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Creating your own website is the first step to creating a successful and engaging business, whether you’re launching your own company, trying to drive traffic to your pre-existing business or focusing on a personal project like a blog or portfolio.
Once you have that foundation, it’s time to show it off and bring in the traffic. This can feel daunting, but with the right tools and the confidence that you’ve built a solid foundation, focusing on your traffic can increase your website viewership, and boost your personal project or business—depending on your goals.
Here are some tips to keep in mind when you’re thinking about bringing more traffic to your website.
1. Focus on keywords and SEO
It’s important to be intentional about the words and phrases that you use on your website. While it’s easy to just let the words and ideas flow, structure is important because it can make or break your traffic numbers.
Focusing on search engine optimization (SEO)—the process of optimizing your website by making the content more relevant so that it ranks higher up in search engine results—is essential for bringing new visitors to your website. If you make an effort to integrate words and phrases that people are commonly searching for, your website will be ranked higher on search engines, which will ultimately result in a steady stream of increased traffic.
SEO might feel like a beast, but it’s easy to tackle it once you do your research. Look into which words and phrases are most popular for people or businesses in your industry, and don’t be afraid to check out what’s working for your competitors to inform your research. Keep in mind that popular search terms will differ depending on your industry and the project you’re working on.
Tools are essential here. Google Analytics and Google Search Console are your best friends when it comes to SEO. The Google Analytics tool can help you view and dissect which terms your previous website visitors have used to find your website in the past, which can inform your plan for moving forward. Google Search Console, on the other hand, helps you measure your own website’s search traffic and performance.
It’s also worth noting that Squarespace has built-in SEO tools that help you optimize your website for search and visitors.
See 6 techniques for driving traffic with SEO
2. Engage with your community both in person and on social media
Staying engaged with your audience—whether it’s potential clients, readers, current customers or potential customers—is essential to success. Tapping into your community will help you boost your brand and business, promote your website, bring in traffic, and create loyalty.
Every audience is different, of course. If you’re running a brick-and-mortar store, for example, engagement might mean using QR codes to share links to your websites in your store. Creatively integrating QR codes in your store—whether it’s stickers at the cash register or a QR code on a receipt—could help turn some of your foot traffic into website traffic.
If you’re focused on running a blog, make sure to engage with people who leave positive and informed comments. Dialogue can help create and foster community on your website, and it’s important to tap into relevant conversations.
Staying engaged on social media is important, too. Make sure all of your social media profiles—both personal and professional—include a link to your website, and if it feels natural, be sure to point people to your website if they comment on your posts asking for specific information, videos, or imagery that’s available on your website.
Get more tips for converting your social media followers into website traffic
3. Create unique content that brings in visitors and new customers
Get creative when it comes to content. If you’re working on a portfolio, blog, or any other kind of personal project, lean into multimedia. Share videos, photos, and interesting information that your visitors, readers, and viewers won’t be able to find anywhere else. Use your personal brand to your advantage here—let your voice and personality shine—and don’t be shy when it comes to posting.
Perhaps consider adding a written element to your website if it’s visuals-focused and a visual element to your website if it’s word-focused. You will set yourself apart and keep people engaged and interested in visiting your website again if you lean into multimedia and keep your website updated with unique and shareable content.
If keeping up with content feels like a big task, creating a content calendar can help.
4. Promote yourself and your website
Don’t be afraid to promote yourself in more ways than one—whether that’s through a newsletter, LinkedIn, or any other applicable social platform. Sending out emails to your readers or customers will help bring in website traffic, and the people who visit your website will share the link with others if your content is engaging and interesting.
Remember that you are your best cheerleader, and there’s no shame in sharing something you’re proud of, whether it’s your portfolio, passion project, or business that you’ve worked to build. Be open about celebrating milestones, struggles, or new developments with your followers and customers.
5. Craft clear and relevant website pages
You want people to be impressed when they visit your website, and this starts with a foundation of clear, relevant, and interesting landing pages.
Get started by setting aside time to organize your thoughts and focus on the intention of your website.
Are you creating a portfolio so people can check out your work?
Are you trying to promote your personal project?
Are you looking to bring more customers to your business and increase brand awareness and sales?
In any case, try to offer people a little more than what they’re looking for and make sure you’re clear about your intentions. This might mean adding a blog page to your visual portfolio website or making an effort to lean into and include more photo and video content for a more writing-focused project.
Every website should include an About page and Contact page, and in many cases, it makes sense to include an FAQ page. Going the extra mile with your landing pages will leave visitors feeling informed and engaged, and ultimately, it pays off and results in more traffic to your website.
Get some tips for creating a landing page
6. Make sure your personal brand or local search profile is up-to-date
If you’re working for yourself, your personal brand is incredibly important. Try out a search for your name and see what comes up. Is it an old, inactive X account? If so, delete it. It’s crucial to keep your personal brand and online profiles updated and aligned with your goals.
It’s also essential to keep your online presence updated if you’re a small business owner. This means focusing on your local search profile. Double-check that your website, hours, and other business details are available to the general public when they search for your business online.
7. Integrate multimedia that can be shared on social
While sharing the link to your website or a call out to visit your website might not feel intuitive on platforms like Instagram and Twitter, videos and photos lend themselves to social platforms.
Add photos and videos to your website to build up a group of content pieces that you can share on social media. Or turn your static content into multimedia content: Film an informal video, highlight your favorite quotes from written content, or share some behind-the-scenes visuals.
Lean into sharing a teaser—like a few photos but not a whole series or a snippet of a video. Then create a call-to-action to drive traffic to your website so people can fully experience the content.
Bringing in website traffic takes a lot of care and intention, and it’s a constantly-evolving process. Be sure to use this article as a checklist of sorts and refer back to it when you feel like you’re in a traffic rut.