Are you opening a new website, or do you want to increase traffic on an existing site? Advertising your site is a key part of increasing readership, and you can do it in many ways. Advertising your site and optimizing it is key to making it successful.
Steps
Part 1 of 3: Optimizing Your Site
Step 1. Optimize your content for the search engines
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is an important factor in improving the visibility of your site. This means making sure that the content on your site includes possible search terms. The most common SEO targets are page and article titles, image descriptions, URLs and keywords in the content.
SEO is such a huge topic that it needs to be covered separately. Search the internet for detailed advice on how to optimize your content
Step 2. Create back links
Back links are links to your site from other sites. The most effective back links are links to sites that are much more visited than yours.
Commenting on other blogs, posting on forums, answering questions and writing guest blog articles are just a few ways to increase your link count
Step 3. Make sure the design is up to date
A beautiful and functional website will attract and keep more readers than an outdated and difficult to use site.
Step 4. Check that your site structure is easy to navigate
If search engines find it difficult to navigate the site, they won't be able to catalog your content. Run a crawl test to make sure the site is easy to navigate.
Try Xenu and GSiteCrawler, two of the most used crawling simulators. These simulators will help you spot problems with your site's structure
Part 2 of 3: Spreading the Word
Step 1. Create a Twitter account
Twitter allows you to post updates when you release new content. It is one of the most useful tools for keeping readers informed. Publish the title and a shortened URL of the article for each new post on your site.
Step 2. Publish the new content on social networks
Your readers spend most of their time on these sites when they are online. Make sure that all your content is also published on your pages on social networks.
- Create pages on Facebook and Google+. So you can easily share the new content with all the fans of your page.
- Links from social networks usually won't help you rank up your page, but they do help increase the number of readers. This will ultimately allow you to get a higher ranking on the page as readers start linking to your site from theirs.
Step 3. Create an RSS feed
RSS feeds allow readers to add your site to a schedule, which will notify them whenever you post new content. You can also publish your RSS feed on directories to attract more readers.
Step 4. Create YouTube videos for your content
YouTube is an incredibly popular site, and if your content lends itself to the video format (guides, reviews, etc.), you should consider creating a YouTube channel. Create and upload videos that enhance your content, and include links to your site in the video description.
Step 5. Start a newsletter
Create a newsletter to send to your readers. If readers have the ability to create an account on your site, it automatically enables adding new users to the mailing list.
Step 6. Submit press reviews
Press reviews inform people of new website developments and allow other websites to easily share this news with their readers. Write a press review for your site launch and post it in relevant media.
Step 7. Publish your content on directories and aggregation sites
StumbleUpon, Digg, Reddit, Slashdot, and others are great sites for bringing your articles to the attention of readers. Like social networks, they often won't have a big impact on your ranking, but they will allow you to increase site traffic.
Step 8. Purchase advertising space
If you have money to spend, consider buying advertising space. You will need effective advertising, and well-targeted campaigns. Ads can reach a lot of people, and they can greatly increase traffic to your site.
Part 3 of 3: Produce Quality Content
Step 1. Become an expert in your niche
Your goal should be to make your site stand out among all those dealing with your topic. This means that you will need to become an expert in your niche or passion so that you can pass on your experience to readers.
Step 2. Produce unique content
The best way to drive traffic to your site is to offer unique and useful content that you can't find anywhere else on the internet (unless it's stolen from you). Producing unique content and becoming an expert go hand in hand. Try approaching your content from an angle that hasn't been tried before.
Step 3. Regularly release content
Regular updates will help you not lose readers. The average reader's attention span is very short, and their memory is even shorter. You will always have to produce new content to keep readers coming back to your site.
- If you're blogging, try to update it at least a couple of times a week.
- Try to synchronize the output of articles with the peak hours of traffic on your site. This usually means at lunch or after dinner. This will allow as many users as possible to see your content.
Step 4. Write headlines that grab attention
The title and images associated with an article are usually the first elements noticed by a reader, and if they are not interesting, the reader will probably move on without thinking twice. Sites like BuzzFeed attract a lot of traffic thanks to their unique and catchy headlines.
Step 5. Make your content easy to share
In the world of social networking, you'll need to make sure your content can be shared. You'll have to take care of everything: title, image, and the promise of unique content. All of these elements will help you push people to share your content with other friends.
