What is the best way to drive more traffic to your website?

Now you have done it. You have a useful and well designed website. Can anyone find it? When your customer search for your products of services can they find you?

You can’t just sit back and wait for your site to boom in popularity. It takes a lot of consistent hard work and dedication to effectively promote your website. There are a number of different techniques you can use, and the more of them you employ, the more visible your site will be.

Follow these guidelines and you will soon see a steady increase in your traffic.

The first way to get your website more attention is to list it in as many different online directories as possible. The major search engines take into account how many of these directories have your site listed, and will elevate your rankings accordingly. An excellent place to start is by creating a Wikipedia page for your business. Google ranks pages at Wikipedia higher than any other result, so if you are able to successfully create one, it can be a huge boon. You will have to demonstrate that your business is notable enough to deserve a Wikipedia page, but when you do it will pay off.

One marketing strategy that will pay quick dividends is pay per click and cost per mile advertisements. With these you are essentially paying a search engine or social media site to promote your site. Each time a user clicks on your ad, you pay for the click. This can be a great way to jump-start your audience, because the more you have to spend, the more traffic you can drive to your site.

Submitting press releases to appropriate online outlets is a great way to increase both the visibility and respectability of your website. Be sure that the release is written in a formal, professional tone for maximum impact. As a bonus, this will provide you with backlinks to your site as well.

Create an email list or newsletter to keep your current and potential customers up to date about what is new with your website. Regular contact will keep your clients engaged with your brand. Just be sure that you don’t overdo it, you don’t want to be seen as unwanted spam. Each message should provide a legitimate piece of news or content.

Begin an affiliate program that encourages your customers to spread the word about your site. For example, you could offer a discount or small percentage like 10% of the sale for each customer they refer to you. This allows your satisfied customer base to do the marketing for you very cost effectively.

Creating a presence on as many different social media sites for your business is essential these days, as so many people spend most of their time online using these platforms. Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, and Tumblr are all good places to start. Keep in mind that you will have to create interesting and informal content on these sites to keep users engaged. You shouldn’t just be trying to sell to them all the time if you want them to pay attention to you. Actually, you want to provide valuable information 90 percent of the time and only sell about 10% of the time.

A regularly updated blog is another way to keep visitors coming back to your website. If you can write informative or humorous content on a regular basis that is directly related to your industry, you can create a custom made client base for your site. Remember that a blog doesn’t need to just be straight text. You can include pictures, videos, polls, and podcasts to liven things up.

None of these strategies is an easy quick fix to promote your website, but if you use them all in tandem and keep providing quality content, you will find your website growing in popularity.