How do I attract customers to my website?

As a small business owner, you already know how busy life can be. You’re juggling everything from accounts to admin, from sales, to shipping. You might have a team of staff, or you might be completely on your own. With only so many hours in the day, and only so much energy to get things done, it can be hard to know what to focus on to make your business a success.

Here’s the thing: if you have no website, you have no business. And, if you have a poorly- performing website, well… you have a poorly- performing business. So, regardless of what else is on your never- ending to- do list, you simply must prioritise your website.

A well- performing website is beautiful in two ways. One, it looks beautiful. It should be well- designed, with attractive fonts, brand colours, and images. Two, it works beautifully. It should be functional, smooth, easy to navigate, and fast.

If you can hit these two criteria, you’re going to have a winning website. Not only will your customers love your website, but Google will too. The worlds’ biggest search engine knows when a website is fast, reliable, and full of helpful copy. The better the website, the higher it appears in Google search results. The higher the rank, the more traffic your website will get. And, more website traffic means more brand awareness, more loyalty, and more sales.

There are many ways to get more customers to your website, and this blog will outline the 5 most effective methods according to the StartKit small business experts.

  1. Improve website traffic: get the basics right
  2. Improve website traffic: use social media strategically
  3. Improve website traffic: write a regular blog
  4. Improve website traffic: make it easy for your customers to navigate your website
  5. Improve website traffic: invest in SEO support to boost visitors

Improve website traffic: get the basics right

Getting the basics right might seem obvious, but you’d be surprised how many business owners can accidentally overlook something really important. This is often in the attempt to save money, or cut corners to meet a deadline, so it’s understandable, but best avoided. Nailing the small non-negotiables when setting up your new website is a surefire way to improve website traffic.

There are several variables which means your website works well, both behind the scenes, and the features a customer sees on screen. Here are the basics you should get right if you want to attract customers to your website.

  • Choose the right platform for you
    Creating your website might feel overwhelming, but it should be easy and fun. You might think website platforms are all similar, but there are huge differences in value, accessibility, and ease- of- use.
  • Choose a slick design
    When setting up your website you’ll find hundreds of templates which look beautiful and professional, but they should also be customisable. You should be able to easily use your brand assets, like your logo, and your brand palette of all the colours your business uses. For the ultimate professional look, you might want to work with a graphic designer to create your brand visuals. Alternatively, the inbuilt templates within your chosen platform can still create a memorable site.
  • Use optimised images
    If you’re selling products, you’ll need hundreds of photographs to really showcase what you sell. Different angles, different positions, and different props will sell your products for you, and you can nod to the seasons and holidays. If your business is service- based, you’ll need photographs of you. As well as headshots, photos of you at work will be helpful to the customer. Make sure they’re optimised too.
  • Carefully write your SEO copy
    Your website pages desperately need words. Not just any words, but strategically placed SEO keywords and persuasive calls to action. Google uses the words on your website to understand what your website is about. People often think “the more words the better” when it comes to website copy, believing the myth that the more words, the higher your website will rank on Google. Sadly, this is not the case, and having too many words can be off- putting to customers and make your website hard to navigate. The ideal word count for website pages strongly depends on your type of business, your tone of voice, and your audience. It’s best practice to prioritise clear, straightforward messaging which gives your reader everything they need to know, rather than hitting a specific word count. Make sure you use SEO keywords in headings and throughout the body copy, which really does improve where your website ranks on search engines.
  • Check your analytics regularly
    You can’t track how your website performs if you don’t regularly engage with the data. This means registering with Google Analytics and routinely checking your website performance. Set aside some time in your diary to review the data each month.

Improve website traffic: use social media strategically

Social media is an excellent tool. Used well, it can promote your business, build brand awareness, and get you valuable sales. It’s also extremely useful to drive your followers to visit your website. One mistake small business owners can make is investing all their energy into social media. It’s extremely validating to see a social media follower count grow and get immediate likes, comments, and shares. But it’s important to remember to have a diverse array of marketing platforms. You devoting time and energy into creating content for Instagram simply keeps people on Instagram, and it benefits Instagram. A high follower count does not mean lots of sales. Additionally, the account you spent years building could be reported, hacked, or deleted by the platform, meaning you’d lose everything.

So, it’s essential you create an impressive website to promote your business. You own your website, and you have complete control of all the content on it. With effective website copy and SEO blogs you’ll have evergreen content, which is shareable and useful throughout the year, unlike the content quickly being lost on social media feeds.

Remember- everything’s about balance. It’s not a case of using social media or a website, it’s about using both to their best advantage. Social media is an important part of any marketing funnel. Think of it as a vehicle to drive customers to your website where they can buy your products, explore your services, and book a call with you.

So, how do you actually use social media to drive traffic to your website? Firstly, have a link to your website address in your captions on Facebook, LinkedIn, and X.  Include a link in your bio on these platforms too, and on Instagram. Use website links in your stories, and on your IG highlights.

Whenever you post about a product or service, mention where it is on your website, and direct people where to find the link.

Tease launches of new products and services in your posts, with a link right there for them to click. Film short videos of your website journey post it as a reel so customers can navigate easily. Share testimonials and reviews with links to the products. Keep in mind that your ultimate goal is to get customers and potential customers to your website, not hanging around on a social media platform.

Improve website traffic: write a regular blog

Blogs are incredible for marketing your business on so many levels.

Writing an SEO blog means:

  • Google will bring up your blog in search results, meaning people visit your website
  • You can easily link to other content online, giving your website authority with backlinks
  • You can prove your expertise and encourage your clients to trust you
  • You can highlight your qualifications and industry experience
  • Having a chance to be helpful to your reader with problem- solving
  • You can explore a topic you care about in long form
  • It’s evergreen content which means it’ll come up on Google year after year
  • You can weave links to products and services in your blog to (gently) drive sales

Once you have your blogs, you can post about them in captions on social media, include a link in your email signature, write a newsletter with a snippet of your newest blog, and create video content about the topic of the blog and include links there too.

Each time someone clicks that link to read your blog, they’re visiting your website, finding out more about you and your business, and building brand awareness.

Blogs really are a very effective marketing method, and it’s super easy to write and upload one to your website from your mobile or desktop with KitStart.

Improve website traffic: make it easy for your customers to navigate your website

Once you get people to your website, you need to keep them there long enough for them to learn about you and your business.

Think about your website first impression- is it crowded and confusing? This could cause a customer to immediately leave because your site is overwhelming. Are there clear directions and buttons to guide your visitor? If not, this could cause a customer to be frustrated as to how to navigate your site and they’ll leave.

Carefully consider the journey you want your customer to go on and make it easy for them to get around.

For service- based businesses, the end point might be for the customer to book a discovery call with you. They’ll probably want to read your about page, and your service page, and explore the testimonials or portfolio, before heading to the contact page. So, having lots of buttons in the right places will help your customer find their path. Having no, or not enough, calls to action can mean you customer is confused about where to go, they’ll get frustrated, and leave your website page.

For product- based businesses, your menu is extremely important. Customers need to find your products quickly and easily, and navigate all your products based on price, colour, and size. A functional website means your customers will feel that your business is authentic and trustworthy, and they’ll want to keep coming back. Having multiple payment options will help your customer feel your business and website is legitimate and reliable.

When customers spend a long time on your website, Google will learn that your website is popular and effective, sending more searchers your way.

Improve website traffic: invest in SEO support to boost visitors

Running a small business solo is an enormous task, and it’s a good idea to work with experts or learn a skill by going on a course. This will mean you’re getting the help you need, and you’re reducing your workload. Working with an SEO expert, or taking a short SEO course, is a good example of this. You may have thought of everything above, and you may have updated your website to the best of your ability, but SEO is incredibly complex. From the copy on your pages, to the size of your images, to the DNS records, there are so many variables which affect SEO. If you aren’t seeing an improvement in traffic, then it’s time to invest in a bit of extra support.

While BaseKit Sites are incredibly straightforward to create and quick to set up, you always have access to 24/7 support. With our support your website will have more visitors in no time.

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