Cullen Fischel of Cleveland is an entrepreneur in the web design industry, helping his clients build, develop, and scale their online presence. In the following article, Cullen Fischel explains tested ways to increase website traffic, bringing in more visitors, leads, and ultimately sales.
When a virtual presence is vital to success, nothing hits quite as hard as having the best-laid website plans yield little results.
It’s frustrating and worrying, especially when spending a lot of time (and more money) crafting a website designed to bring in and continue attracting customers to the site.
Cullen Fischel of Cleveland says that if virtual audiences and customers prove to be elusive, it’s likely time for one of these new approaches:
Focus on Design
A whopping 94% of a website’s first impressions are related to its design, according to a survey from WebFX. It boils down to user experience says Cullen Fischel of Cleveland. With 2 billion websites out there, an artfully designed website that maintains an intuitive format is worth its weight in goals (and web traffic).
On the flip side, if users deem a site’s layout unattractive, nearly 40% will stop using it.
Loading is another issue, especially since about half of users will access a website from a mobile device. A site that does not consider mobile displays or takes too long to load will be a major turnoff according to Cullen Fischel of Cleveland.
The survey also found that customers expect a website to load in 3 seconds or faster, even though it takes 7 seconds for the average mobile page to load. With a fast-paced world at our fingertips, no one likes to wait for technology to keep up.
Integrate Keywords
Cullen Fischel of Cleveland say sthat search engine optimization, or SEO, is more than just a trendy buzzword online. For many websites, it is often a factor in failure and success.
SEO involves pinpointing keywords that are both relevant to a business or personal website and are likely to be used by people on popular search engines.
Determining the SEO words that are best for a business or ones that are more frequently used than others is often necessary for increasing visibility and web traffic rates.
A good place to start is by reviewing keywords people already used to head to a site by using such platforms as Google Analytics explains Cullen Fischel of Cleveland.
Use Digital Promotions
The competition for attention is stiff online and only grows as the years go on. While targeted banner ads can become excessive, they are also proven ways to up web traffic, especially for new websites.
“Targeted” is the keyword. There are options to create virtual ads that appeal to certain ages, income levels, specific genders, and even education levels and general interests explains Cullen Fischel of Cleveland.
Data is best mined by looking at existing traffic and creating digital ads initially based on those audiences.
Take Advantage of Online Business Profiles
Ever wonder if having a business showcased as a Google listing makes a difference? It often does.
When a free Google business listing is optimized and complete (especially with a website link), it can drive seven times the traffic to a site compared to a profile that is incomplete. Cullen Fischel of Cleveland says that there are myriad benefits as well.
They are a snap to set up and the service allows for a business profile to pop up when there are relevant searches for location and type of business. It even lets users review a site, which can drive even more traffic.
Try Email Marketing
Think of a business email as the direct form of a digital banner ad. If there’s a long struggle to increase traffic, email marketing is another competitive weapon.
Many businesses and individuals have found great success in creating engaging and informative newsletters that can offer everything from promotions and website news to personal information about individuals and their work.
Once traffic increases, offering a newsletter provides further incentive for consistent traffic.
Create Quality Content
Cullen Fischel of Cleveland also says that effective ads and web design can only go so far when it comes to driving traffic. The bottom line: a site’s content must be unique and enticing, as well as provide intriguing points of view.
Thousands of freelance writers maintain blogs to sell their services, but not many have a comprehensive approach that integrates their own personality and a showcase of style that sets them apart from the pack.
Millions of travel blogs cover the world, but not all cover specific, niche aspects of travel that users crave, such as the best pizza joints in a specific Italian neighborhood or an overview of things to do when the weather doesn’t cooperate at a national park.
Web content should be fun and inventive while always easily accessible to the masses. If this is accomplished, word-of-mouth traffic is almost guaranteed.
