You’ve built your website. It’s SEO optimized. You’ve got a prolonged link building campaign that centers on building quality links. You’ve advertized in directories and relevant trade websites. You have a targeted Adsense campaign and you’ve even started blogging, Tweeting and using other social media. And yet, the hits just aren’t coming.
You may ask what else is there that can be done. You’ve followed all the relevant SEO advice, you’ve read the Google handbook from page to page, so why aren’t you getting the traffic you expected? This is a common problem many new website startups face, especially those in highly competitive fields with narrow search terms.
One of the problems is that of course, you are new. Your competitors have been doing it longer, and Google knows this, so it may take time to become trusted. However, that doesn’t mean you have to just sit and wait, there are plenty of innovative ways of bringing traffic to your website, without relying solely on search engines.
Become an Authority
If you want people to visit your site, one method is to let people realize that you know your stuff. There are a whole host of ways of doing this, but first you need to connect with your customers and other people in your industry. The starting point to this is to join whatever online communities are available, such as forums and message boards. Become a regular contributor, offer advice, but don’t be too pushy into trying to sell. Remember, you want people to trust you, not come across as a pushy salesman. Just put your website link in whatever profile or signature the forum allows, and by commenting and offering useful advice, people are more than likely going to check out your site.
Guest blogging is another great way of letting people know that you are an authority on your subject. People are always on the lookout for blog content, and guest blogging has mutual benefits. They get content and you get a link and the exposure. It’s a good idea to link to similar articles on your blog too, which will help you increase traffic there. But whatever you do, don’t fob people off with poorly written or rehashed articles that are already on your site (and never send people something already published on your blog).
Comment on other people’s blogs too. Not spam, but add anything meaningful you can think of to add to the subject and conversation. The majority of the time, the blog you are commenting on will allow you a link or a place to write your site’s address. By commenting on as many relevant blogs, people will begin to take notice that you have some semblance of knowledge on the subject, helping to boost your authority and traffic.
Videos
YouTube is watched by more people than all the major US networks put together. And you don’t need to be a budding Steven Spielberg to create a little video. A video may be something informative and factual or something completely wacky or funny that could go viral. Viral Seeding could generate you thousands upon thousands of views, and ultimately page views to your website. Of course, there’s no guarantee your video will go viral, but it will not hurt in trying. You can even hire outside companies to help you manage this and give you the best exposure possible. Whether you do this or go it alone, remember to blog about your video and talk about it on Facebook and Twitter, which will drive traffic to your video and help to spread the word.
Create Free Products
This may be something simple such as a white paper or products such as free software programs. Again, give these away free on both your website and sites that allow you to upload it.
If you really want to let people know that you are an authority in your field, write an E-book. This doesn’t have to be as daunting as it sounds. You don’t need to write a 500 page tome, just a small, free to download E-book with useful and relevant information that contains your details and website. The time creating it will certainly be worth the effort. Give it away free on your website and upload it to other E-book sites. Even Amazon allows people to give away free E-books, and has the software to help you format it too. And with so many people on e-readers now, the audience potential is huge.
