Whether the purpose of a website is commercial or non-profit, its main objective is to reach out. With such an objective, it becomes imperative for a website owner or administrator to identify ways to attract more traffic. Otherwise, his or her objective of getting their message out there will not be realized.
Some ways to get traffic are costly, and may not be within the means of website owners with modest budgets. Hence, the following eight suggestions on how to get more traffic to your website for free.
1. Post on Social Media
Social Media is not just a free traffic means. It is also an instant traffic means. Whether it’s on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn or Pinterest, posting niche-related content on your Social Media page (obviously linking back to your site) will end up providing desired traffic to your website on a daily basis.
As you may be aware, the internet has gone social. People in unimaginable places hold social media accounts. There are currently over two billion Facebook users, not to mention the other platforms. Social media has become so popular that most marketing campaigns online target their users. You could benefit from such a free source of website traffic.
2. Participate in Relevant Forums
Forrums are somewhat like social media. Although they are by far smaller in terms of users and impact, they still are a source of a reasonable amount of traffic. Once you are an active and resourceful participant on a forum, you could direct other members to your website by linking to it, something that forums generally allow from your profile area.
What’s also interesting about traffic from a forum is that it is strictly niche-related. A website owner in a given niche would obviously join forums related to that niche. So traffic to his or her website could become ‘loyal’ users provided he or she properly implements our final methods discussed below.
3. Create and Link Your YouTube Channel
YouTube is currently the number one source of free traffic. Nowadays, YouTube channels easily pop up in Google search results. As such, creating and maintaining a YouTube channel – though challenging for many – is a sure way of converting your viewers and subscribers into website visitors and content readers.
Like in the above cases, a link to your website must be included in your channel description or individual video information. It is also possible to include it in the comment area. Wherever it is inserted, such a link will definitely get clicked over and again.
4. Have A Good S. E. O. Approach
Unlike the first three methods discussed above, S. E. O. is a rather longer-term strategy. Although it is possible to have your content ranked almost immediately after being published, the S.E.O. method of getting traffic is generally slower than the others above.
Selecting the right keywords for your content and maintaining healthy publishing habits would give your website an edge over competitors, allowing the search engines to rank it better and present it more often to searchers who would eventually end up as your website visitors.
5. Ensure Mobile Usability
In recent time, mobile devices have become by far the most used on the internet. Most searches are carried out on mobile devices. As such, you need to ensure that your website is mobile-friendly, to allow mobile users to gain easy access.
Often times, a website may be desktop-friendly, but ‘mobile-hostile’. Such a website will receive much less traffic than those that embrace users from both platforms. Google’s PageSpeed Insights Tool determines how friendly a website is towards the different kinds of devices.
6. Create Quality Content
A website that creates awesome content can be likened to a restaurant that prepares excellent dishes. When your website becomes known for quality content, users will always return in search of more of it.
Remember, content is what attracts users to websites. That is why it is very often said, “content is king.” If your website’s contents serve to solve users problems, they’ll always return to search for more solutions. A website with terrible content – on the other hand – will run them away.
7. Publish Regularly
To do that, establish a schedule, and do all you can to respect it! This is one of the best ways not only to get free traffic, but also to retain it.
You may have the best content in the world. But if it is not delivered regularly, you won’t be able to count on your site users. The same applies to life offline. Imagine discovering a store that sells the latest clothing designs. You buy a design you like at your first visit – when they’re low on stock.
You decide to return a week later to search for more designs in their new stock. And then you realize that in fact they’ve not received any new stock. You return after another week, and the story remains the same. The longer it stays for their stock to be replenished, the more you’re going to lose interest in that store, even though it had designs you loved at your first visit.
The same applies to a website. Lack of new content would drive your users to other sites that are more ‘serious’ than yours.
8. Keep Improving
Like in every other area of life, the more you improve the better the prospects. Make it your duty to constantly improve in every aspect of your website management. Whether it’s in site load time or image size, site map or menu order, let improvement be the culture of your website. That will not only attract new users; it will also entice others to keep coming back. After all, no-one loves a place that does not evolve.
You could improve by considering what others are doing. Observe and put it into practice what you see would improve your website. The internet is an infinite source of knowledge. There should therefore be no excuse when it comes to learning how to constantly improve what one does.
Conclusion
Traffic is the lifeline of any website. A website receiving a constant supply of traffic not only gets its message out to its audience, it also has a great potential for monetizing. Although there are other methods of getting traffic to your website, not every website owner may have the means to pay for it. That is why it is important for you to know how to get more traffic on your website for free.