Increased website traffic has a number of benefits. The more people that come to your website, the more opportunities you have to convert them. On top of that, an increase in website traffic from search engines also helps improve your website’s SEO.

To hit the ground running in 2023 with your website traffic, here are 10 tips to help bring more traffic to your website.

1. Add your website URL to your email signature.

You probably send out dozens of emails each day. If you don’t have an email signature that includes your website, you’re missing out on a huge opportunity. If you’re connecting with someone for the first time, there’s a good chance they’ll click through to your website to learn more about you and/or your business. So everyone in your organization should have your company’s website in their email signature.

2. Create new content on your website on a regular basis.

We recommend creating a blog post at least once per month. If you have the resources, we recommend once per week. Blog posts are the easiest way to add content to your website. Whether it’s a review, a how-to article, a case study, or just generic tips, regularly adding quality content to your website will help drive more traffic.

Not sure what to write about? Do a search for your product or service and look for questions. We recommend doing a Google News search or using a tool like Quora to research ideas. Another great source for blog post ideas can be your clients – think about the questions they tend to ask and use them to create a post.

Some people feel that the word “blog” doesn’t sound professional. So you can also refer to your blogs as articles, news items, or many other terms.

3. Create social media posts that link back to your website.

Not all social media platforms allow you to add links to your posts (such as TikTok or Instagram). But most do, so take advantage of it by using a social media post to link back to a post or page on your website. Some services, such as LinkedIn, reportedly give posts with links a lower priority than those without. So a common workaround is to put a link in the comments section (you may have already noticed this on some posts – now you know why).

One other tip: posts that include images tend to get more visibility than ones that are just text. So use an image editor or tool like Canva to create images for your posts. And don’t forget the link back to your website – that’s the most important part of your post.

4. Integrate keywords into your content.

There are a number of keyword research tools out there that help you pick the best keywords for your website. We recommend focusing on no more than three keywords (or key phrases) per post/page and they should all be related. So if you owned a restaurant, you’d have one page that focuses on “hamburgers,” “veggie burgers,” and “cheeseburgers.” You wouldn’t try to rank the same page for things related to salads, drinks, or desserts.

The other big tip we have on this is to make sure that your page is human-readable. Keyword stuffing (using the same keywords dozens of times per post) went out of style with Altavista and Yahoo! If you try to write your content with only the search engine in mind, there’s a good chance your readers will notice and bounce your page.

5. Include your website in all client correspondence.

Printed or electronic, anything you give to clients (or prospective clients) should have your website on it. That includes business cards, flyers, bills, newsletters, etc…. With dozens of new top-level domains, most businesses aren’t able to register their business name and toss a dot com at the end (we were, but we got our domain name in 1998). So if your website is .info or .biz or something else, be sure it’s on everything. There are a lot of similarly named businesses out there and you don’t want your clients, or prospective clients, having difficulty finding you.

6. Use an email mailing list.

Email took a backseat to social media for a while but is now making a comeback in 2023. We recommend MailChimp because you can start for free. Try using an email blast to stay in touch with clients and/or prospects. Sometimes, it takes months (or even years) to convert someone. Sending regular emails that provide value will keep you fresh in their minds. And, be sure to include links to your website in these mailings.

7. Open all offsite links in a new tab or window.

This is a little technical, but we see even so-called expert web designers make this mistake. If you have links to content outside of your website (such as your social media profiles), it should open in a new tab or window. The reason for this is that social media platforms are designed to keep people there. So once you send people to follow your page on Facebook, they’ll see ads, notifications, posts from their friends, etc… and then will have forgotten about you. If the link opens up in a new tab, your website will still be open so there’s a higher chance that they’ll go back to your site than if they have to click the back button in their browser several times.

8. Improve your site speed.

If your website takes over three seconds to load, then you could be losing traffic. If it takes over ten seconds, then you’re definitely turning away visitors. Google did a study that found that 54 percent of website visitors will leave a website if it takes more than three seconds to load.

There are a number of ways to speed up your site. Some are easy, such as reducing the size of the images on your website. Others are more complex such as managing cache, server configurations, or switching hosting.  We recommend reaching out to us for a complimentary consultation so we can run a speed test and provide you with exactly what you need to do to speed up your website.

9. Improve your website’s design.

Have you ever watched a movie and been able to tell the decade that it was filmed? Chances are that you could tell because of the style of clothes, hair, or cars.  The same is true with websites. Websites with metallic-looking headers look like designs that were popular around 2010. Sites with a solid background and just paragraphs of multi-colored text look like they were built in the 90s. The dead giveaway is, of course, the “© 2017” in the footer.

If you want to put your best foot forward, make sure that your site has an updated design. If you’re not sure what modern designs look like, check out some samples on our About Page.

10. Have a mobile-friendly design.

You’d think that in 2023, all websites would be mobile-friendly. But sadly, many aren’t. Some look okay but don’t function well on a mobile device. Others don’t display well, have overlapping elements, or use large images or 4K video which takes forever to load even over a 5G connection. So ensure that your website works on laptops, phones, and tablets. If you’re editing your website yourself, your editor should allow you to preview your site on different devices to ensure it works. Otherwise, try testing it out on a phone and tablet. If you don’t have access to all device types, let us know and we can show you how your site looks on different devices.

In Summary

So there you have it – 10 ways to increase your website traffic in 2023. If you have any questions on any of the items listed above, please set up a complimentary consultation with us to learn how to resolve them. We’d love to point you in the right direction so that you can be successful online.