Your website should be your ultimate sales tool. Depending on your business, it’s able to inform users why they should choose you, show them what you’re all about, and even host a space for online shopping. However, when not being used correctly, your website can become your biggest money waster, and we’re here to tell you why that’s happening and how you can fix it.
Why your website is losing you money
According to Monetize, there are a variety of reasons that your website is actually losing you money instead of helping you gain more business. Some of these reasons include:
- Your website isn’t very attractive (apparently we do still judge books by their covers)
- It’s not clear what your business does – users should know this information within the first 3 seconds of entering your website
- You’re missing clear calls to action
- You didn’t take the extra step to make your website mobile-friendly
- Your website shows up too far down on Google’s search results page
So, if you’re starting to get the sneaking suspicion that your website isn’t helping you convert more sales, then it may be due to one of the reasons listed above.
5 ways to increase website traffic
Now it’s solution time. No matter what reason your website isn’t converting new business or generating enough traffic, we can promise that the condition isn’t terminal as long as it’s treated. If you’re finding yourself in this blog post looking for solutions to your website problems, we’ve curated a list of some of the most helpful tips.
1. Use better keywords
According to Mail Chimp, keywords are one of the best ways to drive more traffic to your website. Keywords are basically buzzwords that a large population of Internet users use in their web searches and they work to catch the attention of search engines like Google, Bing, Yahoo!, etc. Using them correctly will help you get found by the average Googler. Looking for the best keywords to use throughout your website is also known as keyword research.
While you can, and should, use keywords throughout your entire website, the best places to use them are in title tags and meta descriptions, as well as adding them to blog posts and articles you write and post directly to your website. You can learn a little bit more by reading about these best keyword practices.
2. Make sure you’re using targeted landing pages
Oftentimes, people performing an Internet search are looking for something specific. If you should happen to have that specific thing, making it as easy as possible for that user to find it will help ensure that you not only get more traffic but that that traffic is also converting into sales. You can do this by incorporating strategic landing pages throughout your website.
HubSpot lays out a list of Landing Page Best Practices including:
- Make sure the headline promotes the benefit of this landing page
- Use an eye-catching image that illustrates the product/benefit effectively
- Include captivating website copy
- Optimize the webpage for search engines
- Include a clear and easy “call to action”
3. Improve the efficiency of your website
According to HubSpot, “Website performance measures how quickly the pages of a website load and display in the web browser,” and, “Web performance optimization is the practice of improving website performance by various methods.” The faster your websites are, the higher performing they’re considered to be. The performance of your website can affect things like the experience of users, “visitor retention,” traffic converting to sales, how visitors are perceiving your brand, and more.
There are a variety of ways that you can improve the performance of your website, a few of them including:
- Lightening the weight of your web pages (lighter pages equals a shorter load time)
- Optimizing images for a quicker load time as well as using fewer images and videos
- Reducing the number of HTTP requests needed to load pages on your website
- Finding the right web host with a strong server
4. Get your business on the right social media platforms
Sometimes it isn’t about your website at all. Sometimes you just need to find innovative ways to be found, and social media is a great place to start. You don’t necessarily need to be on every social media platform. That can get confusing, costly, and just plain waste your time. Knowing which platforms you should be on can be found by doing a deep dive into your target audience.
If your market mostly includes Zennials, then you’re probably going to want to make good use of Instagram and TikTok; Millennials are often on Facebook and Instagram, Boomers love Facebook, and business professionals are best reached on LinkedIn. You can find more tips for choosing the right social media platforms for your business here.
5. Get in front of your community
Another great way to get more traffic is to make sure that the people and the other businesses in your area know that you exist (or remind them if they’ve forgotten). You can do this in a variety of ways such as through commercials, billboards, attending networking events, working with local influencers, engaging with users on social media, sponsoring non-profits or school events, and more. The ideas are endless!
The key takeaway
Your website probably isn’t a complete lost cause and you may just need to make a few minor adjustments. However, outdated websites weren’t built for all of the modern technology and AI advancements that we’ve seen over the last 10-20 years and it may be time to think about working with a website developer to begin building a new one. Don’t worry, we know a guy.