We all know the importance of a website for a business, but what is a website without traffic? The answer is simple. It is useless. If you want to increase your online customers, increasing your website traffic is a good place to start. If you wish to receive more enquiries through your live chat, then you need more website traffic. And if you want a bigger custom audience to advertise to with Facebook Advertising, then you need to...you got it, increase your website traffic!
We can all benefit from increased website traffic, and in this blog post, we are going to discuss some often overlooked offline marketing methods to get traffic to your website.
How Important Is Website Traffic?
It goes without saying that website traffic is important for all websites, and the typical savvy online marketer will preach the need to increase your website traffic. SEO is great, and advertising is amazing, but keep in mind, it does not matter how much you increase your website traffic, if your website is not on par with what your visitors expect, those extra visitors will not convert to paying customers. A low conversion rate, with 5000 more website visitors per month, still results in a low conversion rate. A website with a lack of visual aesthetic, and 10,000 more visitors per month, will still lack that aesthetic. Now, that's not to say that website traffic has no value, it does. It has a huge amount of value. But, we want to make sure that you understand that a website consists of many moving parts, and they all need to work well together in order for the website to function effectively.
So, what’s better for you?
To have 100 visitors with a 20% conversion rate, or have a 1000 visitors with a 1% conversion rate?
If you make the simple math, you will be able to see that the former is better. It converts to 20 customers, rather than the latter, which is 10 customers. The trick is to increase your website traffic, whilst maintaining a good conversion rate. The more traffic you get to your website, the more chances you have at converting that traffic into customers. Just make sure you have everything else in place to facilitate conversions.
So, alongside applying the methods in this blog post, make sure to have a look at other aspects of your website as well, to make sure that once those new website visitors arrive, you have as much in place as possible to convert them into paying customers.
Method #1: Use Your Network & Connections
Your contact list is one of your biggest assets. It is full of people that may need the product or service you are offering. An article written by The New York Times states that the average American knows 600 people. Whether you are personally above or below that average, there is still going to be a good amount of people that you can reach out to. This process also gives your connections the comfort of having a middle step between seeing a form of advertisement and purchasing. Not only does it provide a personal touch, but it also saves them time having to search for the information within your website, so when they do visit your site, they are heading straight for the buy now button!
Method #2: Business Cards & Company Advertisements
Business cards, although often seen as old fashioned, are still an effective means to advertise for your business and acquire website visitors. There are an estimated 200 million businesses currently set up worldwide, with 27 million business cards printed, daily! That equates to just under 10 billion produced per year.
Although business cards are something that needs to be handed over, in person or via a certain location, they are still incredibly useful for getting the message out about your business. When doubled up with a placement in a hotel, cafe or bar, the potential exposure and reach stretch even further. By placing your website front and centre within the business card, it serves as a way to provide further exposure to your website, increasing overall website traffic.
Within the same category as business cards, falls company advertisements. Things such as flyers/leaflets, posters and newspaper columns may work well for your business, especially on a local level. For example, a real estate agent will benefit greatly from leaflets through the doors of homeowners. A local electrician may benefit from a full-page ad in the local newspaper. These offline advertisements are ways to make sure that you are not only hitting a wider audience using online marketing methods but still tapping into the local exposure and becoming the go-to business or expert in that area. Again, just like with business cards, make sure to include a link to your website, highlighting that further information can be found there.
Method #3: Out-Of-Home Advertising
Out-of-home advertising is pretty self-explanatory, as it involves any form of advertising that is placed within a location outdoors. Common forms of out-of-home advertising include billboards, signs, ads on street furniture or buses/coaches, in transit areas such as airports, train stations etc. These forms of advertising are more expensive than cheaper methods such as newspaper ads or leaflets, however, depending on your type of business, they may prove to be quite effective. If you haven’t read our blog post on Digital vs Traditional marketing, we highly recommend it!
Some of the advantages of out-of-home advertising include:
- It is harder to ignore, as it can be placed everywhere publicly, and you cannot ‘switch it off’ like you can with digital.
- Out-of-home advertising can generate massive amounts of brand awareness when placed in areas with high levels of footfall (the number of people that pass by a certain location)
- It can supplement your existing online marketing methods, and act as a way to drive increased levels of traffic to your website. For example, running an electronic billboard ad at a bus stop, showcasing your website URL will entice people to visit it and learn more about what you offer and how you can help them.
Method #4: Find Local Partners
Partnering up with other businesses can be a win-win situation for both. Let’s say, a hotel and a restaurant partnered up. Each business could place leaflets in each other's establishments. The restaurants could offer 10% off for stays at the hotel, and the hotel could offer 10% off when dining at the restaurant. The partnership benefits both businesses and they can both increase their customers. If bookings and reservations are made online (which they most likely will be), this will increase both businesses website traffic, and as long as they have a well-optimised website for guiding the customer through the conversion journey, both businesses can acquire more customers.
Write down a list of potential businesses you could partner up with, and ways in which it can benefit both parties. A discount or a referral scheme is usually a great place to start.
Method #5: Leverage Your Existing Customers
Existing customers are one of any businesses greatest assets. Why? Because they are your advocates. They have purchased from you before, meaning you have already gained their trust, and that trust can be very beneficial to your business. One of the best ways to increase not only the exposure of your business but both website traffic and conversions is a referral scheme. After each purchase, you could send the customer an email or show a message on the after purchase web page, stating that if they refer “x” amount of people, they get “x” amount off their next purchase. This way, the customer will be speaking with their family and friends, creating exposure for your business and generating this offline referral system that brings more potential customers to your site. If a particular customer likes what you offer enough for them to purchase, then the chances are, the people they surround themselves with will like it too!
Conclusion
So, now you are armed with some offline marketing methods to help increase your website traffic, it is simply a case of putting them into practice. Not all of these methods will make sense for your business, but it is up to you to weigh up the pros and cons of implementing them for your business and what is going to be most effective.
Have you read our blog post on 6 common marketing mistakes and how to avoid them?
If you are interested in finding out how VEVS and our team of experts can help your business when it comes to marketing, please visit our digital marketing page for more information.
