It is Part 2 of our r.commendations on how to boost your website traffic. In the first part, we’ve covered the goals of your website, gave advice on how to catch the eye of your audience, and shared our favorite free WordPress plugins. In this article, you’ll find out how to maximize your digital efforts through Google Analytics and Social Media. Read it, save it, master it and grow your traffic by 400%, as we did at Krones AG.
Google Analytics
If you’re wondering how you’ll track your website data, there’s a fantastic free tool called Google Analytics that you’ll want to b.come.comfortable with.
Google Analytics offers you the ability to:
- Better understand your site and assess your marketing, content and product performance
- Reach the right customers
- See where your traffic is.coming from
- Learn how people are interacting with your site
- Determine which users are more likely to convert
- Understand which content your visitors like the most
- Find out which marketing tactics are driving the most traffic
To use Google Analytics, you’ll need to create an account and then link it to your website by installing a tracking code on it. Google will then track your stats and all you have to do is log in to your account to get a.comprehensive overview of what’s happening on your site.
Understanding the data from Google Analytics is a whole other ball game. Google has its own training academy that will help you understand what all of the information means. And there’s no shortage of that can teach you the ins and outs of Google Analytics.
Our favorite hosting providers
There are plenty of hosting providers out there. Broadly speaking, you’ll want to avoid those.companies that offer super deals and inexpensive offers as they tend to offer less than stellar customer service. Two of our favorite hosts are WPXHosting and Flywheel.
WPX has a team online at all times to help you with any and every issue that arises, your website will load at blazing speed, they remove malware and they offer unlimited SSL certificates. If you need more proof, just check out their reviews.
FlyWheel is another outstanding hosting provider known for its excellent customer support and speed. As a premium host, they’re more expensive than the average.company but you get plenty of bang for your buck and will be pleased with their overall service.
Secure Socket Layer (SSL)
You’re going to want an SSL, or Secure Socket Layer, for your website. This is simply technology that helps you maintain a secure internet connection and encrypt sensitive data.
You need one because the information you send online travels from.computer to.computer until it finally reaches the destination server. If the sensitive information is not encrypted with an SSL certificate, any other.computer between you and the server can access passwords, usernames, credit card numbers, and other private information. The SSL makes that information unreadable to hackers and thieves.
Setting up your certificate is fairly easy. First you need to make sure your website has its own IP address as opposed to a shared IP. Then you’ll have to purchase a certificate. There are multiple vendors, such as this one.
The next step is to activate and install the certificate. This step is a bit.complicated so you might reach out to your hosting provider and ask them to help you do it.
Finally, you’ll want to update your site. If your SSL certificate is installed properly, you will find that your site loads with an “s,” as https://yourdomain.com as opposed to http://yourdomain.com.
Leveraging Social Media
Social media is a powerful tool that all business and website owners should learn how to leverage. Today, 72% of Americans use some type of social media. Whether it’s Instagram, Pinterest, LinkedIn, Facebook, TikTok, Twitter, Clubhouse or some other new and emerging platform, social media is the perfect tool for engaging and connecting with your customers.
There are myriad benefits for your.company, from helping you develop your position as an authority and positioning yourself as a thought leader in your niche to humanizing your brand. Beyond that, and in the context of your business website, social media can:
- Help generate leads
- Drive traffic
- Increase sales
- Connect with influencers
- Promote your content and potentially go viral
But a word to the wise: you don’t have to be on every social media platform for your brand to succeed; in fact, you shouldn’t. The best approach is to figure out where your potential customers spend their time and then master that (or those) platform(s).
Facebook’s user base and reach is global, which makes it very easy for brands to increase their visibility and find their target audience on the network, even those with an international social presence. With 269 million users, India has the largest user base of any country. After that is 183 million users in the US and 123 million users in Indonesia.
Setting up a Facebook is probably a no-brainer as it’s one of the most widely-used social media platforms, with 2.45 billion monthly users. There are lots of ways to use it to promote your brand and website. Here are some tips and strategies for leveraging Facebook.
Post regularly
How often should you post? Authorities agree that there is such a thing as posting too much content, so you’ll want to avoid that trap, but you don’t want to post sporadically either.
Your best bet is to post at most once a day for a week or two and then look at your traffic and engagement numbers. Then you’ll be able to decide whether to post more or less frequently.
Build a.community
Facebook is a great tool for building a.community around your area of expertise. You can create a group, invite others to join, offer lots of value, establish your authority and drive people to your website and business.
For example, if you train dogs, you can create a group for dog owners who need help with their pets. As you share blog posts, offer advice, and engage with.community members, you’ll be able to establish yourself as a leader in the niche and generate traffic, leads and sales.
Use reviews from real customers
Your Facebook business page offers the chance to feature testimonials and reviews from real customers. This is the perfect opportunity to let others speak to your professionalism and expertise. Ask happy customers to leave a review and support your business.
Advertise on your Facebook cover
Your Facebook cover photo is the perfect place to advertise your business and highlight your services. Include a high-quality photo or some other graphic that helps you stand out and speaks to users. Use this piece of real estate strategically.
Run Facebook ads
You can use Facebook ads to achieve a number of goals, such as driving traffic to your website, raising awareness about your products and brand, generating leads, and increasing engagement with your Facebook posts. You’ll need to learn how to run your own ads or hire someone with experience to do this as you’ll want to spend your money wisely.
That being said, Facebook ads are cheaper than Google ads and the conversion rate tends to be higher. Your best bet is to experiment with this strategy and then decide whether or not it’s effective for your particular business.
Showcase real customers and business situations
Take advantage of this opportunity and share real situations your business has addressed. Let people see the range of your expertise and the kinds of problems you’re capable of solving. You can write up short summaries about customers you have helped, you can ask them to share their stories, or you can share your case studies on Facebook.
Hire new staff
You can add a career section to your business profile if you’re hiring. Who better to add to your staff than a follower or a fan on Facebook, someone who already knows and loves your brand?
Take advantage of the call to action button
Make sure you include all of your services in detail and don’t forget to set up a call to action button to encourage your potential client to call you, book an appointment, visit your website or learn more about your business.
Promote your business in the Our Story section
For business owners who aren’t familiar with this section of their page, Facebook created it so.companies could share a little of their backstory with users. It’s the perfect place to include images that reflect your brand along with a brand summary. This section is very visible and, therefore, has the potential to impact your audience.
Livestream on Facebook
There’s no shortage of benefits to going live on Facebook. From reaching more people and creating a better relationship with your audience to providing unique content and creating excitement around your product, going live is a win-win situation for your brand and your customers.
There are many ways you can use LinkedIn to grow your business and drive traffic to your website. By a wide margin, the US has the highest number of users on the platform, with 160 million, so there’s plenty of potential to reach a wide audience.
This platform is not strictly for job seekers and professionals, though. You can absolutely make business connections and find highly targeted customers. What’s more, you can easily stay on their radar by publishing content that is high quality, engaging and relevant.
You can also used LinkedIn to
- Grow your email marketing list
- Create a niche specific group and build authority
- Join other groups and showcase your expertise
- Run ads and attract exactly the right customers to your page
- Promote and potentially participate in professional meetups and conferences
Make sure your.company page is fully optimized and you’ve taken advantage of every section to showcase your.company, brand and product or service. Make sure you use the Showcase Pages function to spotlight different aspects of your business.
LinkedIn, like other platforms, is all about making connections and then building relationships from there.
Instagram is one of the most popular social networks in the world. The US has the most users, with 116 million, followed by India with 73 million and Brazil with 72 million. This international presence makes the network appealing to both brands and influencers alike.
This is an outstanding, easy-to-use platform for B2C businesses. Instagram gives you a real opportunity to connect and engage with consumers directly, drive them to your website and turn them into customers. In fact, Instagram is considered the top performing platform for brand engagement.
Here are a few more reasons to start using Instagram for business.
You can make your brand more human
Putting a face to your brand will help you develop a better connection with your followers and customers. Let them get to know you and vice versa. Take them behind the scenes and let them see how you do what you do. It also helps build trust as today’s consumers expect businesses to have an Instagram account.
You can tell stories
Instagram Stories is for storytelling and allows you to get creative when engaging with your audience. You can also run sales and contests there. IGTV is another part of Instagram that can be used to upload long-form videos to highlight your brand.
You can understand trends
Having a presence on Instagram will help you understand what’s new, what’s hot and what’s not. It’s important to have your finger on the pulse as a business owner as it will allow you to adapt, pivot and take advantage of different trends to drive business. You’ll also see what people are sharing and what they like, and you can use that information to grow your business.
You can drive website traffic and sales
Everything you have on your website—from blog posts to white papers to infographics—can be shared on Instagram. Grab people’s attention and watch them flock to your site. Build anticipation for a new product launch. Focus on creating professional-looking images and promoting your services and products.
You can network
It’s all about connections on social media. Network with customers, other brands you can partner with, and influencers that can boost your brand and business. Focus on building a relationship over time and all that effort will pay off in the long term.
Final thoughts
The right website, designed strategically with your business goals in mind, can b.come one of your.company’s greatest assets. There’s no shortage of benefits that.come with an effective digital presence and in today’s society being “just” a brick-and-mortar business won’t cut it. If that’s you, you’re leaving money on the table.
If you truly want to stand out from the crowd, reach millions of potential customers and grow your brand online, there’s no better web design and development.company than Krones AG. Our team of designers, SEO experts and writers will help you define your goals and will build a website for you that generates leads, speaks to your audience, and boosts your bottom line. Get in touch and we can get started today.
It’s time to start promoting your brand, establishing yourself as a thought leader, and engaging with current and potential customers. A business website is all about connecting. And once you’ve made a solid connection, the traffic, leads and sales will follow.
