4 Website Essentials for Increasing Traffic

Even if a website is full of wonderful content and useful information, it can only be considered truly great if people can find it. Your website can work wonders for you, but only if it’s set up correctly and optimized to do so.

We've compiled a list of the most essential components to increasing leads and driving traffic to your website, broken down into 4 categories (for a full, detailed version, download our FREE ebook). Here are our top website tips and 'must haves':

1) SEO (focus on both off-page and on-page SEO)

Off-Page SEO

Build Inbound Links - Off-Page SEO is about building inbound links (getting other websites to link back to you). Google assumes that if more quality websites link back to you, your site must be important. We call this “link juice.”

While this “link juice” isn’t entirely in your control, you can help by doing the following:

• Publish good, relevant content
• Submit to online directories
• Guest post for other blogs
• Utilize a tool such as HubSpot’s “link grader” tool to research link building opportunities

On-Page SEO

Improve On-Page SEO by focusing on the following:

• Keyword density – utilize keywords in headlines, sub-headlines, body, links and tags
• No keyword "stuffing" – try to focus on ONE per page
• Place keywords in headlines, because they have greater weight for search engines
• Use image ALT tags
• Meta Tag – line of code in background of web page – search engines use to determine what web page is about
• XML Sitemap – xml file that contains a list of all your pages and when they were updated. There are generators online
• Update website content at least once/month (blog 2Xs/week) 
• Set up 301 redirects for old pages
• WRITE FOR HUMANS FIRST, THEN OPTIMIZE

2). Website Design

Your website is oftent the first interaction a potential customer has with your business, so it should accurately refelct your company and brand. A things to consider:

Does your website accurately reflect your company?

• Is it credible and professional?
• Is it visually appealing? Proper use of color, fonts, images, etc?
• Don’t go overboard with animations or background music. In many cases it annoys people.
• Make sure you have easy, clear navigation – if users have to work too hard to find what they want they’ll leave
• Responsive - make sure it's optimize to be viewed on all formats (desktop, laptop, tablet, smartphone, etc.)

3. Content

You know it's critical to publish good content, but what exactly does that mean? Good content refers to information that is helpful, informative and relative to your target audience. You should be communicating consistently and providing helfpul information that your customers (current or potentail) actually want to read. This means:

• Clear, consice 
• Identify your about target audience, and write for them
• Blog consistently – not only is it great for SEO, but it helps you build relationships w/target market and get inbound links
• Add “share” buttons and encourage shares on social media or email
• Use multiple forms including pictures, infographics and videos
• Share customer testimonials or case studies - these can go a long way

4). Conversation

One your website is set up with correctly, you'l want to continue the conversation to draw traffic and increase leads. Some ways to do that: 

• Utilize Call-to-Actions
• Utilize Landing Pages and Forms
• Offer newsletter subscriptions so you can communicate regularly
• Ask for feedback
• Promote content through social media channels and emails

This is a long list of "essentials" but it shouldn't intimidate you. Evey single thing listed is attainable and will help you reach your ultimate goal of increased traffic, leads and sales. 

Whether you need a major redesign or a few tweaks, our free eBook, "25 Website Essentials for Driving Traffic, Leads & Sales" can help you get there.