I have to confess, one of my weaknesses is ice cream.
I am sure you have probably noticed how sometimes there is other ice cream shop next to your favorite ice cream shop.
The reason is location.
Changing the location might have a direct effect in ice cream sales.
Having the right traffic to an ice cream shop is a key part of the success of the business and with this example we can begin to see how there can be a big difference in the number of people who visit an ice cream shop depending on location of the shop.
The same thing applies to your website traffic.
It is possible that your dream is to position your website in the first results of Google so you always have a flow of free traffic to your website.
If this is the case, the best way to get free traffic is by creating the unique types of content that people are looking for and need.
However there are 2 things to keep in mind:
1. Time Vs. Money
Although you do not have to pay Google directly to get free traffic, you definately need to spend time designing and implementing your strategy.
In other words free traffic does not have an economic cost, but if it involves a time cost.
2. There are many types of free traffic (and not all are equal)
Don’t get me wrong, having free traffic is not only excellent but also wonderful and that is why it’ss the dream for many.
But if the traffic is not well directed or the source is not the desired one, the traffic has no value for your business.
The idea of free traffic is to attract your audience to your services.
In order for the traffic to be effective, you need to make sure that the people you are attracting are really in your audience and interested in your services.
The type of searches that people do are very different depending on the stage in which they are in their buying process (customer journey).
How searches may vary during the customer journey
For example, when deciding to go on vacation with my family to Washington D.C., I might do searches like: family vacation in Washington D.C..
But if the decision about going to vacation to Washington D.C. has already been made, the information I will search for will be different and more specific to what I’m really looking for:
For example:
Washington D.C Bike Tour
Where to eat the best ice cream in Washington D.C.
The key is to create an combined strategy where through general and specific content you attract your audience to your services.
In other words, having free traffic is not enough when you do not know how to develop the strategy.
Even though when we we think of free traffic the first thing that comes to mind is Google, there are other ways to generate free traffic to your website.
How to use free traffic to attract clients (3 traffic sources you need consider)
My recommendation is to develop a strategy for each of the 3 sources of free traffic.
1. Search Engines (Google)
The goal should be to develop an SEO strategy.
This is something you need to think about even before designing your website. The benefits of doing this early on go beyond appearing in the first results of Google. Working on your SEO strategy will allow you to better understand your audience.
In addition to Google, there are other search engines (bing, yahoo, etc) and other sites where you can answer the questions your audience has (quora, ask).
What You Should Know
Positioning your website in Google takes time and should be part of your long-term strategy. Again, remember to include this as a top of your priorities before designing your website.
I have not experimented with quora or ask, but I know people who have had very good results.
2. Social Media
Social media allows you to attract your audience to your services almost immediately.
Think of social media as a way to start the conversation with your audience.
It is possible that not all social media networks are equally effective for your business, it is up to you to identify in which one you want to spend your time and develop an effective strategy.
What You Should Know
Free traffic from social media should be part of your short-term strategy. It is not only about generating traffic by increasing visitors, you need to have a strategy that allows you to convert traffic into clients.
Additionally having a social media strategy will also help you position your content on Google.
I’ve created an infographic illustrating How to use free traffic to attract clients (3 traffic sources you need consider).
Please attribute the infographics to Netklik.com
Use the embed code I’ve included
<div> <a href="https://www.netklik.com/online-marketing-strategies/how-to-use-free-traffic-to-attract-clients/"><br> <img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-1345" src="https://www.netklik.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/how-to-use-free-traffic-to-attract-clients-infographic.png" alt="How to use free traffic to attract clients" width="500" height="2389" /></a> </div> <div> Infographic by: <a href="https://www.netklik.com/online-marketing-strategies/how-to-use-free-traffic-to-attract-clients/">Netklik</a> </div>
3. Email Marketing
How to use free traffic to get customers
This is a topic that is not talked about enough, but email marketing is also a way to generate free traffic to your content.
It is true that perhaps before implementing your email marketing strategy you need to learn how to generate free traffic, but really both strategies can and should go hand in hand.
Of course the first step is to attract people who do searches related to your services on Google or start the conversation in social media.
But definitely that step must be followed by a conversation via email and this will only be possible if you capture the email address of your visitors.
What You Should Know
Email marketing is the most effective way to convert traffic into clients because it allows you to develop the relationship with your audience in a way that you can not do with your website alone.
The best way to generate free traffic using email marketing is to communicate regularly with your list of subscribers and invite them to consume valuable content.
A common mistake is to think that traffic is a problem that you can solve after designing your website.
When in fact you should think about how you are going to attract your audience before you think about the designing your website.
Conclusion
Your goal should be to experiment with the 3 sources of free traffic and accumulate data that allows you t
o make the best decisions about what type of free traffic is more effective for your business.
Remember that there are different types of free traffic and your goal is to know which is the best for your business.
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