Reasons why Your Website Traffic Is Trash

So you pulled out all the stops and got a website up and running with the help of wordpress.com, Squarespace, or Wix. Threw some Amazon affiliation links up. Gathered some pictures, and even wrote some information up on your site.

You’re proud. Ecstatic even! Shucks, you even have products to sell. But alas. All you here are…

*crickets*

You’re monitoring your page views. Learned all about Google stats, yet you don’t know what’s wrong?

Your SEO is even impressive – at least, that’s what your plug-ins tell you. You’ve got all green lights and your loading time is damn near spectacular. So what the heck gives?

One question you could ask yourself is who the heck knows about your website? Heck, who knows that your business even exists? An even better and more important question: Why should they give two hoots and a bag of cookies about you or your brand?

What purpose do you serve in their lives? That may be one of the single most important questions you will ever ask yourself about your brand.

What is the purpose?

Before you can approach your audience you need to know WHO they are. In learning who they are, you would also learn where to find them. What would they require from you? How can you be a resource to them? If those questions remain unanswered then you’re wasting your time and that of anyone you may attract.

You will use these answers to not only guide your website but your brand overall. Focusing on turning clicks into profit without focusing on your audience and your relevancy to them is futile. This will lead to frustration and failed business ventures.

There are many ways to increase your website traffic; the most valuable is offering ongoing and dynamic value (i.e. blogs or online forums) that keep the people coming back. However, there is a host of other options for you to take advantage of including:

Join Local Business Organizations & Associations

Many of us Solopreneurs tend to overlook the benefits of being part of our local communities of local businesses and merchants as well as the Better Business Bureau. Small Business Association and LinkedIn are two great places to find opportunities to join local groups. I found a great association that I am now a proud member of, National Association of Professional Women, through LinkedIn!

Being a member will not only let your fellow Solopreneurs become aware of you, your brand, and your website. Membership in these organizations can also introduce you to new concepts and tools you can use to increase both your visibility and profitability.

Reevaluate Your Search Engine Optimization Strategy

We’ve touched on this in previous articles but Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a large part of success for many sites. It has even spawned a service industry in its own right where people are getting paid to optimize websites and site submissions around the world to help increase how well your site and others rank on top search engines.

Ideally, you should submit to various directories yourself and use proven tips and hints mentioned; but if you are not Internet Savvy it might be worth paying a pro to assist you. You want to have an idea of who you audience is and how they move around the web because this will allow you to create and promote the content they want!

Article Submissions Help

There are billions of people on the Internet every day. In today’s buisness environment it has become vital to participate in other websites with a similar interest to yours. Brands have to actively post articles and stories and remember to include links and references back to their website.

All this adds up to become amazing free advertising for you!

On of the first main thing, that people got to do, in order to increase their website traffic, you have to post the articles to the directories of the article management system. That’s really one of the most and free ways to increase the web traffic. The most important thing is that you have to post your articles to different websites. Not just one! When people see your well written and highly informative articles, they want more. As they want more, they will decide to visit your website and share your article links.

Give Away Valuable Freebies & Host Contests

Create your own variation of a customer rewards program. Hosting a contest, i.e. a $100 grand prize Promote Our Brand video where you get the rights to all submitted videos and the winner gets $100 – you can generate traffic in addition to other benefits.

Other ideas include getting your audience to help create your new logo, giving away copies of your latest product to the first 10 to tweet or reply, or celebrate the launch of a new service or anniversary – anything you can think of can be packaged into an awesome contest or freebie!

Advertise Your Brand

There are several advertising approaches to get your website and brand increased recognition, the simplest has been link exchanges and word-of-mouth. Most Solopreneurs favor paid methods such as the Google’s AdWords program. When visitors land on your website, or others, links or images appear in designated areas on these sites when particular keywords are used on search engines. This is an extremely effective way to increase traffic to your websites.

From the vendor’s side (i.e. Google) it works like this: you bid (setup or offer) an amount that you will pay to be connected to a list of keywords used when folks search for topics. Depending on your bid and the maximum daily spending you specify, (the largest amount of money you are willing pay for ads on any given day) your ad gets displayed. You’re charged for each user who clicks on the ads sending them to your website. You can place some controls on this service so learn how to best use it to drive targeted traffic to your brand.

List Your Website in Directories & Search Engines

With the vast amount of search engines and directories out there, you can list your website and increase your brand’s exposure. Some charge a fee while others are completely free. Each directory and search engine may have their own set of requirements so read and follow them so your links will be accepted.

The important thing to remember is to go through each one personally and optimize the content you supply. Share the best of your content to make it easier for folks to want to follow you! This way you can ensure the listing provides the best engagement for your site by drawing in your ideal audience.

Be Helpful in Forums & On Other Blogs

Just like posting articles using forums and blog posts to promote your website is a good way to get your website address out there before the public. With these methods, you would add one tasteful link to your signature so that when you post his link would display below your comments.

Be mindful, you’re on someone else’s territory so be respectful. Read any notices they may post regarding forum or blog signatures and what is allowed. This shows that you not only came to be helpful to their audience, but you respect their rules in their sandbox. The same as you would expect others to do once they are in your sandbox!

Request Reviews: Magazines, Ezines, and Fellow Solopreneurs

Multiple websites have a link or rating page where they request feedback and suggestions from their audience. Why not do the same for  your brand and its content? Doing so will often not only gather additional interest and visibility but making requests can help you to tweak your site and improve it to better meet the needs of your visitors.

If you have a new product or service, let your fellow Soloprenerus try it out. Perhaps also offer a trial service or Beta access to Ezine and Magazine authors, and Bloggers. Let them test your latest creation in exchange for reviews. Now, it never looks good if you try to trade products and services for “5-Star Reviews” so be prepared that folks may not like what you’ve produced.

That’s actually a great thing. Sometimes improving engagement on our website is as simple as asking for reviews and feedback. That’s how many successful online brands are able to capture awesome customer experience. They asked for feedback.

Don’t get trapped behind a monitor. Reach out and ask for reviews and feedback.

Social Media Heaven

Social media is often overlooked when Solopreneurs consider finding ways to draw attention back to their websites. Fortunately for us, tools like HootSuite, Buffer, and UberSocial allow Solopreneurs to schedule out a bulk of posts some time out into their Editorial calendars. However, don’t schedule too far in advance. Things might change such as devastating events or the news can become outdated or irrelevant to your brand and industry.

I too have been guilty of this. Ignoring my social media connections because as a Solopreneur, I have been pushing other aspects of my business. However, when I’m on my game, I set up social media posts that go out throughout the day for over one to two week periods of time. These posts either share links to other people’s website or back to my own articles, products, and services.

I try not to schedule beyond two weeks in advance only because, as I’ve said, the news can become outdated. If you insist in spreading articles that far in advance, then make sure the information is evergreen and valuable.

The Final Rundown

So remember my fellow Solopreneurs, the best way to increase and improve your struggling website traffic is to use multiple tools to give yourself a strong advantage. Start posting on other websites and share the links with your closest advocates: family and friends.

I promise you, that u will see strong results and grow your traffic organically day by day.