One of the things that I hear from business owners all the time is that they need more website traffic. I understand the thinking and I've been there too.
More traffic feels like it means more chances to find your people, right? To some extent that's true, but focusing on your traffic can also be a big distraction.
That's because most websites with a traffic problem really have a communication problem.
Every person who visits you online is quietly asking themselves if you can heLp them. It's the job of your website to weed out people who aren't right for you, stand out to people who are ready to purchase from you now, and guide those right people toward how you help.
If you're willing to turn off who you don't serve, your ideas can jump off the page to the people you do! (click to tweet it)
To be clear, I'm not saying you need to actively offend people or be shocking to capture attention. That's communicating with gimmicks, and that's not how you or I roll. This is about putting in the time to make sure you present your ideas in a way that's engaging and strong.
Writing blog that attracts people who are ready for what you offer is a huge part of the battle, so give yourself credit if you're doing that already. (Good job!)
But know that if you want to stop people in their tracks, the first draft of your big idea that you've never said out loud probably isn't going to do it. This is where collaborating with friends, creating a mastermind group, and working with a professional come in and make a huge difference. Being with other people and working on your ideas in partnership with them will make them better.
Next time you look at your pageviews and wonder what you can do to get those numbers higher, make sure you consider the story your website tells.
Do you tell the story of what you do in a way that's natural and authentic?
Did you bring your personality to the table?
Have you talked through your ideas with others and tried to make them stronger?
What would a stranger think your business stands for if they saw your site for 5 seconds?
Do you present a clear next step on every page? Is it visually emphasized, or hidden?
Don't let low traffic distract you from telling the story of your business in an unforgettable way.
If you can solve the problem of converting readers into subscribers now, you stand a better chance of turning subscribers into clients later. That's a more important problem for most businesses and bloggers to solve than building traffic.
LAST UPDATED ON: July 14th, 2015
CATEGORY: All Business & Blogging Posts Content Marketing Strategy Conversion Optimization
I liked this post. As someone beginning to build their blog plan, the idea of “finding more traffic” is always a bit daunting. But if you put out solid, helpful information, the RIGHT traffic will find YOU!
Beauty.
Char
I agree, having a clear, authentic story is essential if you want to reach your audience. I also like your suggestion to make a clear step to the next page. I think that people like activities that don’t have many barriers to action.
Thanks for this Kyla – particularly the tweetable which is soooo relevant to me at the moment, as I’m trying to think less about quantity and more about quality (i.e.attracting the right kind of readers) on my blog.
Great advice- thinking about the message more than the masses.
One side question- I notice you like to place your Pinterest-size blog graphic a few graphs in and not at the top. Is that for a particular reason? I never know if it’s best to go up top or like yours!
(Also, I think you’re missing the word sure in this sentence: Next time you look at your pageviews and wonder what you can do to get those numbers higher, make you consider the story your website tells.)
Thanks for the proofread, Andy! And I love that you noticed how I use Pinterest graphics in my posts. Noticing what people do as well as what they teach is a big part of being observant and seeing strategy in use. My placement of the images is personal preference and I haven’t tested to see if it makes a difference, but I like to have a little bit of text to get into the idea before I have the image break, since my images are large and could be a place where someone breaks off. I think of the image almost like how a title sequence is used in TV. You see the first scene of a show, break for credits (in this case, an image touches on the topic of the post) and then work through what you set up in the rest of the content. Does doing it one way or the other feel more natural to you?