Your site has seen a solid increase in traffic and you want to make sure that you’re not only keeping current visitors coming back, but that you’re leveraging them to bring on more visitors and convert readers into sales.
Here’s what you need to do moving forward.
Take a hard look at your analytics
If you’re not using Google Analytics, start doing so right now. It’s one of the simplest ways to see where your traffic is coming from, what content or pages people are heading to the most, and where readers are spending most of their time. Use all of this information to guide and adjust your content marketing strategy, focusing on the ideas and types of content your readers and visitors are most interested in.
This should also guide the advertisements you choose to invest in; focus on advertising on the sites where most of your traffic is coming from. For example, if your analytics show that you’re getting 60% of your traffic from Pinterest and 25% from Facebook, that’s where you need to redirect your marketing funds and time to.
Keep content fresh and targeted
Obviously you need to continue churning out fresh content, but don’t forget about what you’ve already created. In an ideal world, a consumer should be able to peruse your entire catalog of content and find current, accurate information. Start by noting which pieces of content, from videos to posts to slideshows, that are most likely to need updating, and then check through them every few months to make sure all of the information is still accurate, updating accordingly.
It’s also important to make sure that the topics your visitors are most interested in are available in the format(s) that they like the most. Do your analytics show that infographics are a big winner? Look at your most popular blog posts and create infographics based on those topics. Does your YouTube channel generate tons of traffic to your eCommerce site but your eBook is pretty popular with readers? The eCommerce site is where your sales happen, so leverage that book, breaking it up into separate video ideas to increase traffic to your store.
Start experimenting
The bulk of your focus should always be on what’s working, but once you have steady traffic under your belt, it pays to experiment. Do you think your message would translate well to video, but you’ve never taken the time to test it out? It’s more likely to do well now that your social media followers and site visitors have gone up. Interested in working with influencers but you never had enough traffic to be appealing to them? Now’s your chance to reach out.
What about sales?
All of the above will help to maintain your current traffic levels and catapult your site to the next level, but what about converting readers into customers?
- Again, go back to your analytics. By pinpointing what content is getting the most traction, you can better tailor your advertising and your products to best fit your customer base and demographic.
- Utilize the social proof you’ve earned from increasing that traffic to bolster your brand identity and increase potential customers’ willingness to make a sale.
- You now have an opportunity to get contact information from your traffic, which results in the ability to directly target them with offers. Seize it!
Remember – traffic doesn’t always equal customers, and things can drop off just as quickly as they picked up if you don’t play your cards right. Keep posting, keep engaging, and use the information you’ve gleaned from creating value driven content to improve your products, services, and sales focused advertising.
