Simple Ways to Increase Targeted Traffic to Your Website
June 8, 2009 by Ricardo d Argence
Filed under SEO
If you’ve got a business and have a website for it, you need targeted traffic to come to your website and stay long enough to see what you have to offer if you want to be successful. And, those visitors should also take action based upon what they see and what you want them to do.
It’s a simple fact that the more time a prospective customer spends on your website, the more likely it is that he or she will take some sort of action specific to what you want to happen. A good way to ensure that this is going to happen is to encourage visitors to keep “clicking through” your website’s pages. Here are four simple ways to increase page views and thus, the success of your business.
1. Content is king. You may have also heard this saying elsewhere, but it’s doubly true on the Internet. Why? Because people are hungry for solid, real information that isn’t simply trying to “sell” them something. Provide this to them, and they’ll keep coming back for more. In addition, word-of-mouth can also bring others to your website simply because of the content you provide. And finally, search engines LOVE good, relevant content, which only increases your visibility. Provide good relevant content, and your site is sure to have solid, targeted traffic ” and high visibility, too.
2. Keep your copy short and simple: Some people find it difficult to string a single sentence together; others never know when to stop! When it comes to website copy, remember the good old acronym, K. I. S. S. – keep it short and simple!
The information you present should be concise and easy to read. Paragraphs should be short and to the point. It’s a well-known fact that Internet writing has to be shorter than print writing because people’s attention spans are shorter when they surf.
So instead of presenting an article that’s a thousand words long, present excellent, attention-getting content in shorter sentences (and articles) while still getting your message across. For example, you can break a long article up into several “chapter” installments that people can read in short spurts. Encourage people to go to the “next page” or “next section” by strategically placing a link at the bottom of each short “chapter.”
3. Format and highlight — carefully. You want tasteful headlines and phrases that pop when they need to and that stand out to hold your readers’ attention.
One good way to break up your content is to highlight key words and phrases. And, use plenty of space in between your text. It gives the eyes a rest of sorts and also helps people scan the content, which is a common habit of website readers. Break up longer articles into pages that deal with different sections of your theme and invite the visitor to view more by posting a link at the bottom of each section.
4. Put some article “teasers” and a site map on your first page. The site map, of course, makes it easier for people to get around your website (and makes the job easier for search engine spiders, too), which they’ll thank you for by coming back to visit often. And the article “teasers” on the first page encourages people to click through and read more — again, making you a darling of both your visitors and search engines, which will only increase your visibility and therefore your targeted traffic.
With these four easy steps, it should be easy to get people to come to your site — and stay. This will not only get you more page views, but it will also get you more targeted traffic, which in turn is only good for your business.
