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5 easy ways to increase website traffic

Originally published on Sunday, December 9th, 2007

The most common complaint I’ve heard from website owners is that no one visits their site. They’ve been online for years and still do not get registrations, sales, or even email feedback. While this is a challenge most websites face, the good news is that the reason is very simple– nobody knows their site exists.

Website visitors do not arrive magically… they follow recommendations from others, such as links, display ads, or even offline word of mouth. As 2007 turns into 2008, here are 5 easy ways to substantially increase the amount of traffic coming to your site. This article will intentionally keep things simple– search engine marketing (SEM) and search engine optimization (SEO) are topics big enough for their own discussion. The main thing you should be asking yourself as you read this article: how can I use what I know to get other Web sites to link to mine and raise awareness of my content, product, or service?

1. Give away something for free

This might be the most effective of all 5 options I’m highlighting in this article. If you give away something free and people like it, other Web sites will naturally link to yours (Note: it definitely helps to go out and spread the word to get the ball rolling). This doesn’t need to be complicated– there’s no need to invent a product and sell it online. Some easy things you can give away for free are original artwork (images, wallpapers, icons, fonts, MP3s, etc), design skins for popular Web software (Wordpress, Drupal, Bloglines), original software, or Web browser plugins.

Who’s doing it?

Any website that offers free downloads of any kind. Here are a few that come to mind:

StatCounter - free Web site tracking and analytics
Font Foundry - large selection of free downloadable fonts
Wordpress - free, PHP-based content management system

2. Create a discussion

What better way to get people interested in your site than to choose a topic, share your insight, and then invite others to join the discussion?

Who’s doing it?

Just about everyone. CNN.com, ESPN.com, and other major media sites are jumping on the Web 2.0 bandwagon and allowing users to comment on the stories they read. Once a discussion thread is successfully jump started and users begin contributing, there’s no limit to how popular and engaging that page can become. Interactive, informative pages are the types of pages other websites will link to. Digg.com has built an unbelievably popular website around this idea.

3. Teach somebody something

Tutorials have stood the test of time in the world of free ways to increase Web traffic. Is it me or does WikiPedia or About.com find their way into just about every Web-browsing session? With so many choices online, the key here is to either create a tutorial so good it outshines the competition, or simply cover a topic that is not adequately covered elsewhere. Think about a problem you’ve solved recently in your life: a problem with your car, problem with your boss, home improvement project, etc. If you didn’t know how to do it, chances are there are plenty of people facing the same challenge. Write an article that gives a solution and post it online. You’ll be surprised how many people will appreciate your shared learning.

Who’s doing it?

A great example can be found right on this website. After solving a video card problem with my Dell computer I wrote my solution and shared it online. Turns out it was a widespread problem and people couldn’t find the answers they were looking for elsewhere. I’m far from a computer hardware expert, but my original solution worked for many and the subsequent discussion led to other causes of the problem. The nVidia video card problem is still my most popular article, and the reason is simply that there was nobody else talking about it when I wrote it.

Other sites utilizing this strategy are About.com and DoItYourself.com.

4. Go viral - Social Media Optimization

This is the most technical of all the strategies, and probably the most trendy. The idea is to use some of the Web 2.0 services to your advantage– RSS feeds, Digg posts, widgets, etc. By distributing your content in different formats, you allow other people to see and use your content that otherwise might not be aware it existed. This is a easy way to increase traffic and visibility to your website.

Who’s doing it?

Every site that makes their content available via an RSS feed or widget of some kind. The most famous right now is YouTube.com, which allows users to embed video clips on their Web pages even though the clip itself (and the movie player interface) reside on YouTube’s Web server.

5. Partner up with related sites

Online partnerships, affiliate relationships, and reciprocal link exchanges are arguably the longest-standing strategy for increasing Web traffic. Though ’spammy’ link directories have diluted the benefit of this, it does still work. The key is to identify Web sites that have an audience and are similar to yours. The webmaster of the other site will likely consider your mutually beneficial proposal since it could potentially be of interest to the users of their site.

Who’s doing it?

Just about every successful site on the Web. Smaller online businesses tend to utilize this strategy a bit more than larger companies because they don’t have the budget to spend money on big marketing campaigns to raise awareness.

Wrapup

The road to success online is largely dependent on the traffic your site gets from other websites and search engines like Google, Yahoo, and MSN. By trying out some (or all) of the above strategies, you can easily and cheaply increase traffic to your website.