The best World’s website is useless if it isn’t accessed. It is therefore important to regularly check whether the number of hits is high enough. We will explain to you which measures will help you to increase website traffic in a targeted and sustainable manner.
Now you could of course throw in: The number of hits is never high enough and should always be higher. But that is only partially true. Because traffic alone does not make you happy. It’s all about getting quality traffic from people in your target audience. After all, you don’t just want to appeal to just anyone with your service or product, but to a special group of people. Otherwise, you invest time and money in pointless traffic.
So it’s not our intention to explain to you how you can use simple tricks to get thousands of hits immediately to win. That’s a promise no one can keep anyway. Instead, we offer you measures to increase your website traffic in the long term to a level that suits your company.
What is Website Traffic? A definition
Basically, website traffic simply sums up the number of visitors to a website together. No more and no less. So this is definitely not the only goal of online marketing. Because more important than the mere mass is that the traffic has a certain quality. In short: Are you really reaching your target group?
Nevertheless, website traffic is a useful indicator to determine whether your website is found and accessed at all. It, therefore, provides information about a general interest. Whether your website is convincing overall can only be seen in connection with other key figures.
In general, website traffic is differentiated according to the respective source:
- Directly (someone gives your Website in the browser)
- organic search (someone googles something and clicks your website in the search results)
- Social Media
- Advertisements
- Emails
- Backlinks
In view of the different sources, it is important that you build your website as versatile as possible. Because every subpage that is based on only one traffic source can quickly crash in your numbers. Diversification is the keyword here. So use as many traffic sources as possible.
How to measure website traffic?
In order to be able to increase website traffic, you have to measure it beforehand. There are different possibilities for this. The most obvious is probably Google Analytics. Every modern website should have this system in place for tracking. You can in the “Acquisition” section under “Overview” see which sources make up your website traffic as a percentage.
In addition, you will find information there on the respective pages that are called up via various sources. Please note that these are always guidelines and not final truths. You should always see the numbers in relation to your company: A local company with a niche product will never even begin to achieve the traffic figures of a global player. So don’t let the numbers drive you crazy.
By the way, diversification is also worthwhile when measuring website traffic. There are countless SEO tools, some of which are free or subject to a fee, with which you can collect the number of hits. Free website traffic checkers are becoming increasingly popular. Ideally use several tools, e.g. B. Analytics, a paid SEO tool such as Seobility, SEMrush, or Sistrix, and also a free website traffic checker. Get the most reliable insights possible.
11 tips to increase your website traffic
1. Get to know the target group
Before you optimize your website, you always have to know who you are doing it for. Because Traffic is not equal to Traffic. Instead of achieving the highest possible number of hits, it’s more about really reaching the people in whom your company is interested. Because what do thousands of clicks from London and Liverpool bring you as a locally operating company from Rhineland-Palatinate? Nothing, except the loss of time and money.
Before you take any action to increase your website traffic, you should conduct a target group analysis. In this way, you can record exactly which people you actually want to reach. Only then is it possible to really address the topic of traffic in a target-oriented manner.
2. Working out a strategy
A few optimizations here and there can be helpful. But if you want to achieve long-term, sustainable success, nothing works without the appropriate preliminary considerations. You guessed it: Nothing works without a strategy.
The website traffic factor should therefore already play a role in the planning of your content marketing. You should plan in advance which distribution channels you want to use and how you can reach them based on the target group analysis.
Only if you take the time to follow this strategy will you have a solid foundation on which to build your website leaves. Only then do you have the opportunity to achieve long-term high-quality traffic.
3. Provide relevant, in-depth content
If traffic is a problem, the first starting point is always the content. Because if you don’t provide good content on your website, you can’t expect anyone to visit the website.
What this means for you: Pay attention committed to providing detailed and engaging Content. Provide extensive and in-depth information, possibly offer new perspectives or positions, create your own content elements such as graphics and videos, or spice things up with an expert interview.
In short: Use all the options you have to make your content as appealing and unique as possible. This is how you create content that ranks better on the one hand and also has the chance to be shared or linked on the other. This in turn has a positive effect on your access numbers.
4. Run Paid Ads
“You can buy traffic!” That’s only partly true. Because of course, you have the option of traffic through SEA (Google Ads), banner advertising, or social Buy Media Ads. Ads are always useful if you want to increase the traffic of a specific subpage.
Especially for new or weak websites, paid ads are a good option for more exposure. Ads are also always useful if you want to implement a specific measure with a clear conversion goal.
But it doesn’t work just with ads either. Because Google Ads also depends on the quality factor of your website and – as has already been emphasized several times – traffic just for the sake of traffic is the wrong way. So think of ads as a way to get more traffic, not as the golden key or shortcut to the goal.
5. Use social media
Social media are a useful source for more website traffic. It is therefore worth setting up an appropriate social media strategy and posting your own website content. On Facebook or LinkedIn, you can use link posts to direct users to your website. The advantage of this is that anyone who is already interested in your company on social media will often take a particularly close look at the website content.
You can also use Instagram Install links appropriately. Since November 2021 there has been a new link feature for stories, which no longer only makes direct links accessible from 10,000 followers. Links in stories are now easy to implement, even for small accounts. In addition, there is the possibility of pointing the way to the website via changing links in the biography. In general, the profiles themselves offer space in the description to place your website link prominently.
So overall, it pays to consider social media as a valuable source of website traffic.
6. Link the website in the newsletter
Many companies rely on the power of newsletters. No wonder: They offer a good opportunity to display your own content and at the same time to address a target group that has already signaled interest by registering for the newsletter.
So in newsletters, you have a source of website traffic that could hardly be of higher quality. Use this opportunity to place your content in a targeted manner and thus increase traffic. Other key figures such as clicks and ultimately conversions can also be achieved with e-mail marketing. So it’s worth it in more ways than one!
7. Implement SEO in a targeted manner
There are countless factors that decide which pages rank organically well in search engines. Some are technical in nature, some are directly related to your content. We can only recommend considering all facets of SEO with regard to website traffic.
Because search engines are one of the main sources when it comes to pure access numbers. After all, what do people do when they don’t know exactly where to find something? You google it! And ideally, they end up on your website afterward.
So pull out all the stops here, write SEO texts, also occupy niche keywords (so-called “Long Tail Keyword”, i.e. particularly long compound search terms), and work strategically with keyword analysis.
If you want more website traffic, SEO should always be an integral part of your efforts.
8. Creating a bridge from offline to online
Offline and online marketing can go hand in hand. Because with offline measures you may reach a different part of the target group than on the web. Use this opportunity and build bridges to your website. This succeeds both via links and QR codes. Additional incentives such as vouchers or competitions increase the willingness to visit the website.
9. Build backlinks
Backlinks, i.e. links from other sites to your website, are a good way to increase your traffic. On the one hand, backlinks lead users of the other site directly to yours and, on the other hand, they also increase the authority of your site with regard to search engines. However, it should be said straight away: It is also tedious and more something for the marathon than for the short distance.
What options are there for backlinks? A simple variant is business directories. Here you can enter your contact details and a link to your website. Also important – and done quickly – is a Google My Business entry. Here you can create a profile with pictures, info text, and a link, which will be displayed next to the search results on the page.
You also have the option to give guest articles or interviews for specialist magazines. There is always a way to create links here. However, you should make sure that these are really magazines, etc. that suit your company. It is also important that the other side has a certain quality that ideally reflects positively on your side in the eyes of the search engine.
Furthermore high-quality content also has a positive effect on backlinks. Because Unique content increases the likelihood that someone will link to you in another article or share your link on social media. However, this should never be the goal of content optimization, as it is not exactly predicted which content will be shared and how.
10. Show presence as a company
You create brand awareness through presence. Because communication as a company is no longer a one-way street in the channels you choose. Instead, you must always think outside the box and actively interact with people.
Use e.g. B. Social media, to write specific comments on topics that suit you. So write replies to technical articles in your industry or leave comments under blog posts, if this is possible on the website.
In this way, you create higher overall visibility for Your business – and indirectly more website traffic.
11. Evaluate & optimize
As is always the case in online marketing: Every measure is
carefully observed, evaluated, and adjusted well. So always keep an eye on which pages are performing well and which are not. Then troubleshoot and optimize the pages.
And then? Everything starts over again. Because after the optimization you have to see which changes have worked – and which have not. Even the functioning pages need regular maintenance since the competition never sleeps and the information situation can change quickly in our fast-moving times. So keep an eye on all relevant key figures and factors and make regular adjustments.
Summary: How to Increase Your Website Traffic
There are a total of 11 starting points that you can consider to effectively increase your website traffic:
- Get to know your target group .
- Create a strategy accordingly.
- Take the time to create quality and unique content.
- The place paid ads for an extra boost.
- Use social media to spread your website content.
- Rely on a newsletter for content distribution.
- Put SEO at the top of your priority list. Hit Bridges from offline to online marketing. Build targeted, high-quality backlinks.
- Show your presence as a company. Evaluate all measures and plan further optimizations.
- Warning, here’s the hint again: These tips are not a panacea for getting a lot of website traffic quickly to generate. Rather, it is a recommendation for action to build a website in the long term and sustainably. Any method that only aims for speed will fail in the long run – and in the end, it costs you more time/money than it brings success. Be sure to keep this in mind when you start optimizing your website.