5 Ways to Make Your Local Business Website Traffic Explode!

Is your local business driving enough website traffic to get new customers through your door?

Many local business marketers are still relying on antiquated methods like phone book advertising or bill boards to bring in new customers. Not only is this approach unlikely to yield the ROI you’d like, it also probably won’t win you any fans in your community. Recent consumer trust studies by Nielson have found that while word-of-mouth recommendations still rule, consumers trust branded websites and online reviews far more than other forms of media, including print advertising, billboards and radio ads. A well-optimized web presence will allow you to capture the interest of your prospective customers during the research phase. Here are the most effective ways to achieve traffic growth:

1. SEO

Out of the 30 billion mobile searches performed each year, 12 billion have local intent. Engaging in local optimization can ensure your website is among the top results for relevant keywords when your future customers Google branded solutions. There are few quick wins in modern SEO; your best bets for increasing click-throughs from search engines are to build your authority over time, and create a web presence that’s based on unique value for your customers.

2. Social Media Marketing

One out of every seven minutes online is spent on Facebook. Social media has become the most-popular online activity, leaving actions like reading news or catching up on emails far behind. The benefits of building an active presence on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, or other major networks expand well beyond having access to the 1 billion people who are active users of social media. Your local business can experience increased exposure, improved SEO, and the ability to build deeper relationships with prospects and customers.

3. Web Design

Your website is your online storefront. Even if your local business isn’t engaged in eCommerce activity, your web design is a crucial component of your sales process. Why? Consider the following:

• 97% of consumers use the internet to research local businesses
• $1.1 trillion dollars of annual retail sales are influenced by the web
• 40% of consumers will abandon a website that takes more than 3 seconds to load

Does your website design give a professional first-impression, or a negative one? Investing in a usable, SEO-friendly, and optimized website is crucial to both securing and retaining traffic.

To learn more about engaging web design, check out 5 Ways to Design Your Website with Social Media in Mind.

4. Content Marketing

Companies that publish high-quality, original content on a consistent basis can enjoy a host of benefits that include improved SEO, thought leadership, and yes, more traffic to their websites. Creating blogs, whitepapers, and eBooks will allow you to position yourself as a resource to local prospects.

5. Integrated Marketing

SEO, social media, web design and content marketing all work, to be sure. But they’re a whole lot more effective when combined into a single, ultra-powerful marketing strategy. Combining your online presence into a single, comprehensive communications strategy can allow you to drive visitors to your site, and keep engaging with them once they leave.

Have you used any of these marketing tactics - or others - to improve traffic to your local website? Which are your favorites?