50+ Ways to Drive Website Traffic

• 293

Have you tried every method out there but your website still isn’t getting website traffic?

Do you struggle with turning your website into an income-generating asset?

Don’t worry – driving traffic to your website may take some time, but if you follow the right steps you’ll speed up the process.

Here are 50 effective ways to increase your website traffic in 2020.

How to Drive Traffic to Your Website with SEO

#1. Improve Your On-Page SEO

What can help you supercharge your results is learning the right SEO strategies and the best practices for using target keywords.

You can improve your on-page SEO through keyword research and just the right optimization to your website content.

For example, you can:

• Optimize the keywords in your SEO title
• Put core keywords in the headlines throughout your website articles
• Add keywords to your image file names so search engines know what they’re about
• Make your URLs as SEO-friendly as possible by optimizing the slugs.
• Make sure you include at least your main keyword in your meta description

Google’s algorithm factors in all these ranking criteria before it decides how to rank your content.

To make it easier on yourself to optimize on-page SEO, consider installing plugins like Yoast SEO and use Ahrefs or HubSpot’s SEO tools.

#2. Research New Keywords

Keyword research isn’t about finding one high volume keyword and ranking for that single keyword alone.

It’s about coming up with a keyword strategy with a variety of terms that are relevant to your product and industry.

But if that’s too narrow, don’t be afraid to expand on different keywords in your industry. For example, it’s perfectly acceptable for a website offering hosting services to create a content strategy for a blog that covers topics on hosting along with broader topics on web development, CMS platforms, WordPress errors, and more.

If you do expand on new keyword families, just don’t forget to identify the search intent behind them and try to serve that search intent with your content.

#3. Optimize Your Content With Long-Tail Keywords

Don’t go with the most popular parent keywords in your industry. For example, don’t use “business ideas” – because this is a top-level-keyword that’s highly competitive, and it would be hard for a new website to rank for it.

Instead, use long-tail keywords like “most profitable business ideas 2020.” Keywords like this usually have a lower volume, but they’re not as competitive – they’re low hanging fruits that are easier to snatch.

Using tools like Ahrefs or Google Keyword Planner can help you research keyword volume and difficulty.

Besides, search engines rank websites based on factors like size, popularity, and age on a scale from 1-100. This is called DA (domain authority), a search engine ranking score developed by Moz.

For example, if your website is new – it has a domain authority of 1, while platforms like Facebook have a domain authority of 99.

It’s difficult for a website with low domain authority to rank for short-tail keywords with 100,000 searches per month. A new website will have higher chances to rank for long-tail keywords because there is far less competition.

#4. Build On Competitor Keywords

You might consider looking into your competitors’ content and keyword strategies if you’re out of ideas.

Features like Ahrefs’ “Content Gap” analysis can help you identify the keywords your competitors are ranking for, but you aren’t.

#5. Make A Few Good Guest Posts Each Month

Link-building, or to be more exact, a website’s backlink profile is one of Google’s ranking factors and a great way to boost your website traffic. The links that lead to your site are called backlinks.

Backlinks show search engines that your content is gaining industry recognition and that it provides value to both users and websites.

Now we’ll also get down to talking about natural link building, and that’s the ideal way to get more link juice – but it’s more of a passive strategy – after you produce great content, you’ll be sitting ducks.

Or, you can use a more proactive way to boost your backlink profile – guest posting.

Guest posting can help you both land backlinks and strengthen your backlink profile, and drive traffic to your website.

If you’re reaching out to sites in your niche and industry it means that you’ll be getting your link in front of potential new readers and site visitors that are in your target audience.

Now, of course, guest posting usually involves some sort of exchange between the two websites in question, and it can be the good old link exchange.

But the key to landing a few good guest posts each month is a streamlined email outreach strategy. And since that’s not something you can easily learn by simply reading 100 words, read up on it some more and start optimizing your current processes!

Keep in mind that some websites have guest post submission guidelines. So, follow each website’s guidelines carefully if you want to land a link.

#6. Natural Link Building

Natural link building happens when other websites, bloggers and web owners from your niche link to your content on their own.

Now, if earning quality backlinks from authoritative websites was easy we wouldn’t have coined the term “link building.” That being said, with enough effort you will eventually get your website up there, and the most straightforward way to do it is by creating valuable content people will want to link to.

But what’s “valuable content?”

Well, more about that in the next section.

How to Drive Traffic with Content Marketing

#7. Create Content That People Want to Share (and Link To)

If you think about it, the stuff we tend to share or link to on our own is usually well-researched, genuinely helpful or relevant and something we consider trustworthy. When it comes to great content, you’ll find that the key thing is to think about the value it provides.

If you think the quality of your copy is up there with the greats, the next step is to enrich it with media – using compelling and relevant images.

But why not go all the way? It’s always a good idea to add a video to your website content (a how-to tutorial or a product showcase for example). If you’re worried about production costs, you can always create an infographic. Or hell, even a custom GIF.

These visual elements have the potential to make your content more shareable – and media always makes it easier to repurpose website content for social media.

#8. Create Infographics

Every solid piece of content can be pushed to excellent with the right infographic that’s both educational and entertaining.

Infographic on how to increase website traffic. Source: CometChat.

Eye-catching infographics increase website traffic because they can be used by other websites that publish content in the same niche – and they’re easily shareable.

#8. Produce Video Content

Statistics show that marketers who use video grew revenue 49% faster than those who don’t and 92% percent of customers say that visuals are the most influential factor in their purchasing decisions.

#9. Interview Leaders In The Industry

If you’re brainstorming content ideas, here’s one tip: you’d be amazed at how many big-names in your industry will be willing to do an interview if you just ask them. Send out emails or contact industry leaders in your niche on social media and request an interview.

Prepare thought-provoking questions and publish this content on your website.

The best part? They will likely share their interviews with their audience.

#10. Add Social Share Buttons

It’s not that search engines take into account the amount of attention your website is getting on social media. But that can amplify the actual ranking factors, and adding social sharing buttons doesn’t cost you anything.

Not adding them to your website posts is missing out on a huge opportunity to increase organic traffic.

#11. Write Knowledge Base Articles

When it comes to content marketing, there’s something to be said about length.

Article length is important for several reasons.

First of all, Google likes length. A QuickSprout survey found that longer content ranks higher in Google’s search results.

The average content length for a web page that ranks in the top 10 results for any keyword on Google has at least 2,000 words.

Second, you don’t want a bunch of smaller, similar articles focused around similar keywords cannibalizing each other in the SERPs.

Third, if you focus on creating the best, most informative and exhaustive article on a given topic, that’s also going to be lengthier, you’ll have the chance to tackle some smaller related keywords naturally, which means your article will pop up in several search results.

And last but not least, readers love genuinely helpful pillar articles and an easy-to-navigate knowledge base.

It’s great for site structure, it’s great for readers, and it’s great to link to as a relevant resource in guest posting, or if you happen to be doing some low-key marketing helping out people in forums like Quora or Reddit.

#12. Internally Link Your Content

You see, the strength of your website isn’t determined solely by how many other websites link back to you. It also depends on your internal link structure.

Have a new knowledge base pillar article ready?

Interlink it with your smaller existing pieces to make sure you provide a better user experience and improve your site’s link structure.

That way, you’ll allow your readers to stay on your site a while longer, gobbling up other resources instead of leaving your site the second they finish reading your article.

#13. Add New Content Weekly

Regular activity on your blog allows you to accelerate your growth – the more content you have, the bigger your chances for ranking on multiple search results. Plus, as you start establishing your presence, you can teach your audience to expect new content at a certain time.

If you can’t manage to write new articles weekly, hire a content writer.

Take some time to plan out a real content strategy and use some type of content calendar. Your content production shouldn’t be an afterthought.

#14. Keep Your Content Up-To-Date

Oh, and one more thing – if you want to remain a relevant player in your niche – upgrade old content.

Search engines like fresh and new content and upgrading is a great way to boost a page that’s not quite ranking.

Here are some great ways to upgrade outdated content:

• Add media – images, infographics, videos
• Remove obsolete information
• Back up your content with more external sources
• Interlink with newer content to boost your site’s structure

Drive Traffic by Sharing Extra Goodies

#15. Create Free Products/Tools

Now that the topic of quality content is out of the way, there’s room for some special mentions: giving your audience one more reason to visit your site by giving them something for free.

The type of free goodies you can offer depends on your industry, of course, so it’s smart to research what your competitors are doing for inspiration. But it can be any type of product – something that you can gift to customers for a specific number of orders or for purchasing a specific product.

Moz offers free tools to give visitors an incentive to return to their website.

It can even be a free tool – a strategy that works particularly well for SaaS companies, for example.

#16. Host Contests And Giveaways

Another way to draw more website visitors to your site is by hosting contests and giveaways.  They play on the power of urgency and the fear of missing out, and they’re great for generating leads and maximizing brand exposure.

They can also leave you with all sorts of valuable data you can track and analyze – by A/B testing your giveaway ads you can gain insight into what attracts your customers.

#17. Create FREE Online Courses

If you want to establish your site as an authority in your industry, creating a free online course might be just the way to do it.

Plus, you’ll get to include lead generation forms for everyone that wants to sign up!

Depending on your skillset, knowledge, and the nature of your business – find a topic you think will be relevant to your customers. Of course, this should be a topic on which you can provide useful and in-depth knowledge.

However, if you want to create a quality online course you do have to think about production costs, so plan ahead and think about whether investing in it at the moment makes sense for your marketing strategy.

#18. Run Webinars

Online courses are evergreen, but if you want something similar that capitalizes on FOMO you can opt for a webinar.

Webinars are an excellent way to share your expertise and connect with other professionals and your target audience.

Besides, unlike conferences, there are no geographical or practical restrictions for the attendees of a webinar.

#19. Create Quizzes With a “Share Results” Feature

Why are quizzes effective marketing tools?

When users finish a quiz, they get shareable results and if they find these results interesting or funny they are likely to share them on their social media accounts, spreading the word and attracting more website visitors.

#20. Use Email Marketing

A research conducted by Backlinko revealed that 91% of consumers check their email daily. So, it’s no wonder that, according to the same research, U.S companies spent $360 million on email advertising just in 2019.

In light of these stats, a few welcome additions to your email marketing strategy can drive more traffic to your website.

For example, anyone can create a sign-up widget that allows users to subscribe to a newsletter.

If you have trouble building an email list or managing your email marketing campaigns we recommend that you use one of the many quality email marketing tools available out there.

#21. Brand Partnerships

Another way you can tap into new audiences and drive them to your website is by partnering up with brands. Solid brand collaboration can be built on:

• Mutual promotion
• Shared projects

Partnering up with other brands on a shared project can lead to audience crossover – and the brands don’t necessarily have to be in the same exact niche.

Jeffree Star and Shane Dawson sold out their beauty palette in less than 24 hours. Source: Jeffree Star.

For example, the beauty giant Jeffree Star recently partnered up with another famous YouTuber, Shane Dawson, to co-create a beauty collection that drove so much traffic to their Shopify store on launch day that it crashed and they weren’t able to process orders.

How to Drive Website Traffic Through Social Media

#22. Create A Facebook Page and Build A Community

When it comes to driving traffic (both organic and paid), social media remains one of the best ways to create buzz around your brand, and building a strong online presence on Facebook is simply social media marketing 101.

While social media engagement is not exactly a ranking factor on its own, there’s a strong correlation between the number of social media shares and backlinks. According to EarnedLinks.com, “social sharing can boost website links by up to 245% over the course of a year.”

So, create a Facebook page and share your blog content! On top of that, make sure you optimize it for website clicks by adding CTAs designed to drive leads to your website.

Brush up on Facebook marketing best practices – use native Facebook videos, add compelling images – as with all content, adding visual elements drives more engagement.

#23. Launch a YouTube Channel

As the Jeffree Star example clearly shows, with more than one billion active users, Youtube has become an essential tool for marketers looking for ways to get website traffic.

YouTube statistics. Source: HubSpot.

Since you won’t be using YouTube as a primary source of income, but as a tool to boost traffic to your site, you need to think about how you as a brand could tap into its potential.

Generally, we can only outline a few very effective video content types, so think about which will suit your needs best:

• Customer testimonials
• How-to and tutorial videos
• On-demand product demonstration videos
• Event videos

YouTube videos can be easily repurposed – shortened to use as native videos on Facebook and Instagram or embedded in a blog post on your website.

#24. Go Live

Statistics show that 80% of users would rather watch live video from a brand than read a blog post. Using live videos to promote your brand gives you the opportunity to attract audience attention.

Live videos are especially effective for sharing company news and promoting upcoming events and product launches – so make sure you use them to get more brand exposure.

#25. Use Instagram To Drive Traffic

A recent survey conducted by HubSpot showed that seven out of ten hashtags on Instagram are branded.

#PutACanOnIt – RedBull branded hashtag drove more than 1,000 followers to take pictures of themselves with a RedBull can. Source: Instagram.

So, if you haven’t gotten around creating a custom hashtag for your brand, now is the right time!

After all, this is the platform where users engage with branded content the most. Statistics show that brands are getting 10x higher engagement rates on Instagram than they do on Facebook.

It goes without saying that you need to post high-quality images that are in line with your brand aesthetic.

But that alone won’t cut it –  every user on Instagram is doing the exact same thing.

So, what are some additional ways you can drive website traffic through Instagram?

• Add a call-to-action to your Instagram posts
• Create engaging, short videos (or repurpose them) and include your website URL
• Partner with influencers
• Offer your Instagram audience something extra – bonuses, discount codes, and special promotions that will help you drive them to your website
• Include around 5 hashtags in your posts to make sure they appear in relevant hashtag feeds
• Share user-generated content

FashionNova knows how to capitalize on Influencer marketing and UGC on Instagram and sneak in a call-to-action.

#26. Get Involved With Influencers

Here’s a fun fact: 89% of marketers say that ROI from influencer marketing is higher compared to other marketing channels.

Reaching out to influencers with big followings can be a game-changer, but it can also be a big investment, so whatever you do, don’t forget about micro-influencers.

Although they have a smaller audience (let’s say between 1000 and 100 000), they tend to have higher engagement rates, and with a little bit of research, you can identify individuals whose niche matches yours and whose brand persona aligns with your brand image.

#27. Build a Loyal Community on Twitter

There are a lot of opportunities to drive traffic through Twitter (depending on your industry of course) and hashtags are at the center of it all. On this platform, it’s crucial to use niche-specific hashtags and create your hashtags as well.

But the key thing on Twitter is to know who you’re talking to. Give your brand a distinctive voice, or angle your Twitter posts to address your target audience specifically. Sparking conversations and buzz is at the core of tweeting.

Also, don’t forget to sneak compelling visuals in your tweets. According to Buffer, tweets that have visuals receive 1.5x more shares.

#28. Be Active on LinkedIn

Don’t overlook LinkedIn. This is a platform specifically created for business networking and works exceptionally well for B2B businesses. Statistics show that 97% of marketers use LinkedIn for content marketing purposes.

Statistics on B2B marketers using LinkedIn. Source: Ironpaper.

So, how to build a strong presence on LinkedIn?

First of all, create a good flow between your website and LinkedIn – make sure you have a LinkedIn share button on your posts and email your website content directly to your connections by using LinkedIn email.

But whatever you do, don’t forget to engage with your network! Comment on other channels’ posts. When you post articles, include your personal view and add questions and polls.

The more engaging you are, the more chances you’ll get to connect with your LinkedIn community and build your way to authority.

#29. Use the Power of a Good Podcast

Podcasts are huge right now. A recent survey showed that 22% of Americans listen to podcasts at least once a week. They are fun, popular, and reach a wide audience, so they’re a great way to both increase website traffic and raise brand awareness – as you might get discovered by a new audience.

If you start a podcast, you can do interviews with thought leaders in your industry. Or, if you don’t want to branch out into this type of marketing entirely, you can do a guest appearance on a podcast yourself – think of this as an equivalent of guest posting.

How to Drive Traffic with Advertising

#30. Run Facebook Ads

With its algorithms constantly devaluing organic reach (research conducted by LYFE Marketing showed that pages reach only 2% of their audience through organic posts) a 100% organic strategy just won’t cut it.

After all, 98% of your audience is not seeing your content regularly in their feeds.

To be truly effective with your ads, run split testing and discover what functions best for your audience to turn Facebook ads into a sustainable, profitable part of your business.

#31. Run Reddit Ads

Aside from being the third most popular website in the U.S, statistics also show that Reddit has 330 million monthly active users.

To successfully drive traffic through Reddit, the first thing you need to do is find a good subreddit with an audience that will be interested in your products or services.

The rest is merely knowing how to strike a good balance between offering valuable information and being promotional.

If you want to succeed you need to engage with the Reddit community genuinely. Only then can you get away with posting ads and links to your website content that’s relevant to the discussion.

This is important because marketers that just post ads on Reddit are usually downvoted.

Once you engage with the community in your subreddit you can invest in a sponsored post which guarantees that your post will be pinned to the top of the subreddit.

#32. Run Twitter Ads

As is the case with some other social media networks, thanks to algorithm updates, organic reach on Twitter is also declining.

No wonder that 75% of B2B and 65% of B2C businesses are running Twitter ads – and if you’re not advertising on Twitter, your competitors are already one step ahead of you.

To get your Twitter campaign off to a good start, incorporate these techniques:

• Be concise
• Use images
• Target keywords
• Ask questions

#33. Run Google Ads (PPC)

Investing in Google ads can be a quick way to increase website traffic from high-value commercial intent searches – “65% of all clicks made by “users who intend to buy” go to search ads.”

Of course, Google ad campaigns have a bit of a learning curve, but there’s nothing a good expert guide on the subject and some A/B testing can’t solve.

#34. Run YouTube Ads

Before you start a YouTube ad campaign, you have to think about your target audience and how they consume content. But, as is always the case with ads, there’s a lot of trial and error – you can do A/B testing to find out which types of ads perform best.

Youtube has three types of ad formats you can choose from:

TrueView Ad

After 5 seconds of watching this ad, users can choose to click “skip.” You’ll pay for this add if users watch it for 30 seconds or they click on the ad.

TrueView Discovery

These types of ads show under-recommended videos or in Youtube search. You’ll pay for this ad if users click on it and watch the video.

Bumper

Bumper ads are shorter but also unskippable. They’re shown before, during or after a video. You’ll pay for bumper ads when your ad is shown 1000 times.

#35. Buy Ad Space On Similar Sites

Social media advertising is one thing, but advertising on similar websites is also a great way to increase website traffic.

Here are some of the ways in which you can buy ad space:

• Directly from a website
• By using an agency
• Through an ad network such as Google Display Network
• Through a marketplace such as BuySellAds.com

#36. Advertise via Ad Networks

Using ad networks can help you generate ad revenue from your content. This will give you the chance to create digital ads that will target a focused group of customers.

Ad networks connect buyers and sellers. They target customers based on their behavior, location, job, and interests which will be impossible for you to do it on your own.

#37. Use Retargeting

The majority of visitors will access your website a couple of times before they make a purchase. However, there is a great number of visitors that will open your website just once and never come back.

Retargeting is a cookie-based technology that uses simple Javascript code to follow your customers and bring them back by placing an ad for the product or service they reviewed.

Retargeting ads allow you to drive prospective customers back to your website which always increases the odds of conversion.

Drive Traffic by Engaging with Communities

#38. Participate In Forums

Find where your community is and reach out to them. Are they using Quora, Reddit or Yahoo Answers? Or maybe there is another digital community where professionals in your niche have discussions and share valuable insights?

Don’t use forums to just promote your products – it’s generally frowned upon. Instead, take part in discussions and add valuable content. This will help you build relationships with professionals in your niche and in time, they’ll get interested in your business.

#39. Be Active in Niche-Focused Online Communities

Are you familiar with any niche-forums related to your industry? If not, start your search immediately. This type of online community is a great way to reach very specific target groups.

#40. Participate In Quora

Quora is a popular forum where people engage in discussions about any possible topic you can imagine. It’s a great place to discover how customers react and experience services and products in your industry – or even about your business.

This type of info can be invaluable – it can help you learn how you can improve your products and services.

One thing you can do is take active participation in Quora. Answer people’s questions on topics connected with your industry – but try to avoid sounding salesy.

In these types of forums, you need to build relationships and earn trust as a member – don’t rush in with posting links to your website’s blog. Be relevant and be helpful.

In time, you’ll build a loyal community that will be receptive to your website’s products and services.

#41. Use Reddit To Promote Your Content

If you want to get large amounts of traffic, you should engage with the community on Reddit.

But be careful, this is a platform where readers want to get in-depth, valuable, and helpful content. Short and generic doesn’t do well – as we said, you can easily get downvoted.

So, do a bit of research on your subreddit, find out what type of posts are popular and post only your best content.

#42. Share Images On Pinterest

If you have a B2C company, regularly posting (or repurposing) appealing product images and custom visuals and creating boards (with your industry keywords) can help you in the traffic department.

In fact, statistics show that Pinterest drives 33% more website traffic to shopping sites than Facebook.

Just remember that Pinterest functions exactly the same as other social media platforms – posting regularly is the key to success.

#43. Develop SlideShare Presentations

Did you know that SlideShare is on the list of the 150 most visited websites in the world?

Don’t underestimate this platform – over 80% of SlideShare’s 70 million website visitors come through organic research!

Besides, you can easily repurpose blog content into a presentation and use SlideShare as yet another channel that will drive traffic to your site.

Promote Your Website Offline

#44. Sponsor Events

Sponsoring events is a great way to boost your brand exposure and establish business authority in your industry.

Pick an event that fits your brand image and is likely to be attended by your target audience. Exposure to media and a chance to get your brand logo out there is always a powerful way to generate more interest.

#45. Advertise At Conferences

If you get the chance to speak at a conference on a topic related to your industry or your business, don’t miss out. Besides, networking with industry leaders is never a bad thing, nor is any opportunity to attract new leads from the pool of attendees.

Drive Traffic by Optimizing Your Website

#46. Focus on Mobile Usability

Internet browsing is no longer done solely on desktops – more and more people are using mobile devices to access the web. In fact, research shows that 70% of website traffic happens on a mobile device.

If your website is not optimized for mobile, your mobile visitors are not likely to come back.

So, make sure your website is responsive on all devices, pick a mobile-responsive theme and make sure that your website content looks good on the mobile!

#47. Speed Up Your Website

Having a fast website translates to good user experience. Research shows that website visitors are likely to leave your website if it takes more than 3 seconds to load.

So, what you can always do is to speed test your site, pick a good hosting provider and optimize your images (reduce image size) at least.

#48. Optimize Your CTR

Your CTR (Click-Through Rate) is one of your most important metrics.

While CTR optimization is not always the most straightforward thing, you can:

• Include keywords in your title tag, URL, and meta description
• Keep them all within the character limit using a tool like the SeoMofo Snippet Optimizer
• Use power words
• Write compelling titles (consult tools like Headline Analyzer)

#49. Examine Analytics Data

Analytics tools such as Google Analytics allow you to track:

• How and where your content is being shared.
• Mobile traffic
• Most visited pages
• Referrals
• Organic keywords

This can give you incredible insights into your audience and much much more.

Instead of operating on a blind guess, a tool like Google Analytics will help you make data-driven decisions on how to improve your website.

#50. Research Your Competitors

Some of these ways to get website traffic will work for you, some of them won’t.

At the end of the day, there’s no general rule for every type of business.

But what generally works for every business is finding successful examples of their business model in the same industry and learning from industry leaders.

That’s why you need to do a little digging – research what your competitors are using!

• What’s their content strategy?
• What keywords do they keep using in PPC?
• Who are they collaborating with?

That’s always going to be the knowledge that’s most relevant to you.

#51. Determine Your Best Traffic Source and Scale

Finally, it’s up to you to track your results, keep an eye on your analytics and determine where most of your traffic comes from.

When you have a good grasp of the type of sources that drive the highest volume of traffic, and what percentage of that traffic is converting, you’ll know what to invest in. Double down on what’s already performing!

Do you have more ideas on how to drive more website traffic?

Share them below!