So your site is ready and you can't wait for the world to see it, get feedback and track how it performs. There’s only one minor problem. Building an audience and driving quality traffic to your site isn’t something that just happens. In most cases, building a steady stream of traffic is something that takes time and is an ongoing process.
However, there are some ways you can speed things up. This article will walk you through a range of tactics and marketing strategies that you can start implementing today.
Here’s how to get more site visitors:
01. Let your network know about your new site
Before you launch your site, it’s a good idea to get some feedback from your close friends and family. Then, make tweaks where you think appropriate. Once that’s done it’s time to spread the word.
Write direct messages to your contacts
Direct message your contacts on channels such as Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, or LinkedIn InMail and let them know about your new website. Keep the tone and message personal, add some details about what your website offers. Avoid using any marketing jargon so your network will respond better to your message.
Share your site on your social channels
Write a post for launching your new site and share it on your social media channels. Have your friends, family and colleagues comment, and share to make sure the post gets high engagement. You can customize your site's social preview or use Wix’s Social Posts editor to create an eye-catching visual.
Send a professional email to your contacts
This is a great method to reach out to your broader network, customers and contacts. If you’re on Gmail, you can easily sync your contacts to Wix Email Marketing. Then all you need to do is customize a template and launch a blast to your network announcing your new site.
02. Be active on platforms your audience engages with
It’s very likely that your target audience is already active in communities, blogs and online platforms. The only thing that's left for you to do is to catch their attention and get them to come to your site.
First, make a list of all the relevant channels your target audience is on. Then, start being active on those platforms. You should comment and post daily in a way that offers value to the community. By doing so you’ll entice members to research what you have to offer, engage with your site and do business with you.
If you write meaningful feedback to posts and comments regularly you are also likely to catch the eye of the admins. This will help build a relationship with them and open the door for future collaborations.
A great place to demonstrate your expertise is Quora and Reddit, where people come to look for specific answers as part of discussions on almost any topic imaginable. Contributing valuable information on these platforms may help you get found by their users, but it could also help your responses get ranked on search results—ultimately leading to more traffic to your site.
03. Launch paid promotions and use free coupons
Paid promotions are a sure way to boost traffic quickly. You can easily experiment with low budgets to test if it's effective or not. If you don't know how to set it up, a good place to start would be to use Facebook & Instagram ads from Wix. This AI powered tool helps you to advertise to the most likely to convert audiences. You can create promotions within your Wix dashboard that reach your target audience based on previous website purchases, interests, and online behaviors.
Many paid advertising platforms offer free or discounted coupons to first-time users. For example, most Wix Premium plans come with a voucher for promoting your site with Google Ads. New offers are appearing all the time, so make sure you take advantage of all the platforms you can.
Adding all of these offers together can give you a strong starting budget for your first campaign or two. Coupons like this also give you a chance to experiment and discover what works for your site without investing large sums of money.
04. Offer exclusive deals
Identify communities, channels, complementary businesses or platforms with relevant audiences. Then, all you need to do is reach out to whoever runs that target channel with the promotion you’d like to share within that group. Often, they’ll be more than happy to approve your request and group members might be glad to get the coupon. This is a great way to get high levels of exposure from existing audiences and communities.
Use Wix Coupons to easily create shareable discount links for your products and services.
05. Make guest appearances on related channels
Start contacting relevant channel owners and finding opportunities for guest posting, joining a podcast or contributing to other media. It’s a chance to showcase your expertise and share your website with a larger audience. Online marketers are always looking to provide value for their audience—so if you can deliver something of value, they’ll be happy to showcase you on their channel.
06. Invite others to become guests on your platform
Getting guest contributors of your own lets you easily create new and interesting content for your audience. This could be for your blog, podcast, videos and any other forms of media you create. Guest content is also beneficial because your guests will likely promote your content to their audience which will result in more people discovering your offerings. It’s a win-win.
07. Reach out to influencers
Influencer marketing is a great way to get in front of a large audience fast. Make a list of influencers whose interests overlap with your brand, reach out and ask them if they want to collaborate. After that, you can negotiate promotion costs. There are lots of influencers out there in varying niches so it pays to build a few different relationships to see which yield the best results. Learn more about influencer marketing and micro-influencers.
08. Set up a Google Business account
If you have a physical location, a Google Business profile will give you a higher chance of being found in local searches. Whenever someone searches for a business in your area, there is a high probability that your details and site will be suggested first. It’s fairly quick and simple to set up.
A complete profile also makes you look more professional and past customers will be more likely to leave reviews, pictures and ratings. This all adds up to a stronger presence and another way for traffic to reach your site. Wix allows you to conveniently set up your Google Business profile right from your site dashboard.
09. Publish your site and content on online directories
The web is full of sites, directories and social platforms that are based on user-generated content. These platforms have a tremendous amount of visitors, so they’re an excellent place to boost your exposure and can even help you rank higher on search engines.
Make sure to set up a profile that includes your info and a link to your website. Placing links to your site as part of profiles or posts on platforms with heavy amounts of traffic is also good for your backlink strategy.
We have put together a list of 50 free sites to promote your website online to help you get started.
10. Syndicate your blog content
Good blog content is hard to come by and is something your audience is always looking for. After you create a free blog, put your blog posts to work by distributing them as widely as possible on places like LinkedIn’s publisher’s platform and Medium. Then, repurpose your content into presentation format and share it on Slideshare. This will bring more people to your site while boosting your backlinking strategy.