If you have a small business you know that your website is almost always your biggest marketing asset. It’s the 24 hour store front and your non-stop sales team. But having a sparkling website is only half the story.
The old adage “if you build it they will come” doesn’t translate in the digital world. Driving (quality) traffic to your site is another thing completely.
3 ways to drive (quality) traffic to your website in 24 hours
Social traffic
Thanks to the commercialisation of social platforms like Facebook and Twitter small businesses can drive traffic to their website in no time – even if you don’t have a huge social following. Facebook for example has a wide range of pay-per-click opportunities that allow businesses to choose specific demographic targeting (even down to the person’s likes and interests). This targeting allows your ad to appear in the feeds of potential customers that drive them to your Facebook page and/or specific landing pages on your website.
For example: a beautician based in the Sydney suburb of Auburn looking to boost awareness in the local area can create a Facebook advertisement targeting women that live in Auburn, aged 25-40, interested in beauty and recently engaged. An ad will appear in the feed of women who match this criteria that then links to a specific page on the beauticians’ website for pre wedding beauty specials.
Google Pay-per-click
Google pay-per-click is more expensive per-click than Facebook but highly effective; even for local businesses. Google targets (among other things) by location and keyword, not by demographic. To save budget choose keywords that are very specific and have less competition.
For example: a plumber in Cronulla can program “find a plumber in Cronulla” over the highly competitive keyword “plumber Sydney”. By choosing the location to be Cronulla and surrounding suburbs, the text ad will appear in the Google search results of only people located in the Cronulla area. Targeting by device (i.e. mobile or computer) can also help sharpen the targeting to specific locations and reduce the cost-per-click.
Email
If you aren’t utilising email marketing then you are missing a huge opportunity to connect with people aware of your business. Email campaigns drive traffic to your website by placing “teaser” copy in the body of the email which then links to more information hosted on your website. Your email signature can also drive traffic to your website. At the very least make sure your signature has a clickable link to your site. It’s a great way to subtly educate current clients about other services or products they may not have been aware of.
Do you have a spare couple of hours? If so get cracking on one of the above. It’s a small investment for some great rewards. Give it a go and post your results in the comments below.
See you next week,
Darnelle
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Next week we’ll talking about why not having a marketing strategy is losing you money.
