Why would anyone want to visit your website? Well, why does anyone go anywhere? Take an American tourist visiting London. What’s the attraction? It might be to see Big Ben and the Tower of London, to take in a West End show or go shopping in Harrods.
In other words, he comes to see the sights and enjoy the amenities. He may have been persuaded by a friend’s recommendations. And good travel links and comfortable accommodation might
have been a factor too.
It’s much the same when browsing the web. There are five key elements that can make your business become a ‘must see’ attraction for visitors and building them into your website is a guaranteed way of boosting your web traffic. They are:
1. Engaging Content
This is the ‘sight’ or main attraction that draws them in. The unique or specialist goods or services that you offer, and the showmanship with which you present them. The readability and persuasiveness of the text is all important, as is the quality of the graphics and images that illustrate it. Professional copywriting, photography and graphic design skills are essential to the creation of engaging content.
2. Regular Content Updates
The attraction of a big city or popular resort is that there’s always something new, different and exciting going on. The same applies with successful websites. They feature regular blog posts (usually updated twice a month or so), full of company news, market commentaries, professional tips, case histories, success stories and more. All are designed to build customer relationships, trust and loyalty. Original video content is also a great way to increase traffic, whether it is footage from a seminar or exhibition, a tour around the office or an informative product tutorial.
3. Social Media Links
A friend’s recommendation – or a Trip Advisor post – might alert a tourist to the attractions of a particular resort. The same is true of Twitter or Facebook posts, tweet about your own blogs and use a Facebook post to create interest, the key is to always include a link back to where it can be found on your website. Don’t forget to retweet the blogs of other people in your industry and more than likely they’ll return the favour.
4. Basic SEO
SEO is to your website like a sat nav is to a driver’s destination. It basically signposts and directs visitors to your website based on the keywords they enter. A good web developer and copywriter team will work with you and ensure all the keywords and phrases relevant to your business are embedded in the text. Feature length articles and blog posts in which keywords appear frequently are also particularly effective in boosting your SEO and ranking in Google.
5. Great User Experience
For our American tourist, the quality of the accommodation and service provided by his hotel staff and tour guides will all add to the pleasure of his visit. It’s similar for your website visitor. If your website looks good, is quick to load, easy to navigate, and has engaging content, then your web traffic will be grow steadily and organically. Again, the professional quality of the web design and build is critical to ensuring a great user experience.
