Ronak Kothari is the founder of RONKOT, a full-service digital marketing agency.
Holding a user’s attention and engaging them once they are on your website is difficult, but bringing new customers to your website is a whole other ballgame. Many successful businesses lose out on website traffic simply because their website does not reflect the brand credibility that it is portraying in the marketplace. Since the ever-growing advent of the Internet, it has become nearly impossible for brands to function profitably without establishing an online presence.
Omnichannel marketing strategies are known to be the future direction for marketers across the globe, making it imperative that new audiences are consistently introduced to their brand. Business websites can not only benefit a lot from user traffic, but also in terms of conversions, and revenues.
Here are a few ways in which you can capture new audiences for your business website:
1. Boost your SEO Efforts
Search Engine Optimization or as we fondly call it – SEO is often taken for granted. Companies either partially implement SEO elements or altogether ignore its role in their website which can lead to them losing out on customers. According to recent research, organic SEO can lead to more than a 1000% increase in website traffic compared to organic social media channels.
When you are looking for ways to target new customers, very few strategies are as effective as highly focused SEO strategies. Simple principles that have been encouraged for years, such as creating backlinks, having optimized content, posting videos, and leveraging on SEO-based design elements are proven ways to drive traffic to your website. Additionally, some of the new strategies such as cross-platform promotions and engagement can also take your SEO efforts, a notch higher.
2. Drive Traffic through Social Media
As vast and profitable as the world of SEO is, social media marketing can be a great tool to boost traffic to your website. Gone are the days, when only B2C businesses profited from customer engagement. With over 4.1 billion global monthly users on social media, you can be sure that your business customers are probably active on it as well. In fact, by providing better customer service and engagement on your social media channels, you can attract many more business customers.
Moreover, social media channels can be a great platform for brands to showcase their products, services, and ethos. Not to forget, creating impactful social media campaigns can offer your brand the right visibility, awareness, and engagement you need to take your brand to the next level. As a 21st century brand, you should actively share your website content and related links on your social media channels and drive traffic to your website.
3. Make it more Web Accessible
Out of all the myriad strategies that professional online marketers will suggest for your brand, this is probably one that you do not hear very often. Lack of accessibility and inclusion are very real challenges that are often overlooked by website designers and developers. Even more importantly, it is estimated that globally more than 1 billion people are living with disabilities. Do you know that you might be losing out on organic customer traffic simply because of the lack of accessibility within your website design and content?
According to Title III of the American Disabilities Act (ADA), websites are just as liable as traditional marketplaces and businesses to make their products, services, and related information completely accessible to the disabled. This is crucial because ignoring the WCAG compliance guidelines can actually attract lawsuits from customers who are facing trouble in using your website.
Even if you do not get sued, you would be losing out on customers who are actually looking for your product/service simply because your content or design was not accessible by them.
4. Enable Mobility within User Experience
As of 2020, more than 50% of the global website traffic was driven by mobile phone users, making the smartphone user segment unignorable for marketers. The days when making your website completely accessible and optimized on mobile devices was optional are long gone. If you are a new-age marketer looking to target new customers on your website, making sure that your users have a seamless browsing experience on their mobile devices is not optional.
People pretty much want everything on the go these days, just like their morning coffee. Moreover, people spend a lot more time on their mobile phones than they do on their computers, making it a crucial customer touchpoint for marketers. Additionally, social media apps like Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn are some of the primary platforms where customers discover new brands. However, if they click on your brand link and are led to a clunky website that has not been optimized for mobile users, that is where their journey with you ends.
You must make sure that you integrate mobile compatibility on the various mobile operating systems to ensure that you can get the most out of your website marketing strategies.
5. Invest in Targeted and Paid Online Advertisements
You might be wondering why we started this blog by talking about the power of organic marketing and landed on paid advertisements. Here’s why – as of 2020, it is estimated that paid advertising generates an ROI of 200%. Compelling, right?
Even if you have taken all the steps to ensure that your website is all set and ready to host new customers, you can never be too sure. Moreover, PPC (Pay-Per-Click) ads are known to generate higher on-page conversions, making it even more important to consider for your business website.
Invest in paid advertisements on Google and social media channels, by targeting your key demographic. With just a little investment set aside for your paid advertisement campaigns, you can maximize the traffic and conversions on your business website effectively.
Be Proactive in Driving New Traffic
In the case of business websites, the chances of clients re-visiting it are marginally lower, simply because they would not be able to achieve any value by doing so. Finding opportunities to provide value to the customers who are visiting the website can be very beneficial in ensuring that your business website is bustling with action all the time. Once you attract the right customers, you can engage them by providing them content that they would want to keep coming back for.
By implementing the strategies mentioned above, you can not only bring new users to your website but also create a better and more sustainable digital identity for your brand.