Before we deal with traffic building, we need to clarify the critical nature of conversions.
You battle is to win over the people who come by for a visit. Most sites have boring content. They don’t know whom they really want to talk to and they don’t know what matters to these visitors. They don’t get attention, they don’t win hearts and minds, and they don’t get many conversions.
The more compelling your content, the easier the promotion.
More people will share it, more people will link to it from their website, more people will follow up with you.
Creating compelling content and successfully promoting compelling content go hand in hand. Either without the other is an exercise in futility.
We need to clarify terms here a bit. Building traffic is more of an Internet term, and while we talk about the Internet here quite a bit and we discuss a lot of Internet-centric tools- there are very powerful conventional tools to promote your compelling content on-line. Click Here for a discussion of creating synergy between your offline and your on-line marketing efforts.
Lets start with the basics.
Basic Search on the Internet is putting the Yellow Pages out of Business. Basic search is huge.
Your battle is to get your content at the top of the 1st page with your chosen keywords. This includes the name of your business.
Search engine optimization (SEO)is the process under which you find and effectively use the keywords people use to search when looking for information in your specialty.
It is particularly important within your local market to tie your content to the locations where you would like to be associated on-line.
Google is spending considerable talent and energy on their local business system. You need to know where you stand with Google Maps- Google has changed the name to Google Places.
There is a great deal of information on line about SEO and I will not repeat it here. In my opinion, in a local market- in the trades- your local competition is not that sophisticated. You need to work the basics. Local connections are critical.
Your biggest battle for SEO often comes from big technology combines angling for local leads which they want to sell to you or a competitor. I don’t like the technology combines. I rant on this elsewhere, but you have a real advantage when you know what you are doing with SEO because… you are actually local. Here is more info on SEO.
Most of your competitors suck at the Internet. There are serious incursions with franchise type service companies but their personalities are always a little glib, a little hypy and a little too impersonal.
So often, a visitor has to go off to a map of the United States to find the local franchise. This is dumb as rocks. So is the ubiquitous link for information on franchising. This dilutes the message for the visitor looking for answers.
You do have a tremendous advantage here, because you are local and you are an independent business person not bound to upholding the franchise brand.
Franchise marketing is an interesting combination of smart and dumb. You can beat them with real personality- your local connections- and your compelling content that you anchor in the local area.
Your franchise competitor gets a phone number and name on the site. How is that for sparkling personality. You have the tools to out compete them.
The SEO battle is won through the regular creation of compelling content. Google doesn’t know compelling content- all it knows are keywords. But you design your content for the people you want to talk to.
Local Links are also very helpful to establishing yourself with in that local market. Collaboration is a really powerful tool for creating effective SEO. Shared local links is just one of many ways to create synergy through collaboration.
Pay Per Click is a very powerful traffic generating tool.
Do you understand what Pay Per Click is? Do a search on Google for plumbing contractor. At the top and down the right edge you will find sponsored links.
Bing and Yahoo and other Internet systems do ads; but Google is the gorilla on the block AND even more important- Google Adwords allows the sophisticated ad buyer to use their brains to get great returns on investment.
PayPerClick technology is easy to do, and you can test and improve every part of the process but what you don’t know can and will cost you lots of money and give you a negative ROI.
It pays to have a friend who knows their way around PPC. Click here to more fully study the power of PayPerClick to get leads.
Social Networking can work well for you. Just plain old fashion networking works too. Creating connections is a great way to build traffic.
You can use social media to create intersections between your content and your clients and neighbors.
You can always create strategic connections to mass media- local radio, newspapers and TV. These are easier than you think.
All you have to do is create something of interest to viewers. Self serving info does not work, and, remember, compelling is in the eyes of the beholder. It certainly doesn’t hurt to court specific reporters who cover your turf.
Reporters are a hard working lot. They don’t have time to be pestered, have no interest in your puffery or self serving info, but love help on finding a story that blends into the prevailing news and that their audience will find interesting.
Have Your Business Development House Build before You Start Bringing Traffic Over
Always remember, that you must have your foundational resources in place when you start promoting. Use the same skills you use to do great work. Build a solid foundation. Go through all the steps. Don’t cut corners.
When people come to your site, you want all your enticements ready and be looking attractive and professional.
People break this rule all the time– figuring people are going to forgive little boo boos- people are going to have patient and search through your website even if your website is confusing- or under construction.
They are going to be about as patient and understanding as you are with a stranger with bad breath.
OK, back on point– we are lucky here in North Texas to have a great PR resource in Jeff Crilley, former reporter for Fox News. He has his own PR agency but he also gives a lot of free advice. He has a great paperback book that is a gem.
You can find Jeff and his book on-line . Jeff is on Twitter and on Facebook. He is funny, very bright and absolutely ready to help.
You can create more interesting PR than your average PR agency. PR agencies are particularly conventional and wooden and by the book. You can do better on your own, because you care, you know what you are talking about and you have passion for the subject.
I would be happy to help you with the content and the story. The critical part is the compelling hook. And, of course, matching your story to the reporter who is interested in that kind of story.
Promotion takes many forms and depends on what your team members like to do.
Your compelling content can be re-purposed in many ways
You can re-arrange your content to create PR- to create video- to create audio. You can use compelling content to create speeches- put on webinars- participate in expos…
This is by no means a comprehensive list. People need help. They want value for their money. If you are willing to help people, willing to watch out for their interests, they will listen and learn to trust you.
You can mix media effectively as much as you want.
You can even use the Yellow Pages to drive traffic to your website. Traditional direct mail works great. There are all kinds of options within a local market and you can always use them a little differently– a little more strategically- than your competitor.
Signs on Trucks work great. What if you actually put something eye catching on a vehicle than the usual mindnumbing dumbness. Ah, that is a tale for another day. Never let boring cost you money. Have fun and be eye catching and show a little personality. Make’em laugh, make’em smile, cash more checks.
One concept to understand- your website is your virtual storefront of information. You can drive traffic here– to specific pages for particular purposes or people will find any particular page you have created by being connected to it through their chosen search terms.
There were a lot of different subjects on this page. I hope it was not too confusing.
Do you have a question or concern that was not addressed here? Did you feel there was a critical angle left out here?
Feel free to leave a comment. If you would like to chat or email me, feel free to do so. I always enjoy a good discussion on helping people make smart buying decisions.
