How to Increase Website Traffic
There are many creative ways to increase traffic to your website. As long as your creating good, original content, you should see a natural increase in traffic. If you want to help it along, there are lots of things you can do to give yourself a boost.
Develop good headlines. Headlines are the first thing readers see, and are typically the only thing they see if the article is shared. Your headlines should jump out at the reader and quickly draw their attention. A good headline can dramatically increase your views when shared on a social network.
See this guide for a detailed breakdown of what makes an effective headline.
Write articles rich in content. Quality articles will get ranked better in search results. Make sure that your articles address the needs of your readers, and that they can find all of the information they need in one spot. This is the most effective means for increasing traffic to a website; offering people something that they cannot obtain elsewhere, or at least, not to the level of quality that you are offering it.
Create content that is helpful and useful. Simply cobbling together information from another website will not generate traffic. You need to offer visitors the information they need to achieve a goal, solve a problem, be entertained, find out quality news, or just have a good laugh.
Avoid content generators. While these were once the delight of a fledgling web industry, they are no longer useful. Putting your own team's creativity online is what is useful.
Never copy and paste from another website - Google, Yahoo, MSN and other search engines are too smart for this nowadays and will detect copied and unoriginal content, sending you to the bottom of the pile.
Address a niche. Good sites address a specific niche or audience and then become an expert in that field. You want your site to be the one resource that your readers go to first. Either start a site based on an interest of yours, or examine the market and find a niche that hasn't been addressed well. Turn that niche into your expertise.
Create shareable content. In the world of social media, sharable content is king. Your content should be easily sharable so that your readers can spread the word for you. This is a combination of a good headline and an interesting image, as well as a captivating lead-in. All of this creates a perfect bite-sized chunk of your article that others can share through Facebook, Twitter, and other networks.
Lists are incredibly popular for sharing on social networks right now. Sites such as Buzzfeed and Mashable make great use of list headlines, such as "10 Ways to..." or "21 Signs That You're...". These quickly draw the reader's eye, and are a great way to deal with shortened attention spans.
Vary your article length. You should have long, comprehensive articles as well as short and to-the-point articles. Let the content dictate the size; don’t spend too long belaboring a simple point, but don’t be too brief when detail is called for. research suggests the average length should be around 1,600 words, though feel free to vary as you see fit.
|