As a business owner you definitely want to learn how to increase traffic to your website. However there is a big difference between knowing a web marketing strategy and putting it into use. This article is all about the lies that propagate the web marketing landscape and how you can avoid getting burnt.
There are a number of commonly used methods and a quick list would include Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Pay-Per-Click (PPC) advertising, article marketing, video marketing and social media (including websites like Facebook and Twitter). However not all methods are created equal and choosing the right one (and the right advice) to start with will help your website grow faster.
Search engine lies
SEO is often a popular way to get traffic as the website owners believes they can pay some expert to get their website to the top of the rankings. While this can be true there's a lot of risk involved in this approach. What's most important is that the expert you listen to be able to show you measurable results to your website traffic and sales.
In my website travels I have seen countless search engine experts claiming how they can get you to the top of the search engine rankings in no time flat. They list examples of other clients that sound great and sure enough they're at the top of the search engine results for keywords like "quick plumbing repair" or "choose tiles for my roof."
But with some quick research I find out no one is actually searching for those terms. And if no one is searching for your keywords then your traffic isn't going to increase and neither will your sales. So that's just hard earned cash handed over to some dodgy so-called "expert" and unfortunately very common.
Look for a SEO expert who explains what keywords are best for your business and why. They should be supporting this with traffic numbers and the results you can expert. While no one can really guarantee you a top ten ranking the true experts will get you there if you're committed to helping them as well.
Pay-Per-Click (PPC) disasters
The biggest mistake I see with PPC is the business owner trying to do it themselves. If you're going to pay money for every visitor then you have to be very sure you're making that money back. If you don't have the expertise to do this then make sure you find someone who does.
For example most people think Google Adwords operates solely on a bidding system i.e. the more money you pay the higher up in the rankings your ad appears. It shocks clients when they discover that you can actually pay less for your ads and still outrank your competitors. And you can achieve this by writing a better and well targeted ad that more people click on.
Article and video marketing mistakes
While filling the internet with your content can be great for your business you definitely have to have a clear strategy behind this process. Creating and submitting articles or videos can give you a huge amount of credibility in your market. But again this only works if people are actually going to find them.
You can put millions of videos onto YouTube but if no one is watching them how does it help you? Do you know how to get people to watch your videos or rank them in the search engines? You'll want to find someone who's done what you want and then use their expertise as well.
The same goes for articles and putting them on article sharing websites. Are people reading your articles and – perhaps more importantly – are other publishers taking your articles and using them for their websites and newsletters. This is where the real benefits of article marketing start to pay off.
Social media mistruths
The latest craze to sweep internet marketing is the social media phenomenon. Don't be swayed with impressive figures of how many millions of people use services like Facebook or Twitter. Only be concerned with how many quality visitors they can bring to your website.
Lately many people who just learned how to use these programs are now turning around and declaring guru status. Again you want to see examples of how much traffic they've attracted to websites (consistently and not with a one hit wonder) and how that led to sales. Anyone can get an impressive number of followers just by going out and adding random people so make sure you see cold hard data before you go down the social media track.
So how do you avoid being ripped off?
If you want to increase your website traffic you need to find an experienced expert to help you or teach you what to do. You want to see a proven track record of what traffic and sales looked like before they started with a client and how they're doing now. The good news is once you find someone like this you'll be able to work with them for a long time thanks to the money they'll make you.
The key to ensuring that you aren't taken advantage of is that you have to get involved. If you take the time to learn how to increase traffic to your website and what your web marketer is doing for you then you'll start to recognize the difference between good and bad work. Plus your expert will only be keener to work with you if you provide the support and attention they need.
Your website is not some isolated part of your business that you build and forget about. Sure it can be a great automated system for bringing clients into your business but it still needs care and attention. Just like any marketing you do for your business you have to put in the time and money in order to get the best results.
What you do next
Investigate a few ways to getting traffic to your website and then pick one. Learn how to increase traffic to your website using this method, draw up a plan to implement it and then keep doing it on a consistent basis. I find once you have the right strategy the biggest difference between success and failure online is just doing the work required!
