So, you’ve just launched a website and now hope for a brand new wave of traffic? If you do, you are making a big mistake. With almost 1.7 billion sites currently active online, it takes much more work to convince users to visit your pages. You need to promote the website and let the world know that it’s offering valuable content. In case you fail to do so, rest assured your site will remain passive.
Fortunately, there are dozens of ways to promote online content and most of them even come free of charge. That’s the beauty of the Internet – you can do whatever you want if you invest enough time, research, and experience into it. But how exactly can you promote a website? Keep reading as we are about to discuss 10 practical ways to do your website promotion.
1. Write Standout Posts
The very first way to earn the attention of the target audience is obvious – create lots of standout posts and articles. After all, visitors browse websites because they want to solve problems or find valuable and useful information in a given niche.
But there is a catch here, too. Everybody creates content these days and you must be highly proficient if you want to get the foot in the door. To put it simply, you have to write articles that are better and more useful than posts coming from your direct rivals.
You can do it by approaching each theme with all due attention. Research your topics, find fresh sources of information, cover subjects from all angles, and make it long-form. This is exactly what studies confirm since the average Google first page result contains almost 1.9 thousand words.
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2. Optimize Content for Search Engines
As a webmaster, you probably know a thing or two about search engine optimization (SEO) already. It is one of the most important practices of the digital era, so you have to prepare well and optimize each post before publishing.
It all begins with keywords because they help engine crawlers to identify, index, and rank your content. In such circumstances, every post requires thorough analysis as your job is to find terms and phrases that correspond with users’ interests. The task is, of course, a lot easier when you use tools like Google Keyword Planner, Soovle, or Ahrefs Keyword Explorer.
Keep in mind that the copy is not the only thing you have to optimize here. You must also pay attention to metadata such as titles, alt tags, image tags, meta-descriptions, and other SEO elements to round up the story and make your content fully discoverable.
3. Optimize for Local Searches
The majority of businesses have physical stores or branches, but it doesn’t mean they shouldn’t participate in the SEO race. On the contrary, optimizing for local searches has become a powerful marketing mechanism in the last few years.
According to the report, over 80% of smartphone users conduct ‘near me’ searches. Their logic is simple – customers want to discover stores before they go shopping. This is where local SEO steps in to save your day. The only thing you need to do is to create an account on Google My Business. Add the latest news about your company such as contact information and opening hours, and you are good to go.
4. Create Free Lead Magnets
Traditional posts are mandatory, but you should walk the extra mile and create lead magnets to attract even more website traffic. This should be free content that adds value to your existing posts. But the advantage is that you can brand it for your website promotion without being too pushy.
You can experiment with lots of formats here, but the only thing that really matters is to design top-level content. This not only attracts website visitors but also helps you to grow email lists and build long-term relationships with the audience. Some of the best lead magnets you can design include:
- Infographics: Infographics are extremely popular because they nicely combine textual and visual content.
- eBooks: It’s like an extended version of a blog that gives in-depth explanations about the targeted topic.
- Images: Almost everybody needs quality images these days, so you might want to think about creating your own stock of beautiful photos.
- Video tutorials: The popularity of video content is unprecedented, which is what makes video tutorials such a desirable format these days.
5. Take Advantage of Social Media
Do you know that social networks like Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram attract billions of users on a daily basis? You can reach out to almost half of the global population through this channel, so it would be foolish not to take advantage of it straight away.
The goal is, however, to choose your platforms carefully. If you are into B2B niche, do you really need an Instagram account? In this case, you would probably do much better with Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook. You should always analyze the target audience before deciding which way to go.
Besides that, you can invest in social advertising because it’s not expensive but can do miracles for your website. For instance, Facebook enables you to target highly specific audience groups and personalize your messages, so we strongly recommend you to test this tool and drive traffic quickly.
6. Install Social Share Buttons
Speaking of social media, another precious advice is to install social sharing buttons to your website. Doing so, you will enable visitors who like your posts to share them on their own social accounts with only one or two clicks.
The vast majority of websites run on WordPress, a platform that offers you thousands of support tools and plugins. One of those plugins is Social Media Share Buttons, a tool designed with the single purpose to drive user engagement and help them share quality content. Make sure to install the plugin and give your fans the opportunity to spread the word about your website.
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7. Build Relationships with Email Marketing
Email campaigns represent the oldest marketing mechanism, but they are still one of the most efficient means of communication. Email newsletters are particularly valuable for webmasters who want to grow traffic and build a wide base of loyal visitors.
Of course, this is yet another area where you must display professionalism and writing proficiency. Only a high-quality email copy can keep subscribers interested and engaged, which is why you need to approach it strategically.
Don’t forget to tailor the content so as to fit the expectations and interests of your target group. Besides that, you should stay up to the point and write engaging copies that really inspire recipients to visit your site once again.
8. Guest Blogging & Website Promotion
Guest blogging is one more opportunity to grab the attention of your audience and drive website traffic. How does it work?
First of all, you need to find popular websites with a more or less similar audience. These should be authoritative sites with lots of recurring visitors. Send them a pitch and suggest writing a post that suits their style and topics.
When you get the approval, you must write an outstanding article that proves you are a credible industry figure. At the same time, you will use the opportunity to add backlinks to your website. Of course, this is not supposed to be trivial or irrelevant; so add URLs to your site only when the content really augments the guest post.
9. Be Active on Quora
Quora is one of the most popular questions-and-answers platforms in the world. Many opinion leaders take part in Quora discussions to inspire users’ interest and convince them to visit their own websites.
What makes Quora so interesting is the fact that readers assess answers, so the best explanations have the highest number of thumbs up. This is your big chance to step up, find niche-related topics, and write answers that will establish you as the industry thought leader.
And just like with guest blogging, you can once again seize the opportunity to add backlinks to your website and allow visitors to learn more about your business.
10. Follow Online Mentions
The last advice on our list is to monitor your brand online and follow online mentions coming from website visitors. This will help you to gain more insights about your target audience, while you can also use it as the opportunity to engage in online discussions and build relationships with your fans.
Many tools can help you with online monitoring, but the simplest solution comes in the form of Google Alerts. You just need to create an alert about your website, brand, or content, and Google Alerts will keep you updated about any new entries.
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Conclusion
No matter how good or well-designed, a brand new website cannot attract lots of visitors just like that. On the contrary, it takes a lot of work and consistent marketing to make it visible and easily discoverable online.
In this post, we explained 10 ways to promote your website and drive traffic. These are not the only tricks you can try, but they are certainly the most effective. Don’t hesitate to give them a try and let us know in comments how it worked out for you!
This article is written by Cathy Baylis from EssayUniverse. She is a freelance content writer specializing in leadership, career development, and education. She loves sharing her interests with readers, and she has something to say, for sure. Writing is not only her hobby but the profession at the same time.
