With long-term SEO, there are no tricks or shortcuts to increasing your organic traffic. The content you put on your website today can drive traffic today, next week, next month and even years from now.
Follow these 6 simple steps and take advantage of search traffic.
1. Have an attractive, fast and device-friendly website
Your website should load fast and look great on all devices (desktop, mobile and tablet). Your users need to know exactly what you offer and be able to find key information about your products or services without having to dig around. Over half of web searches are now mobile and your site should be optimized for all types of devices. Make sure your website:
- Loads fast
- Is user-friendly
- Is mobile-friendly
- Supports all devices
2. Optimize your website
Technical SEO can get complicated fast, but sticking to the essential on-site SEO factors can go a long way. Check out this guide to get started on the basics.
3. Create content your audience REALLY cares about
The best mindset is to put out content that would be worth it for the reader if they were paying for it. The more value you give away, the more you see a return in visitors and influencers linking back to you. Think of the questions your target demographic has, then find and solve problems. Check forums, Reddit, Quora, content aggregators and other sources specific to your industry to see what they’re talking about.
- Research your demographic
- Solve problems
- Offer value
4. Promote your content with social networking
Social networking is all about conversation. Find related groups, communities, threads, forums, etc., and build your online presence there. Never be promotional—just be there to offer your expertise and show it off by being helpful. Post links to your content when it makes sense.
- Groups
- Communities
- Forums
- Threads
5. Promote your content with guest posting
Find websites, blogs and media outlets that cover the same type of information you write about and send them a pitch on posting your content. Show them some of your previous blogs and be creative with your offer. Stay away from canned and template emails. The goal is to get great content spread around to get traffic and links back to your site.
6. Get listed on industry-related websites
Citations (a reference to your business’s name, address and phone number) are a great way to increase and establish relevance. Use Whitepark’s best citation sources by category to find dozens of potential listings. If the website is related to your industry or highly known as a resource (e.g., Yellowpages) there is a good chance you want to be mentioned or linked to.
This is all easier said than done. Do these six steps with significant effort for the long haul and if your website’s traffic from Google doesn’t greatly improve, then definitely let us know!