You’ve got a website. Now what?
How to start driving traffic to your website as a busy business owner in 2023. You have a website now and that should see your business flying, right?! I wish I could tell you yes, but the reality is really different.
The internet is a busy and crowded place, saturated with a lot of business websites like yours all fighting to be found. The reality is that having a website is just the beginning. You’ve got to shout about it from the rooftops and get it ranking on search engines to start seeing traction and organic traffic. So, as a busy business owner there is more work to be done after the exciting launch. You can have the most stunning website but without a plan of how you’ll drive traffic to it, you won’t start seeing the benefits.
So how are you going to start getting people to actually see your website? How can you make sure your website is visible? What can you do to please the Google gods and get the clients you so dream of working with? You’ll need to have a plan that means your website becomes more than just a portfolio showcasing your work, but the marketing machine it should be. Let’s look at how you can do that, starting today…
The worst thing you can do is nothing
So, you launch your website and get crickets. Nothing. No leads and no new business. There are a ton of things you’ll need to be doing to promote your website after it’s lIve and out there in the big bad world and the worst thing you can do is absolutely nothing.
This is a classic situation with business owners. They realise the importance of having a website and how powerful it can be for their business, but they launch it and leave it. Worse still, content is allowed to go out of date and this isn’t a good look. A lot of business owners put far more time into their social media posts than they do into making sure their websites are kept up to date, but it can be far more beneficial to create content for your website that can see leads coming in for months to come. I challenge you to set aside an hour a month to log into your website and add to your portfolio or add a short blog post as every little thing helps to get your website found.
A website-centred social media plan
If you’re using social media to promote your business, this is great, of course. But as I mentioned above, I’ve noticed so many business owners putting far too much emphasis on socials and not spending anywhere near enough time on their websites where they can potentially get more long term gains.
If you have a website that’s not getting much traction, but you’re also spending time promoting your business on social media, then it’s time to potentially reframe the whole social media thing. I totally get it. It can be so easy to get sucked in on social media and feel like you have to be doing all the same things everyone else is doing to keep up. But there is lot to be said for staying in your own lane and also remembering that social media should be part of the marketing puzzle but not the whole thing.
Remember that your social media platforms are not owned by you and algorithms change and let’s face it, trying to second guess these all the time is frankly exhausting! Plus, things on socials can change overnight pulling the rug from under you. With your website you have a lot more power to do things your way. It’s your real estate and the place to really impress and woo your audience and turn them into leads and paying customers.
Instead of just posting on social media and hoping for the best, think about creating social media plan that drives traffic to your website. Create social media posts that promote specific pages on your website. Introduce the services you provide and tell them how you can help them. Tell your audience about how they can get more from you on your website. Create stories with links that mean you’re driving your social media audience away from those platforms and on to your website where you are far more likely to be able to convert them
Blogging for SEO
All the content I create is taken from the weekly blog posts I create. I know weekly blogging can seem like a lot but it means I never run out of things to say on socials. The content I create in my blog posts I repurpose as my posts, reels and stories on Instagram and all the content I add on Linkedin. The text of my blog posts is then repurposed into captions meaning I have a marketing strategy that sees me through.
But how do I come up with blog content I hear you ask?! My strategy for this is actually quite simple. I think about the kinds of questions my ideal clients would and have asked me in the past. What would my ideal clients type into Google to find a service like mine? Every quarter I sit down and come up with FAQs (there are tons) and keywords meaning I always have blog content that’s relevant to my ideal clients and that helps me with my SEO strategy.
Another challenge for you. Get out a pen and paper and write down all the possible things your ideal clients might ask you. Then make these into blog posts and set aside a chunk of time every week or month (whatever works for you) to get started with blogging.
Remember it’s about the long game
One of my theories about why many busy business owners don’t update their websites or blog is because when they do they can feel like they are simply shouting into a void. I totally get that and can really relate. When you put something on Instagram or Linked in, you get likes, comments and shares. That feeds our egos and as humans, interaction is important to us. But it’s important to remember that social media posts quickly get lost in the sea of millions of others. Website content and blog posts however, can see results coming your way for months or years. It’s very much about putting the work in now to get the rewards later.
Do you have a plan to get more traffic to your website? Do you have a plan in place to improve your SEO. The above tips are just a start and there is a lot more you can do but the key is to just start. And, let me know how you get on or if you need help with a plan to drive more traffic to your website.
