If you opened up a brick-and-mortar store in the middle of nowhere and never told anyone about it, would you be surprised when you don’t make a single sale? The same goes for your website; if you build it, they won’t come, unless you help them find it. But how to increase web traffic without shelling out big bucks? Using these ten creative strategies will help you build an online map that ensures you increase web traffic from every available source.

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Increase Website Traffic
With These 10 Strategies

2. Increase Website Traffic
If you opened up a brick-and-mortar store in the middle of nowhere and never told anyone
about it, would you be surprised when you don’t make a single sale?
The same goes for your website; if you build it, they won’t come, unless you help them find it.
But how to increase web traffic without shelling out big bucks?
Using these ten creative strategies will help you build an online map that ensures you increase
web traffic from every available source.
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3. Section 1: How To Increase
Web Traffic With Blogging
You’re reading this right now, aren’t you? That means this blog post has effectively brought
you to our site. Now it’s your turn to do the same – over and over again.
But how to create the right blog that brings in the traffic that matters? Be interesting, have
something to say, and optimize everything you can.
1. Be The Most Interesting Blogger In The Room
Finding an interesting and attention-grabbing way to hook your readers will get them excited
to read what you have to say – and will keep their eyes glued to the screen. Find a story, an
anecdote, or even a metaphor to use as a structural tool for your post, which will help your
readers stay engaged for longer. We recently used the concept of slimming down for summer
to create this post about cleaning up PPC strategies:
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4. Section 1: How To Increase
Web Traffic With Blogging
This engagement also matters for your search rankings – Google factors in a little-known
metric called “dwell time,” encompassing SERP click-throughs, bounce rate, and session length.
This metric matters for Google because it shows that your site has worthwhile content that
people are actually engaging with – the ultimate goal, after all.
2. Devise Topics Around Traffic
If the goal of your blog is to help drive traffic, skip the boring, technical posts for more
universally-appropriate topics. Of course, you want your topics to be related to your industry,
but don’t be afraid to reach out for related areas for topic ideas – the more eyes you can draw
in, the more chances you have for conversions. One of the best chances you have for your
posts to go viral and really bring in the most traffic is to relate them to topical news or
buzzworthy stories. Google Trends is a great place to start, as it offers currently trending
topics broken down by category and even country.
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5. Section 1: How To Increase
Web Traffic With Blogging
BuzzSumo serves a similar purpose with a bit more options for data filtering. See what topics
have been most shared, most read, what type of content was the most popular, and even
compare with topics from the same time last year to help formulate interesting post ideas.
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6. Section 1: How To Increase
Web Traffic With Blogging
3. Make It Visual
Once you have the written content for your posts, it’s time to add in the right imagery. People’s
attention spans are getting shorter every year – while you had 12 seconds of attention in 2000
to work with, the average attention span in 2015 was a mere 8.25 seconds. It took you longer
than that to read the previous sentence.
Images and video content can also help break up text for longer posts. Try and use images for
every 350 words of written text to give your readers a breather.
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7. Section 1: How To Increase
Web Traffic With Blogging
4. It’s All About The Title
One of the most effective ways to use your blog to increase web traffic is to have strong titles.
Sounds like the easiest part of the process, but really, the right titles take some work. You want
them to be short enough that they don’t get cut off on SERP displays, so it’s recommended to
make them around 8 to 12 words total. This optimizes the length for social media displays as
well, letting your title do the hard work of getting readers to click through.
Tried-and-true title strategies include generating controversy, asking a question, using
relevant or topical references, and being creative with word play, when all else fails.
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8. Section 2: How To Increase Website
Traffic With A Diverse Online
Presence
The ultimate goal of your online presence is to drive users to your site. Therefore, you have to
be where all of your potential customers are. In 2016, that means social media is your best
friend.
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9. Section 2: How To Increase Website
Traffic With A Diverse Online
Presence
5. Be A Social Butterfly
Social media is a great way to increase website traffic because it is all about the conversation.
When you plant the seed in short-format social media that you have something important to
say, people are going to want to visit your site to find out more. Share your blog posts but also
come up with specific content for social media that ensures you have an active presence. That
last part is key: social success will only come from an active presence. With experts
recommending five to ten Facebook posts a week, three to five posts a day on Twitter, and at
least one Instagram post a day, you’ll have your hands full staying on top of all of your
networks. Use a social media calendar to ensure you have the right mix of content and plenty
of posts scheduled to keep activity levels up. Fill out all profiles completely, as these are a great
chance to use keywords and share company information.
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10. Section 2: How To Increase Website
Traffic With A Diverse Online
Presence
6. Present Content In New Formats
Using social media correctly gives you the opportunity to take one topic or piece of content
and share it in diverse formats. Publish your blog posts to LinkedIn, and take advantage of
SlideShare. This platform allows you to transform your content into slides, keeping the
information presented direct and to the point. You can add in images, graphics, and visuals to
keep users engaged, and the bonus? You’ll always have a presentation ready to go if you need
it.
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11. Section 3: How To Increase Website
Traffic With Paid Advertising
While there are plenty of free ways to drive traffic to your site, paid advertising will be one of
the fastest and most targeted ways of getting your content out to your audience. The caveat
when it comes to using paid advertising to boost your traffic? You’ll have to be careful that
you’re not spending too much money on what turn out to be nominal returns.
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12. Section 3: How To Increase Website
Traffic With Paid Advertising
7. Make Your Ads Stand Out
No matter what you’re selling, if your ad isn’t interesting, you won’t get the conversion rate you
want. An effective ad makes someone have to click through to find out more. Two major
elements will go into your ad: your copy, and an image or graphic. To be most effective at
making your ad stand out, understand what your competitors are doing. Not only can you learn
something about effective language, but you can figure out what their ads are lacking – and
take over their dominant spot.
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13. Section 3: How To Increase Website
Traffic With Paid Advertising
8. Hone Your Targeting
To increase website traffic that matters, you want your ads to be seen by your ideal customers,
and using targeting is the best way to get your content in front of the right eyes. Start with
formulating buyer personas, which flesh out who your ideal customer is, what they do for fun,
where they work, and any other information that will help you identify your consumer
demographics. Then, set up your ads to reach people who meet your criteria. Reach out to your
local audience with ads that are tailored to location.
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14. Section 4: How To Increase Website
Traffic By Building A Community
In 2016, influencers are in. Throughout social media platforms, there are “experts” in each
industry who have massive followers who regularly engage with them.
How can you become part of this community? Start engaging.
Influencers are a huge opportunity to increase website traffic. They have large audiences, and
so by sharing your content with their community, you have access to even more eyes.
Everything from links on their sites to social media mentions will get more visitors to your site.
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15. Section 4: How To Increase Website
Traffic By Building A Community
9. Have Guest Bloggers (Or Be A Guest Blogger)
Guest blogging is an easy way to share your knowledge while
gaining access to a new audience. If you are interested in
guest blogging, find a site that welcomes posts from others,
and reach out with a pitch. Do your research, so you
understand the blog’s audience, voice, and the topics they’ve
covered, so you can bring a fresh perspective that will attract
their readers.
The same is true for having others guest post on your blog.
Reach out to influencers and start building relationships, so
that when you ask them to contribute to your site they will
understand your platform and brand in a more
comprehensive way.
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16. Section 4: How To Increase Website
Traffic By Building A Community
10. Become an Influencer
Your goal should be to become an influential voice in your field if you’re not already. This will
come through having an active blog, being communicative on social media, and finding
opportunities to share your knowledge. To do so, you’ll need to have your finger on the pulse
of the industry, and make sure that all of your content is designed to be helpful.
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17. SevenAtoms is a San Francisco based inbound marketing company that helps
businesses market their products and services online to achieve tangible,
bottom-line results. We have a passion for inbound marketing and love helping
our clients grow their brand and create sustainable lead generation sources.
Our expertise extends to SEO, PPC, social media, and content marketing, and
we are especially adept at integrating these channels so that they work
together to drive maximum performance.
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