25 Things to Do to Increase Your Website Traffic Right Now
Everybody wants to be successful on the Internet right? Of course we do, nobody want’s to be sitting at home on prom night especially when there’s money involved so how do we do it? Well, here’s a list of 25 things you can do right now to increase your website traffic …
Make Your Content Accessible
Use the SEO Checker I built to see what Google can see. This tool will also help you understand what visually impaired people in your community can see … they make up almost 10% of the population, so can you really afford to only appeal to 90% of the market?
Use Valid xHTML Markup
xHTML is the language web pages should be built in. If you write your page in sloppy code, it’ll be harder for web browsers to display it properly so just like a Word document, you have to save it in the right format for your audience to read it.
Translate Your Content
thisismyurl.com is available in 20 languages, 40% of my traffic comes from outside the US and Canada and is viewed in a language other than English using a free online translation service, I know it’s flawed but it’s the best I can offer and people learn from my postings.
Understand Keywords
Keywords are the heart and soul of the Internet, they’re like fresh pasta in Italian cooking or eye shadow to drag queens … if you don’t understand the value and application of keywords, get off the Internet.
Build Relationships with Other Websites
Almost half my traffic comes from Google, the other half? Came from other websites and referrals from great people that I taught something to and in turn taught me a lot.
Add a Google Sitemap
Google want’s nothing more than to know about you, it’s the companies only goal in the universe, so help them to help you.
Help People
Speaking of helping, help people. When you see a website with an error or run into a problem on a site, let them know. If you can fix a glitch, tell them how … I’ve picked up countless readers and sources of inspiration by simply being supportive.
Use Analytics
Back to Google for a second, they have a tool called Google Analytics. It’s free, it’s powerful and it’ll help you understand your audience.
Join Social Networking Sites
Websites like LinkedIn and Facebook are powerful tools to help people. Helping people leads to trust, trust leads to prospects and prospects lead to clients.
Add Fresh Content
Ask yourself, why do people come back to your boring old stale content? They don’t. If you ran a restaurant you’d have daily specials right? Well I think running a restaurant is easier than running a website, so make sure you have fresh content served daily.
Know Who’s Better Than You
There are a lot of web sites out there that are better than me:
Know who’s better than you and read them every day. The best way to learn is to know you need to learn. (btw, if you didn’t make the list don’t be sad I have hundreds of sites I read every week, these are just the first ones I though of)
Respond to Criticism
There’s a lot of things that I write on my blog that are not as well researched as they could be, and when I’m corrected I love it. You’ll notice if you pan through my comments that I don’t remove the negative … in fact I relish them. If people take the time to point out your flaws, thank them and you’ll grow.
Write Good Content
The best way to build traffic to your website? Make people want to come back. It’s harder to get new visitors than to keep your old ones.
Be Timely
Write about things that you know will be timely but don’t chase trends, it’s not relevant what others are writing about … only what your readers are reading about.
Get to Know Yourself
The past five months of blogging have taught me a lot about myself, I look back at some of the early pieces I wrote and know that I’ve changed. That’s part of what blogging is, it’s about growing not only as a business but also as a person and learning new things.
Make your Title Tag Valuable
Your title tag is a critical piece of the organic marketing puzzle, if you don’t understand how or why to use it properly … excuse my french but vous êtes vissé.
Add an RSS Feed
I don’t care what type of business you are … if you can add an RSS feed to your web site do it! Let people know what you’re up to if they want to know. Same goes for Twitter, use it to exploit your interests.
Give Stuff Away For Free
I love giving things away for free. I have website templates, plugins and artwork people can download for free as well as over 600 pages of advice here on my website. Guess what? It cost me nothing and it put me on Alexa’s radar without having to do anything complicated.
Respect Your Audience
There’s only one thing more important then you on your website, your audience. Take time to get to know them and help them.
Know Your Goals
Why do you own a website? You’d be surprised how many people have no idea why they want to run a website … it’s a little sad really.
Use a Content Manager
Websites that are build on a content management system (I use WordPress) make it easier for people to update their websites. Websites that are updated more often get more traffic.
Read Matt’s Articles
Matt Cutts is Google. Actually he’s not but he’s the face of Google, the man who talks to all of us and tells us what Google is thinking, explains what they’re up to and helps lowly web masters to interact better. His job … to help the public make the most of Google, so why don’t you read his blog?
Join Forums
Forums are a great place to generate free traffic to your blog. They help you build relationships with other bloggers, build respect in the community and get into endless conversations about topics that interest you.
Comment on Other Websites
One of the most overlooked methods for building traffic to your website is to simply comment on other peoples websites. Remember my point about helping others? Point out flaws or add to the conversation and you’ll be generating great traffic back to your website.
Analyze and Adapt
Finally … the most important point … look at your analytics often and improve your website to help your audience make the most of your content.
I do most of these things but the first three are new to me, so thanks for the tips. The idea of translating is a great one.
Know your goals – I bet this is one that a lot of new sites just don’t get. My partner kept saying we need to have a website and I would say why, what is its purpose? He would say “A company should have a website” That goal doesn’t have to be making money either. “Just because I want to write” is a perfectly good reason. But you should know that is the real reason.
Ned Carey’s last blog post..How do I Make Money in Real Estate?
Giving stuff away for free is a challenging dilemma. I’ve tried it some in the past and it can be really hard. Giving away free stuff that doesn’t cost you anything is probably the best solution as it attracts visitors, and doesn’t hurt much.
Online Writing’s last blog post..Controlling the Pace – Mixing Scenes with Summary
Hello,
I agree with the translate content point you have raised, however – there is now a new option rather than just using a free web translation service, and it is to use a plugin that we wrote which allows your users to translate your blog for you.
It has a few advantages:
1. Better quality of translation
2. Your users are more involved
3. Ability to translate to even more languages
I would appreciate your view on this ;)
(BTW: I am using your #24 :)
Ofer’s last blog post..Version 0.0.2
Wow! This is a huge source of information. You have just relayed very important points here.
Great job… man, I was looking for guideline and teach new thing today. Thanks a lot for dis tips.
@online Writing
>Giving stuff away for free is a challenging dilemma.
What exactly is the dilemma?
>Giving away free stuff that doesn’t cost you anything is probably the best solution
I can’t imagine giving away stuff that costs me money to promote my blog. But we can certainly give away free content.
Nice list of recommendations which takes some time to be used and cheked in the course of time.But some of them I have already experienced and feel quite satisfied.As for the choice we must make between TO GIVE or NOT TO GIVE I’d rather give because I want to receive.Besides I would call giving away ’sharing’.That sounds much better.
game-girl’s last blog post..Фильм Вызов вызвал в Польше скандал
I think these 25 things encapsulates all that is needed to drive more traffic to our sites. I may not have used them all, but I will try them once in a while. Hence, different strategies works for many different plans.
Leanie Belle
How To Earn Your First 100 Dollars Online
I’m glad you hyped up Google Analytics, I don’t know how many people use that tool but it’s my life blood. The amount of details it gives you on every facet of your visitors is tremendous. Really helps build the optimal site.
R&B Love Songs’s last blog post..Lean on Me to Men of Vizion: A Riff Retrospective
@Ned
The dilemma arises when trying to find the best ways to promote the giveaways. Everyone can do a giveaway, but not everyone can market it right and get the proper response. If you fail at it, you end up just looking silly.
And giving away stuff that costs money can be worthwhile if you can get a strong response from it and emerge with more money than you ever would have invested yourself.
Online Writing’s last blog post..Controlling the Pace – Mixing Scenes with Summary
this list of ways helps much , thanks so i try to apply them in my website so my ranking raised in Alexa but i want more and more .
thanks .
Mohammed Shokry’s last blog post..( New Tool ) Check your website position on Google from Blfree
@Online, Thanks for the follow up answer.
Ned
Ned Carey’s last blog post..Great Marketing With a Sense of Humor!
wah hebat om…. ngak ada gambar…nih jadinya saya ngak gitu pusing mbacanya. maklum saya kan anak penyandang autisme (kata papa). belajar internet baca di internet, belajar komputer utak-atik komputer, belajar hidup obrak-abrik dunianya. lha… tentang blog om ini saya pikir tembak langsung ke pelajarannya. kendati saya ngak ngerti, tapi ini diceritain ama nenek. saya cuman klik nenek yang baca dan jelasin…. makasih om… semoga masuk surga kelak…
I’m not sure I should take my inclusion in the list as a compliment or snark. ;-)
Good list, and I’d add Woopra to the list of web analytics, since it is much more social and user friendly than Google Analytics, but both are valuable.
They key to increasing your website traffic is interaction, not just the old fashioned SEO think, much of which you have listed. That is past tense but still valid. Word-of-mouth still wins, even if it is virtual.
Oh, thanks for the mention, Chris. I’ve never expected this coming from you. It’s a real honor. Anyway, excellent tips. I honestly feel that the best way to increase traffic is to focus on organic traffic and to build enough credibility among fellow bloggers.
Yan
Yan Susanto’s last blog post..Where Are You? and So They Ask
Wow this is one comprehensive list. Personally I think the most important thing when you start out is networking and getting links to your site, besides content content content. There is no substitution for search engine traffic in case you want to get a broader audience.
@Lorelle, :) You know I love reading your stuff. @Yan, don’t be silly your work is some of the best out there and you’ve got the growth to prove it! Keep up the great work.
Smash, you are right about networking! If people don’t know that your site exists, nobody’s going to go to it! As such, while content is important, getting your name out there is just as important early on.
Online Writing’s last blog post..Writing the Six Word Memoir
Online Writing, ya, I would say that Marketing should take up %75 of your time with content creation taking up %25 of it
what about long tail as a content target to write,is this as the same as sitemaps did,when YOU help Google ,Google will help you”
I think the combination of understanding/using keywords and using Analytics is very important. This can really help with the organic traffic from the search engines.
Don’t have knowledge of Google analytic how to build up any alternative or any help available, and after you point want to start forum too.
@Yan, don’t be silly your work is some of the best out there and you’ve got the growth to prove it! Keep up the great work.
Thanks, Chris. I have the same respect for you too. Once again, thanks for the compliment.
Yan
If you need to increase the traffic RIGHT NOW social media are your answer. If your content is good enough you can see a fast increase, however it’ll take some time.
Just had a chance to check out your article (been slacking on the RSS lately). You have some pretty good stuff in here and I think I am going to focus on twitter as I have not been focusing on this opportunity.
One aspect you left at though was the importance of selection a premier web hosting company that provides a solid up-time. What good is driving traffic to your web site if they can’t see the content you made available because the web hosting company is down.
I think this 25 guidelines encloses all that is needed to drive more traffic, you have hit the bullet. thanks for the post.
Now translation is easy with the N2H plugin. And it gives you more indexed pages right?
Ben Pei’s last blog post..Get On The Social Networking Bandwagon Now
That’s correct Ben, the translation tool (on my right hand side) allows people to see the website in a multitude of languages. I’ll admit that it doesn’t do a great job but my site has increase 13x in size since putting it in place and the best part, my readers are finding my though language specific keywords.
This is a highly comprehensive list, and the list that can truly help those who want assistance online. This is worth suggesting to friends looking for help. Thanks for sharing.
Good content. Just wanted to add some points here that may be helpful for those looking out for professional SEO services. There are tons of SEO companies offering different SEO packages and solutions at highly competitive rates. However, when looking our for these services, its important to not only look at the affordability factor but also what is unique about their SEO service and what differentiates them from other companies.
While choosing an SEO company its equally important to analyze the SEO company’s website in terms of their Rankings, Yahoo links, Google index, Alexa ranking and similar such factors which indicates the company’s expertise in the field of SEO. So make sure you are doing enough research and smart work before investing your advertising spend.
Great tips to increase website traffic. It’s quite hard to use a lot of those because I just have a portfolio showing off my services, so the only time I update my content is updating my portfolio page. I’m having a hard time trying to figure out what keyword I should focus on because I offer a lot of services, once I figure that out, I can enhance my title tag, and description tag.
@Nicole, while not focus on describing in detail what you did for each client. I took a quick gander at your site and noticed you are doing web design. You can talk about what the customer wanted and what you did, what you suggested, etc. This will help in building content for you site.
In addition, I would recommend taking off the mouse roll-over text that does briefly describe the project as most of the content is not visible because of the other images; or just make several more pages to click through by minimizing the pictures on each page.
How are you getting traffic to your site now? What seems to be the industry you design sites for the most? Where are your sales coming from? A key word like web design is oversaturated and difficult to get top positioning for but a key word like floral website design may not be as difficult. Ahhhh… Why not take your website to another level and seperate your portfolio by industry so those industry key words are naturally generated through out the site.
Hope some of this helps.
Michael
http://www.AvekHost.com
Gotta love the premier hosting comment above!! Anyway, twitter has added about 20% to my traffic since I joined it. It’s a great way to draw attention to new content (assuming you can get some followers. And have some good content!).
malcolm coles’s last blog post..External links: the 8 stages of linking-out denial
This is worth following on our websites, and these things and suggestions are worth sharing with friends and other professionals. This is the kind of resource that really helps.
Good advice. Sometimes you just need see the obvious ways to generate traffic. I always get caught up in article marketing and forget about all the other things I should be doing.
Out of interest, why in your ’share’ list in the right hand side is the twitter link nofollowed but not any of the rest …?
malcolm coles’s last blog post..URL shorteners reviewed
@malcolm … well, I could tell you that there’s an SEO related reason but in truth … it’s what in the business we like to call human error :)
Well, I won’t ask why you’ve changed it so that Delirious and Technorati are the nofollow ones now …! (Sorry, my firefox style sheet shows the nofollow one as pink!!)
malcolm coles’s last blog post..URL shorteners reviewed
very informative, this is how the 25 extraordinary useful to improve the traffic site.
thanks for it
Hey, I enjoyed reading your post. It is very informative. I must ask other than submitting articles, what are the most effective ways to get links back to your website?
really, really great article
Swiss Army Backpacks’s last blog post..Swiss Gear Backpack – The Best Place to Shop for Swiss Gear Backpack
These tips are all gold. Solid gold man. I’m going to start reading Matt Cutt’s blog for sure, and a ton of your other ideas. I also really need to take advantage of that SEO Checker tool you have. My blog was pretty worthless when I checked it out.
CSS Perk’s last blog post..Clear Network
SEO CHECKER tool is really amazing tool for them who are doing seo.
Business/site cant get boost without advertising and Traffic..Nice post got good step to increase traffic..I really like it. Keep it up..
Thanks
I Love you blog and the way you coded it. Great.. Would love to Subscribe even without any backlink too :) . Love to read you post. Great blog.
Dave’s last blog post..5 Reasons for why you should use a Post Excerpt
Hi there I like your post
Please, can you PM me and tell me few more thinks about this, I am really fan of your blog…
Cool now ! I’m a part of the free PR5 link now:D ..
Thanx Ross,
Your site rocks :)
great SEO.
I’ve linked back your site from my BlogRoll :)
Dave’s last blog post..Make your Wordpress Blog Secure/ HackerSafe
Oh, Matt Cutts…I always read that guys blog, maybe I’m obsessed. Second to the coolness of that SEO Checker. I’d say it’s pretty crucial for anyone who values SEO even in the slightest.
CSS Perk’s last blog post..Kashmir Creative
Great list. I’m glad I found your blog. Helping people is a big one. I think too many online bloggers and marketers are only out for the quick buck. I think that if we help each other out we all win.
Thanks for the post
Luca Di Nicola’s last blog post..How to Use Twitter for Blog Traffic