6 Ways to Increase Organic Traffic to Your Website
#1 – Optimize your website for search engines
Optimizing your website for Google and other search engines like Pinterest are key to driving organic traffic straight to your website.
Here are a few tips to get you started:
Using keywords + phrases that are relevant for the topic you're writing about or wanting to rank for that specific page. Think about what your ideal customer is searching for when you're writing copy for your web pages and blog posts.
Implementing meta data into all pages of your website (this includes your blog posts + product pages). If you're on Squarespace, Shopify or WordPress, those platforms provide a dedicated space for you to input the meta data every time you create a new page.
Adding image alt descriptions to every image throughout your site. Basically, you will describe what's showing in the image and can be shown in search results too.
Making sure your website is user-friendly + responsive aka can be viewed properly on mobile. Not only does this make your ideal customer happy but it also is deemed credible in Google's eyes.
To learn more about SEO, check out this post. And while you’re at it, you can download my FREE SEO checklist here.
#2 – Create high-quality content
Every piece of content you're putting out there for your ideal customer to come across needs to be strategic and thoughtful.
I like to put my content into three categories for the different topics I create for:
Informative
Educational
Inspiring/empathetic
For all three of these categories you can write on a variety of topics. For example, if I'm writing about branding for small businesses:
I can write content that's informative: talking about the different elements that are involved and what they're used for.
I can write content that's educational and why your small business needs it in order to grow + succeed.
I can write content that's inspiring/empathetic: relating to a client project, how I helped them, and how it could help your biz too.
Think to yourself – if you wouldn't be interested or intrigued – most likely your audience won't be either.
Creating content around these three categories will help attract more visitors to your website and keep them coming back for more.
#3 - Setting up a Google My Business Page
This page is often overlooked because you have a website right, so why would you need a Google My Business page, too?
It's a no-brainer for a few reasons.
Not only is it free, but it also helps customers find you through Google Search. You can also have past clients or customers leave reviews (helps your SEO), find your store location and business hours, and where to contact you.
#4 - Get on Pinterest
If you don’t have a Pinterest business account, now’s the time to get on it! Whether you’re selling services or products, it’s the perfect platform to promote and drive traffic back to your website.
About 75% of weekly Pinterest users are on there to shop. If that's not enough to get hooked, Pinterest also works as a search engine like Google (nope, it's not a social media platform — it's a search engine). Like Google, it'll help get your content to the right people. 🙌🏻
A few ways you can use Pinterest for your business are by:
Repurposing Instagram posts, emails, or blog content in the format for Pinterest to link back to your website
Link blog posts and web pages
Link products from your website (if you have Shopify, Pinterest makes this super easy to set up)
Link to your email list and newsletter to drive traffic to your website
#5 - Blogging (it ain’t dead)
Before you tell me blogs are dead, that couldn't be further from the truth.
Having a blog on your website allows you to create new and fresh content that is long-form and good for your SEO. (There's that word again.)
Google gets notified whenever you publish a new blog or any content on your site. Then Google crawls your site. Fresh content and getting crawled helps your search rankings and create more traffic flow to your site!
To learn more about how blogging benefits business, visit this past blog post with guest blogger Natalie of Natty Writes.
#6 – Engage with your audience
Most of us need to remember to take the time to engage with our online audience.
When posting content to Instagram, set aside 20-30 minutes to stay on the app and engage with your audience. Here are a few ways to do that (and pass the time):
Sharing relevant content in your stories that creates natural, engaging conversations in your DMs (sharing your personal life, what you're watching, eating, etc.)
Ask your audience questions using polls in your stories to learn more about them, their behaviors, etc.
Answer your DMs + comments
Answer those DMs + comments via reels or in stories for a more in-depth view
Setting your captions up with easy-to-follow call-to-actions as well as your bio with easy-to-find links that lead to your website
Using Instagram can be a powerful tool for driving traffic to your website because it's all about connection, engagement, and relationships.
Your audience will like you first and then be interested in your offers/products to follow.
Remember – getting more organic traffic is a long-term process that requires ongoing effort and patience.
But I encourage you to keep working on your website + content, and you will see results over time.
Hey there — if we haven't had the chance to meet yet, I'm Karli — a brand and web designer for women-owned businesses and creatives. If you like my content, feel free to browse below for other ways to connect with me:
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