Thursday, March 28, 2024

How to Drive Traffic to Your Site with Content

You could have the best-looking website in the world, but without solid, relevant content filling its pages, not many visitors will see it. To help you get that site traffic you desire, we will reveal several tips that your content should follow.

Tips to Create Content That Generates Traffic

Having great content is an excellent way to drive organic traffic to your website. Here are some tips that can help you create great content that attracts visitors initially and keeps them coming back for more.

Pay Close Attention to Your Headlines

People seek instant gratification nowadays. Instead of clicking on various links to read about whatever they searched for, a visitor is more likely to scan headlines in search results and pick the one that most catches their eye. For this reason, you will need to ensure your headlines are all they can be. If not, even a fantastic, detail-filled article may go unnoticed.

Writing eye-catching headlines can take a ton of practice, but tools like Sumo’s free headline generator can make the task easier. Use it or something similar to practice your headline-writing skills, or head to your competitors’ sites to see what they are writing. While you should not copy them, you can get a quick idea of what is working in your industry.

Read: Common SEO Mistakes

Create Content That Is Useful and Answers Questions

One of the simplest ways to create traffic-generating content is to answer a question that is:

  1. Being asked a lot
  2. Not being answered correctly

By answering that question correctly with your content, you can step in to save the day and be seen as an authority figure who can help people with other questions and needs.

Google and other search engines have one primary function: To give people answers to the questions they are asking. If your content provides those answers, search engines will send visitors to your site.

As for how to find which questions to answer, that takes a multi-pronged approach. First, it helps to know and understand your audience, so you can address their needs, fears, pain points, etc. Second, you can use keyword research tools to make the job a lot easier.

And third, you can find questions to answer by using a search engine yourself. For example, you can go to Google and type in a possible question your audience may have. From there, you can find many more questions they are asking, so you can start creating content that answers them.

When creating question-answering content, here are some simple steps you can follow:

  1. Find a popular question relevant to your audience by doing keyword research via a tool, search engine, etc.
  2. Answer that question with an article that is in-depth, keyword-rich, and long enough to provide necessary details to the reader and get picked up by search engines.
  3. Edit and publish the article on your site.
  4. Repeat steps 1–3 for future content, being sure to pick fresh new questions, so your site does not go stale.

Read: Tips for Content Marketing

Create List Posts

Have you noticed how some sites like Buzzfeed love to use numbers in their headlines, like 28 Charts That Will Help You Start Eating Healthier Immediately? Those are list posts, and they are all over the Internet for one main reason: The numbers catch the eye and work wonders as a psychological trigger.

By putting a number in the headline and creating a list post, you convey to the reader that your content packs a punch—it gives them a lot of bang for their buck. And in terms of user-friendliness, list posts are usually easy to scan, which is essential in an age where we have so much (or too much) information at our fingertips.

Use Long-form Content

Does all of your content have to be a certain length? Not necessarily, provided you cover topics entirely and give your visitors the answers they desire. However, research shows that longer content may be more beneficial for a variety of reasons. For starters, longer content tends to rank better than its shorter counterparts. It also tends to be more topically relevant, which is something Google takes into account when ranking. Long-form content can increase conversions by being more convincing to customers, and it can also lead to more social shares.

Include Evergreen Content

While it is a good idea to create fresh content to keep your visitors on their toes, evergreen content is a must. What is evergreen content? It is something that holds relevance over time and never goes stale, unlike news articles. Examples of evergreen content include reference guides, how-to tutorials, product reviews, information you would find in an encyclopedia, and frequently asked questions.

By having such content on your site, you can reap several traffic-related rewards via new leads, search traffic, and social shares. Beyond those benefits, evergreen content can also fill your site with pages that have lasting value, build authority, educate visitors, and attract links.

To put it simply, think of evergreen content as questions people will always ask. By answering them, you can get a steady stream of traffic now and in the future. But since info can sometimes change, be sure that yours is updated as needed.

Attract Influencers with Your Content

Influencers are people with huge followings who can quickly get tons of likes, shares, and links to their content. If you can leverage influencers for your own content, you can get a huge traffic boost in a short amount of time.

To get approval or attention from an influencer in your industry, you will need to create content that appeals to them. To do so, use an influencer research tool or search for their direct email address. Look at their social media and pinpoint any hot topics they focus on more than others. Once you find that common theme, address it with your content. Then, do your best to ensure that influencer sees your content, so they can share it with their massive audience.

Read: Best Social Media Optimization Tips

Reuse Your Existing Content

Constantly creating new content can be time-consuming. And while it is necessary, you can give yourself a break while giving your site a traffic boost by repurposing existing content on other mediums.

For example, you could convert an existing blog post into a podcast, which turns one piece of content into two and gives your audience multiple platforms to choose from. You could convert an existing slideshow into an infographic, put images on a Pinterest board, turn webinars into videos, use statistics to create Twitter threads, interviews into eBooks, and so on.

Be Consistent

There are two main reasons to be consistent when posting your content. First, it builds a pattern that your audience can follow and look forward to. And second, consistency tells Google that you are a reliable info source.

Since publishing content can get complicated and confusing, your best bet to maintain consistency is to use a content calendar. Such a tool makes it easy to plan out your content and visualize how it will be released to the public.

What can you use as a content calendar? That is up to you, but some popular choices include a good old pen and piece of paper, a spreadsheet, an editorial calendar, or a project management app like Asana or Trello.

Read: Best SEO Software for 2021 (Paid and Free Tools)

Enrique Corrales
Enrique Corrales
Enrique is a writer who specializes in SEO, social media, and web design content.

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