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Site traffic is at the core of every business, whether an online business or a local business that wants to drive customers to their brick-and-mortar location! Bringing a fresh supply of targeted leads that can be turned into customers is what every business wants and needs.
Because traffic is so important to a business, marketers dedicate lots of resources to finding every possible traffic source. I know this because marketing is in my DNA – and it’s what we do for our partners at Advice Local every day. From directory listing optimization to mobile app solutions, right down to optimized location landing pages, effective marketers stay focused on finding the best methods to promote their customers.
In the quest for traffic, the success of a business is often tied to methods that put that business up against the toughest of competition in search results, This competition usually consists of businesses with large budgets and the marketing teams that go with them.
Employ These Alternative Strategies to Boost Traffic
Today I’m going beyond the most common methods to drive site traffic and improve local visibility to share a few alternative strategies that can improve traffic – and produce results that convert.
Uncover Broken Links
This isn’t about fixing 404s and putting 301 redirects in place for the websites you maintain. I’m talking about finding these broken link issues that occur on other popular websites, and emailing the site administrator. Popular websites regularly link out to other sites to add credibility. As content is removed or domains are not renewed, these links return errors over time.
Here’s the process:
- Find a content piece that is relevant to the website with the broken link.
- Notify the site of the broken link via email, along with your note.
- Since they need a link to replace the broken one, they will often use yours – as you just made it easy for them to quickly fix.
- You say you don’t have any appropriate content? Then create something new that offers value!
Since site owners are usually more concerned with offering new content than they are with auditing older articles, this is a quick way to get a link. You can use tools like Screaming Frog and Check My Links to uncover these broken links.
Provide Testimonials for Others
How many different tools and services do you use daily? What about weekly or monthly? Have you considered that when you write testimonials for others’ products and services, you are helping them and helping yourself at the same time?
Here’s why that’s true: Testimonials are usually featured on the home page, the product pages, and even included on sales pages, so you know they receive a lot of targeted traffic. Most sites will include a link to the website of the person providing the review to show the review is a legitimate one. But even if you don’t receive a direct link, adding your brand name beneath the testimonial will increase exposure and name recognition among other prospective customers.
Start sharing your insightful and honest feelings today and you will increase awareness of the brand along the way.
Write a Response Article
If you are like me you read a lot of material. I take in something new every day and have opinions about what I’m reading. Sometimes I agree, sometimes I don’t. One of the methods that has worked well for me and many others is to write an article in response to something that has received lots of exposure. This could be an article that went viral, or a hot topic in the news like the recent airline vs. passenger drama. Now imagine all the site and social traffic that others generated by openly discussing the situation. Next time this could be you!
If you can find a popular topic that is receiving many comments and shares, writing a response can help you garner some of this traffic. There are various angles you could take, such as arguing a contrary view, adding more detail to a particular point, or backing up an argument using statistics. You might even find that the original writer will share your post. If you write something really relevant they might even link to it. And yes, this has happened to me.
Here’s another idea: after you write your response article, you then comment on the original writer’s post with a link to your supporting post.
Breathe New Life into Old Content
Yes, I’m like you – constantly creating new content to share around the web. This is really important and you need to keep on doing it! However, it’s definitely OK to bring out those oldies but goodies, those articles that were show-stoppers. Revitalizing old content can get the same impact as when originally published, and might achieve an even greater payoff.
To learn which posts are still getting site traffic, take a look at your site analytics. Consider how you can freshen it up by adding a few new resources, tips or links. Adding the extra content makes it likely you can start to rank for additional keywords. Plus, you also get to reach out to your contacts to help promote it as if it were brand new content.
When people see an old post date they often think the content will be less useful. While that may not be accurate, a recent update will reassure readers that they are getting relevant, up-to-date information.
(By the way, this method also works well on older content that isn’t getting traffic anymore. Sometimes giving stagnant content an update will give it a bump in results. It’s possible to take something that fell flat because of timing or other circumstances and give it new life.)
The Unexpected Gets Results
While strategies like the ones mentioned above will take effort to execute, these targeted methods can lead to increased brand recognition and new sales.
The most successful business is always looking for new ways to expand and stand out from the competition. At Advice Local that’s our expertise. Request a demo and find out how our scalable local presence management solution can meet your business needs today.
