Internet marketing is expensive. Paying for SEO and search marketing costs a lot of money and many times yields unimpressive Web traffic.
The reason you pay for these services is because you want more traffic to your website, right?
Well, I’m going to share four ways you can get more traffic to your website, without spending a dime.
All you need to do is block out some time.
It should be stated here that just getting more traffic to your site is not going to solve all your problems. If you have a site that gives users a bad or even sub-par experience, your phone is probably not going to ring off the hook.
But if you follow these steps, you can be sure that you will gain more traffic and potentially more prospects.
1. Share your expertise with others by guest posting
You might not think you are the Wikipedia of your industry, but I’m guessing you know a thing or two. Sharing that information with people through guest blogging is a great way to:
- Help people see things from a different and fresh perspective
- Many times gets people interested in learning more about you, which causes them to visit your site
Guest posing is not as hard as you might think. Here’s what you need to do.
- Look for questions people have about your service. There many ways you can do this. Here’s a couple to get you started:
- Google Search: “Most common objections in real estate”
- Quora.com: Go to Quora and type in real estate
- Provide an answer to the question. Take some time and write a 500 word to 1,000 word answer to the question.
- Contact blog owners and pitch your post to them. Many sites have a page with guidelines for people who want to contribute to their site. All you need to do is follow the guidelines, and many of these sites will post your article and even give you a link pointing back to your site.
2. List your business on business review sites, and get reviews
Some people shy away from business review sites because they are afraid of negative reviews. Although this is a legitimate concern, I don’t feel the same way.
Business reviews sites such as Yelp, Angie’s List, Facebook, Foursquare, Google My Business, Manta and so on are a great way for potential clients to find you online. Plus, they get the added benefit of finding out what other people think of you.
We all know that referrals are the best way to get new business. Business review sites are a great platform for your satisfied clients to refer your services to other people.
I’ve gotten lots of referral traffic to my site this way.
When you list your business, have a consistent name, address, phone (NAP) because this will also help your local SEO. You should also encourage clients who have had a great experience to leave you a review.
3. Share your expertise with others by creating your own blog
Although guest posting is a great way to gain traffic (as well as increase your site’s rankings), creating your own blog reels in lots of traffic as well.
Currently, my business blog brings in about 30 percent of my traffic.
I would recommend following the same strategy for your own blog as for guest blogging. Find out questions people have, especially in the area you serve, and answer those questions. That method will help your blog become successful.
4. Become a social media wiz
Social media isn’t just a great way to share memes and GIFs with other people. It’s also a great way to direct more traffic to your site.
Most of us know that we should at least share our listings and let people know about a closed transaction, etc., but there are other updates that we can post to get more traffic to our sites.
In fact, every other point above can be shared on your social media platforms to drive more traffic to your site. Every time you: write a guest post, get a good review or write a new blog post, you should share it via social media.
When you share your guest posts, the post will have a link to your site. When you share a review, the review site will have a link to your site. When you share a blog post from your site, as soon as they click on the post they will be directed to your site.
Other ways to direct people to your website via social media include:
- YouTube annotation and cards
- Each of your social media platforms should include a link to your website
- Include a message at the end of a podcast that says “to learn more, visit us online at (fill in the blank with your website)”
Getting traffic to your website doesn’t need to cost you an arm and a leg.
I’m not against spending money to hire a professional SEO or search engine marketing (SEM) company. But, if you don’t have a huge Internet marketing budget, then following these four simple steps will help.
If you have any questions about these strategies, or any other question about Internet marketing, please leave a comment below.
Michael Johnson is the founder of Crown Listings. You can follow him on Twitter or Linkedin.