Angela Vuona
Advice comes from every direction, and not all of it is sound. At SmartBug Media, our inbound experts have heard it all. Here are the worst tips and guidance about how to generate website traffic
Using Keywords Over and Over Again Helps You Rank Higher
Also known as “keyword stuffing”, this myth is based on the idea that many SEO tools still feed on the concept that keyword density is an important metric. While this is true to an extent, keyword stuffing is not the answer. Keyword stuffing can appear as spammy to readers and Google will penalize you for this. Think quality and relevant content to the page vs. number of keywords.
Everything Should Be on Your Homepage
A homepage is not ranked higher solely because of its location on your website. By overloading a homepage with unnecessary content and images, you will risk decreasing the average time someone spends on your site because it will be difficult to determine what the value proposition is. As a result, this could have a negative effect on your search engine ranking. Additionally the more items that need loading, the slower your website takes to show up. Slow load times also affect your rank. Keep you most important things on your homepage and create separate pages in the navigation for the rest.
Join and Post on Every Social Media Platform
In most cases, as a business owner or marketer, you don’t have infinite time and resources to be on every social media network. It’s more important to choose the right platforms and engage with them well. You can decide on what social media networks by considering the wants of your target customer and business goals. Where have you seen traction in the past? Where do your personas spend most of their time? For example, B2B companies should spend more time on LinkedIn than Facebook (generally speaking).
Always Use Paid Campaigns
The truth is, paid traffic isn’t always the best traffic. It depends on your goals and what you are trying to setup long term. Think of traffic like breakfast food: paid traffic is the bananut and chocolate chip loaf at your local coffee shop. The immediate reaction is “Yes! I love this!” and the jolt of energy you get is satisfying. An hour after eating the loaf you’re tired though. It has worn off. Organic traffic (built through SEO strategies and quality content generation) is more like oatmeal. It’s not as sweet, and it takes a little more work, but once eaten you feel full longer, have sustained energy and can feel the results all day long.
Remember to always ask what your goals are. If you need leads for a webinar and you need them fast, paid traffic linking to the webinar landing page may be the best option for you. If you need more website visitors overall, organic traffic is the better solution.
Use Blog Commenting Tactics for Inbound Links
The comments don’t count as a link to Google, and if the comment isn’t relevant or doesn’t provide value your company, it is seen as spam. Comments are only worthwhile when helpful to readers.
Write Content About Your Product and Services
While this is alright to do sometimes it should not be the crux of your strategy. You need to write to your target buyer’s pain points, needs, and wants. Appeal to who they are and what solution they may be looking for. For example, HubSpot sells Marketing Automation Software, but do they ever post about this? Rarely. They spend their time appealing to marketers rather than to the people who may be looking for their specific software. Follow suit. Dive into your personas and figure out what they need in their industry. Help them find the solution and then gradually tell them how you can help.
If you want to generate website traffic the right way, it is highly recommended to stay away from all of these tips and guidance above. The truth is, there are no shortcuts when it comes to generating website traffic, especially since the latest Google algorithm update. Today, search engines value original, high-quality content on your website and this takes a lot of time to effectively strategize and execute.
Are you interested in learning about how to generate website traffic through the use of inbound-friendly marketing initiatives like blogging, keyword research, SEO, and social media? The inbound experts at SmartBug Media are more than happy to evaluate your current your current website marketing and inbound potential.
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