEO refers to any changes that can be made “on the page” to improve content that will boost search engine visibility. This includes but is not limited to:
- Title Tags
- Meta Descriptions
- Header Tags
- Digestible Content
- Keyword Optimisation
- Image Alt Text
Technical SEO
Technical SEO is referring to any changes that can be made to improve the functionality of the site that will enhance performance and give users a better overall experience.
- Website speed
- Mobile optimisation
- Internal linking
- Image optimisation
- Secure
Backlinks
Backlinks or Digital PR is the process of other websites linking to your site from their own. This is important from the perspective of search engines and it indicates to them that your site is legitimate and authoritative if it is being linked to by other domains that are considered authoritative. You can improve your backlink profile by requesting links from other authoritative sites in your industry or by creating marketing campaigns that generate buzz and naturally attract more links to your site.
Pay-Per Click
SEO can often be a slow process as improving content, technical aspects and generating links can take a long time before this strategy starts to bear fruit. Paid advertising is a great alternative to SEO, while they should also both be used at the same time to improve organic and paid traffic.
There are a number of different methods of online advertising. One of the most popular is PPC. Using PPC, advertisers pay for search engine visibility by bidding on keywords. You then pay Google a small fee for each click you get through to your site, in the belief that each customer will be worth more than the cost of a click in the long run.
Paid Social
Alternatively, paid social is a great way to advertise to customers on social media platforms. It allows the targeting of customers based on the information they have given on their social media platforms, such as certain demographics that you think would be more tailored to enjoying your product or service. This means you can have a more targeted approach as opposed to PPC which is often targeted at anyone who searches for your keyword on search engines.
Influencer Marketing
Influencer marketing is a great way to improve website traffic and specifically traffic that is targeted and relevant. Influencer marketing is when businesses work with social media or celebrity personalities in order to promote their product or services. By working with an influencer who has a large loyal follower base, brands can reach out to new audiences effectively, while choosing influencers in their field to make sure that the audience will be interested in their products.
