How to get more traffic to your website? - 7 steps to increase organic traffic

Nirbhay July 24, 2020
This is the great mystery of the Internet. The White Whale of the World Wide Web.

How do you get more traffic to your website?

You've created a gorgeous website or blog, created amazing content, and you're dying for people to see everything you've worked so hard on. If you could only get more visitors to your site, it would create all the opportunities you crave.

But it's difficult, isn't it?


You post something fantastic, but you don't know how to get people's attention. Maybe you post it on Facebook or Twitter and get a few clicks, but nothing substantial. You email a few friends and tell them to take a look, but it can only go very far.

It's frustrating. You work day and night with little to show. You've tried all of the traffic gurus' self-proclaimed secret squirrel tactics, but nothing works. You are desperate, and frankly, a little pissed off.

Is there really a method to get consistent traffic to your site? Or is it just smoke and mirrors? Fortunately, there is a proven method.

In this detailed article, I will give you a step by step guide to getting the right traffic and the best traffic to your site. These aren't complicated steps, and if you follow them you will absolutely see a spike in traffic.

The 7 steps to increasing website traffic are as follows:

STEP 1: Define your goals
STEP 2: Track your current stats
STEP 3: Improve Your Site Content
STEP 4: Use a social media strategy
STEP 5: Create an awareness strategy
STEP 6: Reuse Your Content
STEP 7: Create your mailing list

Now let's go through each step, one at a time.

Ready? Let's start.

First step: define your goals


First of all: why do you want people to visit your site? Would you like to increase your sales? Generate new leads? Just get exposure?

Before you can get the right traffic, you need to have traffic goals.

Take a few moments and answer the following questions:

  • Who is the visitor to my target website?
  • Where does this person spend their time online (email, Facebook, Reddit, etc.)
  • What do I want to happen when they arrive on my site? (Do you want them to read something? Buy something? Sign up for something?)
  • How long do I need them to be on my site to reach my goal?

Defining traffic goals allows you to:

  1. Know if you are really accomplishing what you want
  2. Measure how close you are to the goal
  3. Make adjustments if necessary
  4. Target your content to attract the right people
Without specific goals, you might be able to attract visitors, but they won't come back and take the action you want. You have to make sure that you can get people to your site and that they do what you want once they arrive.

Step two: track your current stats


Once you know your traffic goals, you need to know and measure your current traffic statistics. After all, you can't handle what you don't measure. If you can't track how many people are currently visiting your site, you won't know if you're making significant progress.

The gold standard for measuring web traffic is Google Analytics. Analytics allows you to see:
  • How many people are visiting your site
  • What pages they visit
  • How long they stay
  • Where do they come from
  • How many pages the average visitor sees
  • And much more
To install Google Analytics, the first step is to put the Google tracking code on your site. Once you do this, you can monitor your web traffic from the Analytics dashboard or by using a Google Analytics plugin on your website.

I recommend that you regularly check your traffic statistics, at least several times a week. This keeps you on top of what's working and what changes you need to make. If you don't watch your traffic, you could end up spending hours doing something that doesn't make much of a difference.

Regular checking also lets you see which content is performing best. Once you have this information, you can make an informed decision on creating more content along the same lines.

Step three: improve the content of your site


Now is the time to start improving your site, and more specifically its content. As amazing as it is, you can always improve it to increase your web traffic. This can be a particularly useful process if you've been building your blog or website a long time ago and creating content for a long time. You probably have older content that can be significantly improved.

Here are the steps to follow:

Improve your titles

When it comes to articles and blog posts, few things matter more than titles. The headline is the first thing people see and it's responsible for getting people's attention. Considering the amount of trash posted each day, a catchy headline is absolutely necessary.

So how can you improve the headlines?

Use words in your headlines that will grab attention both on social media and in searches. As you know, a powerful headline requires you to click on a post on Facebook. A boring headline, on the other hand, gets few to no clicks. No one wants to be bored.

When it comes to search engines, the main focus of your article should be right in the title. If you are writing about parakeets, you should include the word "parakeets" in your title. This is useful for potential website visitors and will help search engines like Google understand what you are writing.

Overall, consider using these tips to create better headlines:
  • Create list posts, like "17 Amazing Places To Dive". List posts work well on social media and rank well in Google.
  • Use powerful words that people naturally like.
  • Arouse emotion in the reader, whether it is fear, joy, happiness or anger. Emotion almost always makes the reader react.
  • Create a curiosity hole. In other words, pique someone's curiosity with the headline, then give them the answer in the post itself.
  • Ask poignant questions that people want to be answered.

Improve your quality



Listen. No one will appreciate your site if your titles are amazing but your content sucks. We all know sites like this. They have some crazy, dirty headlines (“You'll never believe this cure for cancer!”) And then some horrible content. This is a huge disappointment for the reader and guarantees that he will never come back.

To dramatically increase your traffic, you need to have great content. How do you create fantastic content?

Some suggestions:

Attract people from the start.

If you don't hook the readers in five seconds or less, they'll be gone. You should immediately get people interested in your article. You can do this by asking a question, giving them a preview of what's to come, or telling a story. You want to grab people quickly and not let them go. Your first paragraph should be convincing.

Format for easy reading.

It is really difficult to read long paragraphs on the Internet. People tend to start browsing and stop reading altogether. To keep readers engaged, keep paragraphs short and bulky. Ideally, aim for one thought per paragraph. Also use bullets and indented text for quotes when possible.

Write like you speak.

Unless you are writing a highly technical article, use conversational writing. It makes reading a lot easier for people and will keep them coming back for me. You're not trying to win a Pulitzer Prize, you're just trying to keep their attention.

Use bold and italics to grab attention.

For important points, use bold and italics. It allows you to grab people's attention and bring them back to the top.

Include lots of stories.

The drier your information, the more stories you need to include. Stories allow you to illustrate and spice up your writing. People always love a good story and will read it to the end to see how it ends.

Cite reliable sources.

This is especially important if you are trying to establish yourself as an expert. When you cite or link to other sources, make sure they aren't spammy or sleazy. You want to quote people who really know what they are talking about.

Get at least 3,000 words.

Believe it or not, people tend to share longer posts more. Ideally, your posts should be at least 3,000 words and no more than 10,000 words. Yes, these articles take longer to write, but the result is generally better.

Enhance your photos

Do you use photos with your content? You should. Embedding photos results in more social shares and higher traffic. If you're using photos, there are some very specific ways to improve them.

Use eye-catching and attractive photos.

Remember, your post competes with thousands of other posts. Attractive photos immediately grab people's attention, which is essential.

Use high-quality free images.

When selecting images, you need to make sure that they are both high quality and copyright free. Sites like Pexels are a great resource here.

Improve your links


It is essential to include internal and external links in your content. Internal links point to other content on your site, while external links point to something on another site. Including internal and external links:

Improves the ranking of your content on Google.

 Google favors content that connects both internally and externally. Don't overdo it. If you get too crazy with the links, Google won't like you.

Allows you to promote other content.

 With internal links, you can direct readers to other content that you have created. For example, if you are writing about the nutritional benefits of carrots, you can link to another article on how to make carrot juice.

Allows you to reach influencers.

 If you link to other websites, you can contact them and ask if they would be willing to share your post. More on that later.


Upgrade your old business

If you have a significant amount of content, you can perform a content audit to improve, condense, and even remove your old content. Performing a content audit can dramatically improve your ranking in Google and drive new traffic to old content that has become obsolete.

When you do a content audit, you should go back to your old content and sort it into two categories:

1.Maintain/improve.

This is the content you want to keep on your site. Some of this content may need formatting, better images, better writing, and better links, but it will definitely stay on your site. You may also want to consider grouping shorter positions into single, longer, and more efficient positions. This strategy can actually give you new content without requiring a lot of work.

2. Remove.

As you audit your content, you will find things that aren't performing well or that no longer match who you are. These parts can be removed from your site. Content deletion allows you to clean up old junk files that have been lying around for some time.

Step Four: Use a Social Media Strategy

Social media is one of the easiest and cheapest ways to increase your traffic. You already have an audience that is at least a little interested in what you have to say, and you can easily expand your footprint without much effort. It just takes a little strategy.

Add links to your social profiles

It should be obvious, but it is often overlooked. Add your website to each of your social media bios, including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Snapchat, and whatever else you use.

Adding your bio allows new subscribers to immediately find your website and get a feel for the content you are creating.

Optimize your sharing for each platform

As you know, each social media platform has a different flavor. Twitter is limited to 140 characters, Instagram is just pictures, Facebook is a hybrid, and YouTube is all about videos. Every status update you share should be optimized for the platform.

For example, when using Twitter you should:
  • Create an engaging Tweet of less than 140 characters
  • Include an image
  • Use a hashtag
Optimizing your posts allows you to get maximum engagement, which in turn drives more web traffic.

Use a planning tool


Did you know that all post times are not created equal? Posting during peak engagement hours typically results in more clicks and likes, which in turn drives more traffic. According to Hubspot, the best times to post are:

Facebook:
Weekends from 12:00 p.m. to 1:00 p.m. Wednesdays from 3:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. Thursdays and Fridays from 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.

Twitter:
Monday to Friday from 12 p.m. to 3 p.m. Wednesdays from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m.

LinkedIn:
Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays: 7:30 a.m. to 8:30 a.m., 12:00 p.m. and 5:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. In addition, Tuesdays from 10:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m.

Pinterest:
Evening hours every day and from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. Fridays to 5 p.m. Saturdays from 8 a.m. to 11 p.m.

Instagram:
Monday to Thursday, except between 3:00 p.m. and 4:00 p.m.

However, you probably don't have the time to manually post every day during peak hours, which is why you should use a social media planner.

These tools allow you to plan your posts days, weeks, and even months in advance. Once you've entered your posts, you can sit back and know that they will continue to post. Some tools, like Buffer, will automatically schedule your posts during peak hours.

There are many available, such as:

Include social sharing buttons on your site

You absolutely must have social sharing buttons on every piece of content on your site. You want people to be able to share what you've created with others as easily as possible. Otherwise, you are missing out on a lot of free and easy traffic.

Use forums like Quora and Reddit


Forums like Quora and Reddit are an often overlooked source of traffic. But on these sites, you have groups of people gathered and interested in a very specific topic. This allows you to locate segments of people who are very specifically interested in the things you are creating.

One important thing to note about these groups: they are generally very picky about self-promotion posts. You need to add value to conversations, not just spam people with links. If you send spam, you will probably start. These groups aim to add legitimate value, not to make a name for themselves.

With that in mind, take the time to find forums that revolve around what you create. Join conversations and take the time to answer people's questions.

Comments on other blogs

Identify 5-10 blogs that are in a similar niche to you, then start commenting on their blog posts regularly. This will have two main effects. First, it will establish you as a regular presence in that niche. Other readers of these blogs will see your name appear regularly.

Second, you can get a slight SEO boost as WordPress typically links comments to a person's website. This boost will probably be minimal, but any boost helps.

Sometimes you can share links from your own blog in these comments, but only if the link is incredibly relevant. Otherwise, it will appear that you are trying to steal traffic. You have to be very careful while doing this.

Step five: create an awareness strategy


Influencers are people in your industry who command respect and have large audiences. For example, Tony Robbins is a massive influencer in the personal development arena. If you can connect with an influencer, you might be able to get them to share what you've created with their audience.

You may already be familiar with influencers in your niche, or you may want to use a tool like BuzzSumo to identify which ones have the most influence. Once you have identified them, you can contact them via social media or email. When contacting them, keep these points in mind:
  • Be respectful of them and their time. They probably get requests like yours all the time.
  • Reference content they created. It shows how your content relates and adds value to their audience.
  • Don't think they'll share your content. Frame everything with humility and gratitude.
Reaching out to influencers can be especially effective if you've mentioned them in your content or if you're related to something they've done. Keep this in mind when creating your content.

For a lengthy guide on how to communicate with influencers via email, check out this article.

Repost your content on large sites

There are many great sites out there that will repost already created content. It can be extremely powerful for you and generate a lot of traffic. Linking to your site can increase your SEO rankings and your name gets put in front of many people.

To get started, you need to find the sites in your niche ready to be reposted. Just go to the sites you like and look for the "contribute" or "write for us" option.

Some examples of sites like this are:
After nailing the sites, you need to select the content you want to post. Ideally, your first post would be completely original. This usually turns you on and makes you appear less selfish in the eyes of the editors of the bigger site. Make sure you create something that matches their tone and style and that will work well.

Finally, present your article to the editor. Remember to treat them with respect. When composing your email, remember to include the following:
  • Links to other articles you have published
  • One or two references explaining why you are an expert on the subject
  • An explanation of why your content will add value to their audience
  • A link to the actual content you submit
  • Recognize that you are happy to make the necessary changes
  • Any other requirements listed on the site's publishing guidelines page
Once you have published one or more original pieces, you can start presenting pieces that you have already written.

Guest post on other sites

Another great way to get both visibility and traffic is to post comments on other sites. This is slightly different from reposting in that you are still creating original content for the other site. The strategy for finding sites to post guests to will be very similar to reposting sites. Find sites that accept contributions, then send an email.

During the pitch, I recommend that you do not send the content that you have already created. Instead, suggest a variety of topics that you think would suit their site well. This allows them to choose what they think would add the most value to their audience.

I also recommend that you talk about at least one piece of content that they have created. This lets them know that you have read their content and that you are not just looking for a way to promote yourself.

Invite guest posts

Once you've driven traffic to your site, you can invite other people to post guest posts as well. This allows you to promote their content to your audience and your content to their audience. It also allows you to expand your network, which is always useful.

A simple email to potential customers is usually sufficient. If they're a big name in your niche, you'll probably need to give them a good reason why they should post on your site, whether it's traffic from the connections you have.

Appear on podcasts


Podcasts are huge these days, with hundreds of millions of people downloading them every day. Appearing on a podcast can be an amazing way to connect with people who would never have heard from you otherwise.

One way to find the right podcasts for you is to search for the appropriate category on iTunes. For example, if your site is about business, you can search the business category for various podcasts that would work well for you. After you've identified 5-10 podcasts, reach out to them the same way you would on a website to post comments.

Ideally, start with small podcasts. Make sure they accept guests and tell them why you think you would be a good guest.

Write an expert review article

In an expert review article, you tackle a topic and then search the web to find what the most knowledgeable people in the field have to say about it. Then you compile all of this powerful knowledge into one document, add a few takeaways, and then post it to your site.

There are several advantages to this:
  • You don't need to create a lot of new material. Rather, you can use what has already been created and is considered an expert.
  • You can then contact the people mentioned in the expert's article and ask them to consider sharing what you've created.
  • It is also possible that you will create new relationships with people of value.
  • You will develop your knowledge yourself.

Use Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest ads

Sometimes it can be extremely valuable to spend a little bit of money on advertisements for your site. For as little as $ 10, you can present your content to thousands of targeted people who will already be interested in what you have to say.

For example, with Facebook ads, you can target people by:
  • Age
  • Location
  • Interests
  • Other Facebook pages they like
  • Personal connections
  • Email addresses
  • And much more…
This type of specificity allows you to bring your content to very specific audiences. For example, if you create content around bodybuilding, you can make sure that only people who like bodybuilding content see your ad.

Spending money on traffic isn't essential, but it can give your site a quick and easy boost.

Step six: reuse your content

Just because you've already posted something to your site doesn't mean you won't be able to use it in another form. That’s the beauty of publishing on the Internet. You can use a thing in several ways. For example, you can take a series of blog posts and ...
  • Combine them into an eBook that you could gift or sell on your site. If you give it away, it will definitely lead to increased traffic. After all, people love free stuff.
  • Create a practical guide. For example, if you've written 8 blog posts on how to start a group, you can combine and condense them into a useful step-by-step guide. Then you could give this guide away, attracting even more traffic
  • Turn them into a series of videos that you can save and then post to Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube. This would allow you to venture outside of the world of writing and connect with those who prefer video instead.
  • Share pieces of posts in forums and on Facebook groups. Rather than spamming groups with links to your posts, you can share small portions. This would allow you to develop your reputation as someone who knows what they're talking about. Once you've established yourself, you can share the occasional link.
Don't let a single piece of content go to waste. Reuse it in any way possible to drive maximum traffic to your site and connect with as many people as possible.

Step Seven: Create Your Mailing List


Finally, one of the best ways to consistently drive traffic to your site is to build a mailing list. People are constantly inundated with notifications, but they're still paying attention to their inbox. Email allows you to connect with people in a more personal and individual way.

To build a mailing list, you first need some type of email marketing service, such as:
These services allow you to create a large mailing list and then create and send emails to that list.

To create a mailing list of people who want to read your content, you can:
  • Give readers the option of putting your content in their inbox. A simple registration form would allow them to easily enter their information.
  • Offer freebies in exchange for their email address. You can give a prize and how to enter by entering a valid email address.
  • Write a guide (like the ones above) that you send to their email address. You can take the content you've already created and use it as what's called a "main magnet".
It can be easy to think that email is outdated and no longer effective, but it just isn't. Having a long mailing list can allow you to reach those who don't interact regularly on social media, as well as reduce the noise you typically find online.

A final note

The most important factor in getting traffic is to create consistent quality content. You can implement all of these steps, but if your content isn't good, it doesn't matter. The only way to stand out in the crowd is to produce great stuff.

The 7 steps to increasing website traffic are as follows:

STEP 1: Define your goals
STEP 2: Track your current stats
STEP 3: Improve Your Site Content
STEP 4: Use a social media strategy
STEP 5: Create an awareness strategy
STEP 6: Reuse Your Content
STEP 7: Create your mailing list

Remember, this is a repetitive process. The more consistently you do this, the more traffic you will see. There are no shortcuts, but if you follow these steps you will see results.
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