Learn 6 simple steps to increase website traffic for your brand or business!
Once upon a time, building a website for your business was a ‘set and forget’ digital marketing activity. You built the website, turned it ‘live’ and then waited as it crawled it’s way to the top of Google and started sending you quality leads and sales.
Unfortunately, a lot has changed over the last 10 years and the online realm is a lot more competitive than it used to be.
Getting to the top of Google is difficult, and maintaining your position once you’re there takes time and effort. In this article we’re going to discuss six things that you can do to help your website rank better in Google and generate more traffic (both online and in-store) for your business.
1: SEO Campaigns and Strategy
In today’s digital landscape, relying solely on hopes and dreams won’t get you far, especially when it comes to your website’s visibility. That’s where an effective SEO strategy steps in, tailored to target the specific needs of your business.
SEO, or Search Engine Optimisation, plays a pivotal role in driving relevant and targeted traffic to your website. By embracing a comprehensive SEO campaign, led by a qualified SEO consultant Brisbane, you’re positioning your brand to reach the right audience at the right time. With the cutthroat competition in Google’s search space, being proactive with your SEO activities is not merely an option; it’s a necessity.
But what does an effective SEO campaign encompass? It begins with SEO copywriting, where content is crafted to resonate with your audience while integrating critical keywords. By aligning with an SEO service Brisbane, you can devise a strategy that not only attracts visitors but also converts them into loyal customers.
Local businesses stand to gain particularly, as local SEO Brisbane targets those in your immediate vicinity, maximising your reach within the community. Brisbane SEO experts understand the local market dynamics and can tailor your online presence to capture the attention of potential clients right in your backyard.
SEO isn’t about chancing success in the vast world of Google. It’s about methodical planning, understanding your audience, and leveraging the skills of experienced professionals. If you want to make a real impact in this competitive channel, an investment in a sound SEO strategy is paramount. That way, you’re not just hoping for success; you’re building it.
2: Google Business Profile
Have you ever noticed that sometimes when you search Google for a local business or service, the first result to come up is a map with a bunch of listings on it?
Those listings are created through a Google Business Profile, Google’s free online business directory platform. Creating a profile for your business allows you to share your physical location (or service area if you are a delivery, online or mobile business) as well as your opening hours, a few photos of your products and some other basic information.
Having a listing and appearing in on that map is one of the fastest and cheapest ways to start increasing website traffic for your business because it increases your chances of ranking for location-based search queries (such as ‘Brisbane Florist’ or ‘Brisbane Flower Delivery Service’).
3: Connect Everything!
A lot of the factors that Google takes into account when determining how you will perform in its search engine results pages are not actually found on your own website.
Google uses your social media profiles, business directory listings, online review platforms and other digital channels to get a feel for how people engage and interact with your business or brand.
Ensuring that you list your website address in all of your social media profiles, and then link back to the social media profiles from your website can have a positive effect on your organic rankings, especially if your audience are engaged with your brand.
The links will also help users who have found you through social media platforms navigate back to your website easily, leading to an increase in website traffic.
4: Add New, Fresh Content
There are a number of reasons that you should consider adding a blog or news section to your website (and keeping it updated with new content):
- Just like displaying new products or stock in your shopfront window encourages passers-by to pop-in ‘just to see what’s new’, a blog on your website will give your audience a reason to visit your site on a regular basis.
- Having a blog where you share tips and useful information with your customers helps establish you and your brand as industry leaders and a knowledgeable, trustworthy source of information.
- Google favours fresh content. It is that simple – if Google can’t see any new activity on your website for prolonged periods of time, it will start to question if your businesses is still active and will slowly push you further and further down the results pages, favouring your competitors who have newer content.
- New content means new opportunities to rank for additional search terms in Google, leading to increased website traffic.
Action: Start a blog (if you haven’t got one already) and set yourself a target of adding one new blog article every fortnight. Cover topics that are useful to your customers and that help establish yourself as a knowledgeable source of information.
If you’re stuck for ideas, a great starting point is to think about some of the questions that your customers frequently ask you and to answer them in your blog articles.
5: A Word About Words
There are two golden rules that you need to know and understand when it comes to words and word count on your website:
- If a keyword does not appear on your website then you will not rank for it.
- If you have one sentence about a particular keyword or topic and your competitor has a whole page dedicated to that same topic, then they will easily outrank you.
For example, if you do not mention that you sell roses anywhere on your website then you will not rank for any search terms that include the keyword ‘rose’. You might not have specifically mentioned roses anywhere in your website text because you have pictures of roses on your website – but Google can’t see your pictures, and therefore has no idea that you sell roses.
Furthermore, if you have one sentence on your entire website that talks about roses,
but your competitor has a whole page dedicated to the different species, colours, arrangements and prices for their roses then they will easily outrank you for any rose related search terms.
Action: Jump onto your website and make sure that you have mentioned all of the important keywords or search terms at least once. For more important terms or themes, consider dedicating a whole page to them (or adding a new blog article!) to help drive more traffic to your website.
6: Spring Clean
Websites and technology move fast. Google releases 2-4 major updates to their algorithm each year as well as a lot of smaller tweaks on a month-to-month basis. If your website is not been updated in the past 6 months then there is a good chance that it doesn’t meet some of the current industry best practices.
Some of the major changes that have happened in the last 12 months are related to Googles ‘Helpful Content’ update that prioritises helpful, informative and unique content over fluffy, spun, repurposed content.
Action:
Contact your website developer and ask them to do some maintenance on your website – ask them to update all of your plugins / apps to the latest versions, ensure that any data you are collecting is in accordance to current data protection rules and regulations, clean out any toxic backlinks from your Search Console account and just do a general ‘spring clean’ of your site to ensure that it is in tip-top health.
Have this done at least once every 6 months. Learn more about website maintenance here.
Get Help Driving More Traffic to Your Webiste
Some of these tips are simple steps that you can take yourself to start improving your online presence in Google, but a couple of them – numbers 1 and 6 mainly – may require some professional assistance.
If you’d like to discuss any of these further with BeKonstructive Marketing, please get in touch to organise a no-obligation discovery session.
