Today, just having a website is not enough. Although estimates vary, most expert opinion suggests that there are at least 200 million active websites, and at least a billion more that are live, but not updated. Even before you consider competitors, it’s incredibly unlikely your customers will find your site without help. So, how do you increase traffic to your site?

The drivers of traffic

You will probably have heard of some, if not all, of the types of traffic.

·         Direct traffic are the visitors who, as the name suggests, come straight to you. They might arrive because they saw your website on a physical ad, or already know your business and typed in the URL.

·         Social traffic comes from social media. This might be from your profile, or a link that someone else has posted.

·         Referral traffic comes from someone else; it might be a link that someone has posted on their website, or a directory site that lists local businesses.

·         Paid traffic are the visitors generated by ads. These are usually on a pay-per-click basis, so you might have paid for adverts on a search engine like Google, social media like Facebook, or even on a local news site.

·        Organic traffic is, probably, the most important. This is the traffic that comes from people finding you through searches, for example on Google. For most sites, this is the holy grail, and getting a high ranking in a Google search can send hordes of visitors to your site  

Why is it important to understand your traffic?

Understanding your traffic is the first step to being able to manage and then increase your traffic and sales (there’s no point in having a busy website if none of your visitors spend anything).

Knowing your traffic’s sources can help with some simple decisions, for example, if you are spending a lot on leaflets, but not getting any direct visitors, it might be time to rethink your strategy.

Likewise, if you are paying for advertising but not generating sales from it, you can consider whether your ads platform is effective. 

Are you advertising in the right places, for example, or are your ads appearing on irrelevant pages?

For almost everyone, the most important source to consider is the organic traffic. Understanding your organic website allows you to fine-tune your website, attracting people who are likely to be customers and getting your website returned when people who are looking to buy are searching. And, best of all, it’s free.

How can you increase your traffic?

For most people, having an active website that features relevant content will produce good results, but if you want great results, then you will need to call in the experts.

Specialists will be able to conduct a thorough analysis of your website, and it’s traffic, conducting tests to identify the optimal strategy, and using their own research to identify the best keywords and content to drive traffic to your site.

We have been helping local businesses optimise their sites for years, implementing strategies and using content to attract organic traffic to their sites, and increasing sales as a result. You are an expert in your business, so why not let our experts take away the traffic headache and, instead, give you the welcome problem of how you will meet the extra demand from your site. Just call or email us today to have a chat about the difference we can make to your traffic.