The Essential Guide to Growing Website Traffic for Newbies, Part I
This post is also available in:
Pt 
Es
Starting a new website is exciting.
You’ve got an idea; you build a site about it, and BAM! You’re ready to watch the traffic roll in.
But, most of us realize pretty quickly that it’s not that easy. Getting traffic isn’t just tricky, but it can also be expensive.
So, how do you spread the word about your new site without breaking the bank?
There are a few things you can do, so let’s talk about them and how they can improve your website traffic, while you spend little to nothing.
Contents
Create high-quality content
This goes without saying: your content is what attracts people to your website.
So, make it original. Make it stand out. And most importantly, make it useful.
There’s a lot of content out there, and if yours isn’t providing any value to your audience, they won’t visit, let alone stick around on your site. Ask yourself these 4 questions to help craft high-quality content:
- Who is your audience/what are their demographics?
- What do they like?
- How do they speak?
- What problem are they trying to solve with your site?
Use the answers to these questions to create content that’s original, engaging, and useful to your audience.
Always use the active voice
When was the last time you read an entire article online? I mean the whole thing. Every word.
It’s no secret that most of us scan articles to find the information we need.
As website owners, it’s up to us to make our content easy to read, and using an active voice is a great way to do that.
Writing in the active voice creates content that is direct, easy to understand, and quick to read.
What is the active voice?
In short – the subject is making the action. For example:
✔ You can write killer content.
✘ Killer content can be written by you.
Use catchy and engaging headlines
First impressions count. Headlines and titles are the first things visitors see on a page, so make sure they are catchy and engaging.
Some formats that work include headlines that ask questions, use numbers, make declarative statements, and offer quizzes.
Check out the below examples of catchy and engaging headlines from our very own blog:
- Ask Questions: Monetag & Google AdSense: Can They Work Together?
- Use numbers and stats: 11 Reasons for Publishers to Start Using Monetag Today
- Formulate concise and descriptive headers: How to Monetize a News Website From Scratch [Case Study]
- Give Tips: How to Make Money with One Link: Traffic Monetization with SmartLinks (Direct Links)
- Stir curiosity: Website Monetization Trends 2023: Are You Сookieless & Thumb-Friendly?
Diversify your content
Different types of content attract and retain different audiences. For example, you can repurpose your highest-performing written article into a video, audio clip, podcast, and social media image to attract different audiences.
Keep your content up-to-date
Aside from being an essential part of SEO, updating content regularly keeps readers engaged, and adds credibility to your website.
Use calls to action (CTAs)
Don’t just let readers finish your content and disappear. Encourage them to take further action by adding CTAs like:
- Sign up now
- Download the free guide
- Learn more about [topic]
- Follow us on [social media]
These can draw visitors back to your site, and encourage them to stick around longer.
Interview industry leaders
Thought leaders in your industry have what you lack as a new website owner; trustworthiness, credibility, and traffic.
Interviews will help you show new and existing website visitors that you have authority in your niche and that you’re a credible source of information.
Use keywords
Keywords in your content make it easier for people to discover your content organically via search engines. There’s a huge range of free keyword tools out there – these are the most popular tools:
- Google Ads Keyword Planner
- Google Trends
- Keyword Generator
Long-tail keywords
Long-tail keywords are more specific than regular keywords and can be used to target particular audiences.
For instance, a long-tail keyword can be a specific query that a user types into Google.
To generate your own, you can jump onto any search engine and type “What” and “How” questions to see the suggested searches. Alternatively, you can scroll to the Related Search section at the bottom of the search results to see what other people are searching for.
Create high-quality content off-site
It’s important to make sure the content on your website is of high quality, but it’s equally as important to make sure you’re representing your website with high-quality content on social media, in the community, and on other sites.
Here are some places where you can create high-quality off-site content:
1. Relevant communities
You can find relevant communities by checking your content management system’s feed aggregator. That’s the page with the posts from all the sites that you follow. Engage with these websites, leave comments, re-post, or like their content.
But make sure to only engage with authoritative and reputable websites to build a good image of your own website. Otherwise, you might get bot and fraud traffic, and damage your ranking.
2. Guest posts
Guest posts on the right websites can bring real visitors to your website as well as reap a range of SEO benefits.
You can write guest posts for websites by reaching out to them and offering to write about your area of expertise. Better yet, you can also offer them videos and infographics with your article, so you can get high-quality backlinks.
By the way, we also accept guest posts about your monetization experience.
3. Referral traffic
Speaking of backlinks, make sure you get backlinks to your blog. One of the most tried and true methods of getting backlinks is through referral traffic.
Referral traffic is traffic that lands on your website via a link on another website.
Here are 5 ways you can secure referral traffic with high-quality backlinks:
- Linkable assets: Create visuals, infographics, case studies, or e-books and offer them to authoritative websites in your niche
- Link exchange: Reach out to similar websites in your niche and ask if they’d like to exchange a link
- Guest posts: Create guest posts on trustworthy websites
- Reviews: Ask for reviews of your website from clients, bloggers, and thought leaders
- Offer quotes: Use tools like HARO to offer expert advice and quotes to journalists
Referral traffic will make your website more trustworthy and legitimate for search engines, and the backlinks contribute to your organic ranking, so make sure they are high-quality.
4. Social media
You can add “share to social media” buttons to your website to give your content greater reach. Start by thinking of who your audience is and their preferred social media network.
Once you understand their preferred social media network, add a “Share” button at the end of your website content with a solid CTA to encourage them to share your content with their network. This can be on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Pinterest, or any other!
You can also add the option to share to instant messaging platforms like WhatsApp, Viber, and Telegram, which can be even better depending on your audiences’ geographical location.
5. Forums
Reddit, Quora, and similar sites are great tools for increasing your authority on a subject. Answer people’s questions, link back to relevant content on your website, and share tips, tricks, and strategies – this will boost your website’s traffic and reputation. Make sure to abide by the forum’s rules, and avoid spamming!
6. Rating/review sites
When you start to get regular traffic, you can ask them to leave reviews of your website on review platforms. These reviews are great for SEO and add social proof that your website content is good.
Some free review platforms you can use are:
- TrustPilot
- Web Of Trust (search engine AddOn)
- Google My Business
- G2
- TrustRadius for Vendors
- GoodFirms
7. Web directories
It’s completely free to list your business on Google Business Directory, among many others:
- Bing Places
- Yahoo
- Aboutus.com
- Spoke.com
- HotFrog
- Blogorama.com – blogs only
Other recommendations to get website traffic
There are a few more things that you can do to increase your website traffic without stretching your budget. In general, these activities are best practices for any new website owner:
- Keep up with your competitors: Keep up to date with the keywords and backlinks they use – when you have this information, you can create better content to compete for a better SERP position. As long as your content is useful, up-to-date, and readable, you can almost guarantee a better SERP position.
- Be present: Nurture your community and your site will grow. Stay active in your comment section, reply to contact form inquiries, and maintain your newsletter if you have one.
- Keep up with SEO best practices: Add meta descriptions, tags, and keywords to your pages. Make sure your headers and text are properly formatted. Keep paragraphs short, and use plenty of transition words. Include keywords in your content, not just in the meta descriptions or analytics.
TL;DR
- Content is King – Invest in a solid content strategy, and make sure to always deliver value
- Keywords and Backlinks – They’re more than just for analytics, the backbone of a solid content strategy
- Invest in your website’s image – Keep your off-site content as high-quality as your on-site content
- Social media – It’s very important in keeping in touch with your traffic, but can also bring new visitors to your site
- Be present: You need to be present where it matters most, especially in your website’s comment section
