edited by Matteo D’Agostino
graduated in Philosophy and Computer Science, he specialised in web marketing at the University of California and Oxford College of Marketing.
THE BEST WAYS TO INCREASE SITE VISITS AT NO COST
Are there free systems to increase visits to your site, blog or eCommerce? The answer is yes, and the good news is that anyone can adopt these systems without special knowledge. Of course, let’s not talk about cheap “tricks”: any strategy of growth and increase in visits is based on time and constancy, and the success of advertising on Facebook or Google is due precisely to the shortage of these two elements. Many prefer to invest a specific budget in paid ads rather than roll up their sleeves and spend days looking for potential new customers. But for those who have the opportunity and will to work hard to increase traffic, chances are not lacking: the purpose of this article is to demonstrate how and what to do to enlarge their catchment area free of charge. Here are 10 techniques that you can implement right away for your site!
1) WRITE OPTIMISED CONTENT BASED ON YOUR KEYWORDS
If visits to your site or blog are few, maybe you should pay more attention to keywords. These are “read” by search engine spiders, providing valuable positioning information. Having a scanty page with little text is like keeping quiet in front of the professor during the interrogation. Google will go further and reward, just like a professor, websites with higher quality content. To find the right keywords, you have to do nothing but think about what your services and products are. Do you sell pet food? Do you propose yourself as a freelance translator? Are you a private investigator? Excellent, then explain it by a thread and by sign-in pages like Home, Who I am, Why us, Services or Company Philosophy. Don’t take anything for granted: Google can’t understand what your site is talking about unless you explain it to them! And if you’re not good enough, you’ll end up on the second or third page in search results, actually disappearing from circulation. Writing content optimised for keywords of interest is the first action to be taken.
2) OPEN A BLOG AND UPDATE IT WITH POSTS AIMED AT YOUR TARGET
Once your site has been enriched and optimised with quality web content, we recommend that you move on to a second complementary strategy: creating and managing a blog or a news section. Why this? Simple: because blog or news articles can increase website visits for free for years to come. The principle is identical to that described in the first point. If I talk about topics related to my business, Google will take this into account and — under certain conditions — will display our blog, and consequently, our website in search results. Compare, for example, the articles that we have published in recent years in Eviblu’s blog and you will understand how easy it is to increase visits by offering the network useful information that is consistent with your business. Moreover, is it not enough to search for answers that users surf online? Providing solutions is the best way to see visits grow over time.
3) TAKE CARE OF YOUR FACEBOOK PAGE AND INSTAGRAM PROFILE
Facebook and Instagram are today the most popular social networks in Italy and most of the western world. It is evident then that if you want to increase your visits to the site you also have to take care of managing social networks as you should: you may hate them, you may not have your profile anywhere, you may not even know what hashtag means… but you can’t think that your site or eCommerce will have many visits if you renounce these channels at the start. Beyond fashion and controversy, Facebook and Instagram (but also Twitter, Snapchat, LinkedIn and others) remain platforms with millions of active users every day. Young and old eager to share experiences, comment, interact with other profiles and companies that can involve them. Connect your Facebook page and your Instagram account to the website, publish valuable images and content, and soon you can count on people who are fond of what you do, ready to follow your advice and your links in case of updates. Everything, once again, at no cost!
4) SEARCH FOR PORTALS AND MAGAZINES INTERESTED IN YOUR BRAND
In the last 20 years, the number of new digital portals and magazines has increased a hundredfold. There are all kinds, from the simplest to the most articulated, from those focused on a niche theme to portals with many different rubrics. Difficult that there is still nothing you can take advantage of to increase visits to your site. Take care of the search for possible interlocutors and, when you find them, write them an email (or take your phone in hand) to propose the publication of an article on a topic in which you Feel Ferrato. Why would they accept that? Because you’re offering them a contribution (quite different from a Marchetta!) that audiences will appreciate and that magazines and portals can share in their social media. Not bad, also because you will do it “for free”, in exchange for a simple link at the bottom of the article, or for your name as an author. Sow day by day and after years you will harvest delicious fruits, that is traffic in target without moving a finger!
5) PRODUCE VIDEOS FOR YOUTUBE AUDIENCE
Focusing only on textual content is fine, but only up to a certain point. If you want to grow and increase visits significantly, consider opening a Youtube channel and publishing captivating videos. It’s nothing that strange: you’re just replicating the blog strategy, but this time you’re going to show video content to the audience in the network instead of written articles. The more competent you are in the production of movies (and by production, I mean high-resolution images, but also audio, editing, opening and closing), the more you will be able to attract attention and get new subscribers to your channel. When subscribers are in the hundreds, thousands or even millions, visits to the site will increase accordingly, due to the attendance of your channel by users on Youtube. A strategy especially for those already familiar with photography and camcorder, not to mention state-of-the-art tools such as action cams or drones.
6) INSERT THE CARD OF YOUR SITE IN CORPORATE PORTALS
Hotfrog, Trovaziende, Kompass… are some of the many corporate directories (or business directories) in which to register the website of your company or store, even online. The operation is similar to that of a database: for each card, a full page of all the data is provided, including company name, address, VAT number, location on the map, pictures, logo, etc. Depending on the area you belong, the card is assigned to the corresponding category, making it easier for users to search. There are also special sections such as the company of the day, the company in the showcase and so on, you can also navigate by regions and provinces, or click on the suggested and related companies. The link from the tab to the website will play a crucial role, allowing the network audience to switch from corporate directories to the site with a simple mouse click. One should not expect to know the feedback from such a strategy, but it is still an extra source of zero cost traffic to be counted to increase visits.
7) TRANSLATE THE SITE INTO ENGLISH, FRENCH AND OTHER LANGUAGES
Many companies make the massive mistake of addressing only and exclusively to the Italian public. But Italians, you know, are everywhere, starting with the Canton of Ticino and neighbouring countries such as Spain or France. So why not try to translate the content into English, German and other languages? An activity of this kind can be carried out independently by entrepreneurs, business owners or those who know the language, from friends to relatives. This does not mean improvising and entrusting the translation to the first one that happens: DIY can give excellent results, but it can also be a dangerous boomerang. Better to be sure that the contact knows what they are doing; otherwise, we can think of an exchange of services with real professionals, an option very practised for example by B&Bs and hotel facilities in general (hospitality in exchange for translation). Same for subtitles in videos: If we have a promotional video available, let’s try to activate the captions, thus ensuring a wider audience of viewers.
8) WRITE A GUIDE (AN EBOOK) AND SPREAD IT ONLINE
If our website or eCommerce is fully operational and if we have enough news or posts available, we can think of using a PDF guide in the form of an ebook. Such a resource is a boon for the audience of the network, always looking for complete and accurate information on specific topics of interest. “The ultimate camper guide”, “The ebook on freelance work”, “Becoming a star chef”… how many times have you come across titles like these and decided to press the download button leaving the Your email? It happens and will continue to occur for several reasons: the ebook is practical, usable by anyone, free and (hopefully) beneficial. Users who will like what you have written will exchange the guide with friends and colleagues, and this will only feed word of mouth around your company. Not only that: because downloading in exchange for email will allow you to collect email addresses and names essential for any marketing actions such as sending newsletters, offers or promotions.
9) TURN ON PUSH NOTIFICATIONS WITH THE FREE PUSHCREW TOOL
For a few years now, a powerful new tool has been established to increase visits to the site free of charge. It is called Push Crew and is part of the tools designed to send semi-automatic notifications to subscribers. In practice, it works like this: those who enter the site see a banner with a message like “Do you want to stay up to date? Subscribe to our notifications!” By clicking the “I agree” button, you will be inserted into the subscriber database and every sending of communication through Push Crew you will see a message appearing on the desktop of the PC that refers to the published news. A bit like the old advertising SMS that some telephone companies insist on sending on new offers, with one crucial difference: here it is the user who gives the consent, and he will do so if — for example — will prefer this tool to channels such as Facebook or social networks. In short, an alternative not to be underestimated to retain a share of the audience usually excluded from traditional communication strategies.
10) PREPARE A MONTHLY NEWSLETTER TO SEND TO SUBSCRIBERS
Last of the ten free techniques to increase traffic to the site is called newsletter. In this case, we are talking about a bulletin sent to subscribers (people who, again, have given their consent) thanks to which to update the audience on the latest news. Participation in a fair, product launches, meetings with the public, presentations and anything that may interest potential customers. Here too, preparing and sending a newsletter costs nothing, unless you use paid plans needed mostly when the number of subscribers is very high. Add to the list of methods to convey traffic, convert users and, ultimately, promote your company online!