It was a hot summer day, the type that makes you long to stay indoors.
I was taking a short-cut to the store and passed down a quiet residential street, tucked away from the main road. There, mid-way down the street, sat two cute little kids behind a lemonade stand.
From the look on their faces, and the almost-full pitcher of lemonade, they weren’t getting much business that day.
Their prices were good, the summer heat certainly stirred up thirst, and the lemonade looked refreshing.
So why the full pitcher and the long faces?
Lack of visibility.
Tucked away on that side street that got few travelers, they weren’t seen by the customers they were hoping to attract.
And there are many well-meaning entrepreneurs who have the same problem with their website, resulting in less-than-desired sales.
One of the best ways to transform a so-so business into a thriving, profitable one is by gaining more targeted visibility. Your ideal customers must know that you exist in order to be enticed to buy your services or products.
Without visibility…
Well, you might as well be out of business.
To avoid having unsold “lemonade’ at the end of your sales day, here are 5 simple things you can do each week to double your website traffic:
# 1 – Create tweets from your posts
One of the best ways to gain visibility and get more visitors to view your content is to share it via social media. While each of the major social media platforms can help you in gaining more visibility, I’ve had great success with Twitter for me and my clients.
It starts with writing an article or blog post that delivers information your ideal audience will find useful and meaningful. Once published, you would then create tweets, with eye-catchy headlines, that share snippets of information from the post. Include a link to the content and then publish the tweets. Here’s a post that details how to drive traffic to your blog using Twitter.
#2 – Comment on other top blogs
Commenting on other blogs in your niche is a great way to build your brand and direct more readers to your site. However, it’s important that your comments actually add value, not just relay how great a post you thought it was.
When leaving comments, consider what the author has written, share how you agree (or politely disagree), add your thoughts to it, and provide some value to would-be readers of your comment. If it’s a topic you’ve recently address on your blog, you can end your comments by mentioning that you cover it in more detail on your own blog.
In summary, make your comments worth reading, and readers will want to learn more about you and what you write on your blog.
#3 – Create blog posts regularly and often
By being consistent in adding content to your site, you can increase your chance of attracting more readers. And more readers can mean more customers, ultimately.
So what does “regularly” mean?
For me, it means at least once a week. Other bloggers may recommend more often and some even say, once a month.
The key is to be consistent enough so that your readers know what to expect and you keep them coming back. Also, giving the search engines new content to index on a regular basis can help your search engine rankings, providing your with more traffic.
#4 – Guest post on reputable sites
I mentioned that my goal is to add one article to my blog each week. This works for me because I also combine this with guest posting on other sites.
By leveraging another reputable site’s traffic, you can gain more visitors to your site. Take time to search for top non-competing sites whose audience would potentially love your content, products or services as well.
Start by creating an eye-grabbing headline and follow-through with compelling content. Pitch your topic to the site, following their guest posting guidelines, and, if done right, enjoy the added traffic. Doing this regularly can help increase the number of your site’s visitors.
#5 – Submit your content to article directories
It may sound like an outdated strategy for getting more visitors to your site, but it still works. Submitting your articles to submission sites online is one of the best ways to direct what comes up about you in the search engines.
How does it work? When you submit an article, these sites allow you to enter a personal bio and a link back to your own site. Search engines often include content from these sites in their search results.
Also, the articles that you submit to these sites pick up links from other sites that point back to your site, driving more traffic your way. Here are a few directories to check out:
- goarticles.com
- ezinearticles.com
- expertarticles.com
- ehow.com
So do you want to have customers lined up at your “lemonade stand”? It all starts with writing great content that appeals to your potential customer and that they will find helpful.
By putting yourself in their shoes, identifying what needs and desires they have, and looking for ways to make their lives easier, you can create the type of articles that attract their attention and will double your website traffic.
