Want to increase traffic to your web site? Write a company blog. But, don’t just blog about any thought that pops into your head. Purposefully craft blogs on topics your customers are searching for and traffic will skyrocket! We have two client examples today of Michigan businesses (one, software, the other business to business services) that have seen traffic jump up significantly in just one month of blogging regularly (at least weekly.) How can your business learn from these examples? Let’s break them down:
The first client example we’re looking at is the software company. They develop software for niche healthcare organizations.
Last month, as you can see, we had 203 visits at this same time last month.
What’s the reason behind this 129% jump in traffic? It’s simple. Blogging.
In the past 4 weeks, we’ve written a blog a week. The client has written – with our guidance – a blog a week that we have optimized for search. This kind of targeted blogging helps increase traffic because it matches content to the things their customers are searching for. We could write a blog post about a random topic, but if we write one about a specific topic (such as using software to help grow a behavioral healthcare outpatient clinic) we have a much better chance of attracting the right customer to our blog – and thus to our site.
The client is answering all of their customer questions in blogs. This is a wonderful way to educate your current and your prospective customer – get those hard questions out of the way first!
We’ve tackled the harder topics to write: marketing for healthcare agencies, managing paper in healthcare companies, disaster planning for healthcare companies – all targeted towards this client’s market (one of them) of behavioral healthcare outpatient and residential treatment programs. The client has answered the common pre-sales questions his prospect asks. This two-pronged approach helps the client gain traction on searches that are relevant to the identifying, specifying, demoing and purchasing of software in their industry.
In our second example, business services client in Lansing, we’ve produced a blog post a week since mid-July and the numbers for August reflect that:
This client is showing web site traffic up 31% for August as compared to July, and although their leads were down, their conversions on landing pages were up in August as compared to July.
[image](Marketing Performance w/Landing page and graphs)
What is common between these two cases? Blogging. Keyword-infused, highly targeted subject matter blogging. The rule is simple:
More Content + More Traffic = More LEADS!
And more leads can lead to more sales (although it will still take good old-fashioned phone call or meeting to close that deal with the customer.) I just had to make that big and bold, because when clients ask what the magic formula is for marketing their business online, this is it. Yes, there are a whole host of other traditional, and digital marketing tactics which will also drive traffic, build brand awareness and close sales that are parts of this marketing pie. Keyword-infused content that is relevant to your customer is key.
As you begin to work on your business blog, google things you think your customers would, and see where your company is listed. If you’re not on the first page, this is a time to consult your marketing & web agency and get that turned around. There are likely a lot of factors that are going into this, but chief among them is that you probably do not have any content on your site with that keyword phrase or keyword used for search engines to deliver a relevant positive result to your prospects’ searches.
1. Google searches your customers might make
2. See where your company ranks on those searches
3. Develop a blog idea list
4. Develop a blog editorial calendar (including potential in-house colleagues who can help you write posts)
5. Blog, blog, blog!
6. Watch traffic rise!
In short, traffic is driven to web sites by those sites having relevant content that prospects really want to read. And the wonderful side benefit past great traffic is the more great, informative content your company can produce, the more questions you can answer, the more knowledgeable about your subject matter you appear to your prospects. It instills trust, and trust is the foundation of a good business relationship!
If you’re looking for more information on increasing your traffic, download our marketing assessment today!
