From Garage Band to Main Stage: 7 Days to Analyze and Improve Your Website Traffic
Tell me, how many articles have you read about improving your website traffic have you read so far?
That's what I thought.
By the end of this week-long plan, you will have fine-tined your marketing efforts and started to boost your online presence
Because website traffic is such a massive topic, we will be spending a lot of time together.
I’m sure I don’t have to tell you that traffic is the lifeblood of any online business. Without it, you don’t have a business, or at the very least, you don’t have a sustainable one with the option to grow. What are you doing right now to ensure you get in front of your ideal audience and tap into that traffic?
As your Chief Creative Rockstar here at Amped Up, I have made it my mission to help you master some of that confusing tech and marketing stuff so you can spend more time doing the things you love.
Do you want to know more about SEO? Have a look over here!
Grab your guitar, put on your coolest shades, and let's get this show on the road!
Psst…Want to download this guide so you can keep it handy? I created a downloadable PDF so you can do just that.
Download these 7 Days to Analyze and Improve Your Website Traffic now!
Day 1: Kick-off with a Bang – Identify Your Top Traffic Sources
Before we stage dive into improving your website traffic, we need to look at where your traffic is currently coming from.
What many people get wrong about website traffic is thinking “if you build it, they will come.”
Well, this is not the Field of Dreams, so what you need to understand to be successful is that this is going to take some work and tweaking. But don’t worry, we’re going to work on this together.
Running a successful business means you need a constant flow of new leads. These are the folks who will become your paying customers. That's the marketing piece of the puzzle. To get those leads, you need traffic. You must reach out to new people regularly, and the best way to do that is by generating traffic - ideally, persistent or evergreen traffic from a mix of sources.
If you want your business to keep growing, you need to focus on getting more traffic. Someone smart once said, "What gets measured gets managed." But before you can start measuring, you need to know where your traffic is coming from.
This info is crucial for another reason. Not all sources of traffic are created equal. If you’ve run an online business - or any business, really - you want to focus your time and resources on the visitors who turn into paying customers. Basically, you want to boost your traffic in a way that maximizes your profits.
To make that happen, you need to know which traffic sources bring you the most dependable customers. You want to see who signs up for your list, turning into leads. And you want to know how many of those leads convert into paying customers. And you need to track how many of those leads become paying customers. You can achieve this by monitoring your traffic, email signups, and purchases.
A great place to start is with a free Google Analytics account. Make sure you have one set up, and get familiar with the different reports. Your first stop should be Acquisition / Traffic Acquisition.
Focus on one channel at a time. If you can, track each visitor as they move through your autoresponder program and shopping cart.. This will tell you if it’s worth spending a lot of time interacting in a particular Facebook group, or if the person you’re hiring to create and publish multiple pins per day is worth the money you’re spending on them.
Rinse and repeat for other sources of traffic. Keep an eye on what keywords are bringing in the most conversions and produce more content related to those. Don’t be afraid to ask your customers how they found you. You can even make this an optional entry when someone fills out your order form. Again, the idea is to get as much data as possible so you can analyze it and improve your top traffic sources.
Once you have a pretty good idea where your current traffic is coming from, you can accomplish two important things. You can do more of what’s already working for you, and you can measure the results of your efforts.
This is just the beginning. Keep scrolling for more ideas on making the most of your website visitors.
Day 2: Audit and Monetize your Most Popular Pages
Time for an audit … no, not that kind.
Sorry if I scared you there for a second. It’s time for an audit, but not that kind. This is one you’ll look forward to and one that will get you valuable information. The idea is to take a look at some of your most popular pages. Look at them with fresh eyes and come up with new ways to make the most of them since they are already getting you traffic.
Can you:
Get more traffic to them?
Use them to grow your list of email subscribers?
Boost engagement with your ideal target audience?
Profit directly (or increase profit) by making an offer on these pages.
Want to boost your income fast? What I’m about to share with you is probably the simplest and most effective strategy for increasing your earning. Mark it on your calendar and make sure it gets done. Then sit back and watch the results roll in.
Step one: Identify your most popular pages. Don’t disregard pages like your contact page, your about page, and even your 404 error page. But mainly, focus on your content pages. These are the articles and blog posts where you share your knowledge or address a specific problem, showing how what you offer can be part of the solution.
There are many reasons a page blows up. Maybe you're ranking high for a keyword. Or maybe you created content that’s often shared as a resource. Maybe one of your social media posts that link back to a page on your website went viral. Or maybe you have a popular pin of one of your blog posts.
Whatever the reason, the key is to find these popular pages. Fire up your website analytics and run a report.
Got your list? Awesome. Pull up the top two or three pages and examine them closely. Pay special attention to your call to action. What do you want visitors to do after they read your content?
Want them to join your email list? Smart move! How easy do you make it for them to do that? The first thing to check is to make sure the opt-in form is working. Next, think about how much info you're asking for. Each extra bit, even just a first name, can drop your conversion rate. So, what can you do to boost it? Are you testing different headlines, opt-in forms, and lead magnets? If not, it’s time to start planning for that.
Maybe your goal is to engage with your audience via comments. Is that working for you? If not, think about tweaking your call to action or offering something to your visitors that’s more enticing.
If you're already doing that, awesome. But how well is it working? Could it be better? Step back and take a really good look at your page. How can you make it more effective and bring in more money? Experiment with different ideas. If one doesn't work, try another. Boost the profitability of your most visited pages first. Then, tackle the next set of pages from that report you checked. Keep at it, and in a few months, review your progress and see if you can improve even more.
Although I said this is a simple strategy, I didn’t mean that it wouldn’t take some time. But this is a crucial step that many people never do. Commit to making the improvements. But what’s important when you’re just starting out is to keep your momentum going.
Here is a post about revitalizing old blog posts that might help you as well. https://ampedupdigitalsolutions.com/blog/b/blog-revitalization-strategy
Day 3: Do More Of What’s Already Working
Traffic keeps an online business alive and kicking.There are a million and one different ways to get more visitors to your website. You’ll find hundreds of courses and books offering the latest traffic tricks. But when you need more traffic fast and can’t afford to waste time or money, they’re not much help.
So, why not focus on what’s already working for you? Are you getting good traffic from Pinterest? Make five new pins daily for your top posts. Ranking well for some long-tail keywords? Optimize more pages or create fresh, optimized content. You get the picture
Yes, it’s deceptively simple and not very sexy, but it works. By putting in the effort to analyze what's working, figuring out why it's working, and then repeating it, you can achieve great results. Let's dive into how to do that.
First, check out your website analytics. For the best data, you want to pull info for at least three months; more if you can and at least a year’s worth if you have a seasonal business. Identify your main traffic sources and see where that traffic is going. Do you notice any patterns? Make a list of everything that's performing well.
Grab your list and check out where your best traffic is coming from. What's the source? How are you getting these visitors? Get out a piece of paper, or open a new document on your computer. Start jotting down at least twenty-five ways to get more traffic from this source. Once you've done that, take a break.
When you come back, check out the list you’ve made. Which of the items on there get you excited? What are you looking forward to working on the most? Start with that idea and get to work implementing it. Make a short list of everything you need to do from start to finish. Maybe you need to write a new article or blog post and create some pins for it. Maybe it means working on evergreen social media posts that you can schedule to share on your page Or perhaps you need to engage in Facebook groups or find new ones. Whatever it is, follow each step from start to finish. Then get to work on the next item on your list. Keep going until you’ve tackled all twenty-five project ideas.
Don’t forget to check your traffic stats again in a few weeks. Note what's working and do more of that. Give the rest a bit more time. Sometimes even the best strategies take time to show results. Keep at it, and the traffic will come.
Did you shake your head and think, “That was obvious, why didn’t I think of that?” I’ve been guilty of this from time to time, but whenever I catch myself and actually do more of what’s working already, I see instant results. I want the same for you. Please, set aside some time today to figure out what’s working for you already. Then dedicate a little time each week to doing more of it. Or outsource it. Whatever works, as long as it gets done.
Between the auditing, monetizing your popular pages, and today’s strategy, you should see some quick progress.
Day 4: SEO Basics for Evergreen Traffic
Could your business use evergreen traffic you don’t have to pay for? Of course it could! And that’s what Search Engine Optimization can do for you. The good news is that you don’t have to hire a consultant or agency for this and you don’t have to spend a small fortune in courses. The basics of SEO are surprisingly simple.
The goal with this strategy is to optimize each new piece of content you publish for a long-tail keyword. The kind of keyword that isn’t super hard to rank for. It won’t get you a huge flood of traffic. More of a trickle. But when you do it again and again, you end up with a nice little stream of visitors to your site.
One of the best ways to boost your website traffic is by focusing on SEO, or search engine optimization. While SEO can seem complex and ever-changing, sticking to the basics will be enough to get you by.
First up: keywords. These are the terms people type into their favorite search engine to find what they are looking for. Your goal is to optimize various pages on your website for some of those keywords. Choosing the right ones is your first task. Avoid vague terms like "vegetable gardening" because it’s tough to rank for and doesn’t specify what the user wants. Instead, go for more specific long-tail keywords like "why are my tomato plant leaves curling."
A great way to find the right phrases is by using Google. Head on over to google.com and search for something you know your customers are looking for. Then look at the suggested searches at the bottom of that page. Keep experimenting and exploring these until you land on one that suits your needs and your audience’s interests.
Next, create a piece of content around this keyword phrase. Include it in the title, the URL, and the meta description of your post. Sprinkle the phrase and related phrases throughout your content. Do the same with the names and alt-tags for images you use. But remember, write your content and alt tag descriptions for your readers, not just for the search engines. In other words, create quality content that builds trust with your audience. The keyword is important, but it should come second to delivering valuable information.
Why? Because all the traffic in the world won't help if those visitors don't turn into customers. Once you have your draft written, it’s time to start thinking about links. You want to link from this post to one or two older articles or blog posts on your site. It’s also a good idea to link out to a trusted source or authority site. Going back to our plant example, you could link to a university article about treating tomato diseases for example.
Take another look at everything you’ve put together. If it looks good, go ahead and hit publish. You are almost done with your basic SEO. There’s one more piece of the equation - incoming links. You want to link from a few older pages on your site to this new content. Then go out and link to it from social media posts. Create a few pins, write a couple of tweets and Facebook posts. Send some social signals to encourage the search engines to index this new content. Then sit back and wait. With a little luck, the traffic will come.
Day 5: Pinterest & YouTube Are Search Engines Too
Chances are when you think about search engines, Google probably comes to mind first. You may also think of Bing, MSN and maybe Yahoo. But you probably aren’t thinking about two of the biggest search engines out there. YouTube and Pinterest. Though you may not see them this way, they're search engines at their core.
What do you do when you’re looking for a tutorial for fixing something around your house or a music video? You go to YouTube and you search. What if you’re looking for inspiration for your daughter’s fifth birthday party? You search for relevant pins and create a Pinterest board based on what you find through those searches. It’s not just you. Everyone uses these sites as search engines. Isn’t it about time you started treating them as such and using them as a source of evergreen traffic?
When you need a tutorial for a home repair or a music video, you head to YouTube and search. Looking for ideas for your daughter's fifth birthday party? You browse Pinterest and make a board with all the cool ideas you find. It's not just you. Everyone uses these sites like search engines. Isn't it time you treated them as such and used them for consistent, long-term traffic?
So, what do you do with this new insight? Let's assume you're familiar with the basics of SEO. The idea is to apply the same ideas when you create pins or upload YouTube videos. Create this content with a purpose. Start with a particular key phrase in mind. Use this word or string of words to name your video file or image. Of course you want to also make sure the content applies to the keyword.
Now that you have your content, it’s time to upload it to YouTube or Pinterest. Use the keyword (or key phrase. I will use the two terms interchangeably) in the title and description of your post. You can also use them in appropriate tags. Always write your titles and descriptions for your audience first, but if you can sneak in your keywords, even better. And don't forget to optimize your channel and board titles and descriptions too.
From here, you can boost your new content in several different ways. Your best strategy is to create fresh, optimized content on a regular basis. Get people engaged through other social media channels. Reply to and encourage comments. All of this will help your videos and pins become more searchable. As your channel and boards grow, so will your audience. Not every video and pin will rank well or get tons of exposure. SEO or YouTube and Pinterest optimization is a bit of a gamble. Sometimes you win, sometimes you don’t. That’s okay. Each and every piece of content will help you in the long run and if you add a call to action and link that leads back to your website, you’ll be generating a steady stream of evergreen traffic as well.
Day 6: Profitable Social Media Marketing
Whew! You're getting close to the end of this guide on analyzing and improving your website traffic. How are you doing? Full speed ahead or flagging? Grab yourself a glass of lemonade to keep you going!
I have a confession to make. I have a love / hate relationship with social media. It’s a great way to get in front of your ideal target audience, but it can also be a pretty big distraction. I can’t tell you how much time I’ve wasted going down various rabbit holes.
I’ll share some tips and ideas with you to make sure your own social media marketing is profitable. Yes, there will still be days when you find yourself aimlessly scrolling through Facebook or watching YouTube in the name of research, but you’ll make good use of your time on your favorite social media platforms more often. And that’s what this is really all about.
Social media marketing can be a great asset to your business. It can create quick boosts of traffic and get your message in front of your ideal target audience. It can also be a colossal waste of time. How do you make sure your social media strategy is worth your time? The answer is tracking.
Start by keeping tabs on your social media habits. Social media is designed to be addictive. The main job of Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok is to keep you scrolling on their platform for as long as possible. It’s important that you protect yourself against their efforts to waste your time. And the best way to do that is by tracking what you’re doing on social media. It’s all too easy to convince yourself that you’re busy working on marketing and generating traffic when what you’re actually doing is procrastinating on things that would actually make a difference to your bottom line. And that's not even counting the time you lose to funny cat videos.
Now that you know why you should track yourself, how do you go about doing it? It’s simple. You start with a plan. Maybe you decide to post three times a day and spend ten minutes engaging with your Facebook followers. Write it down and keep it at your desk. Don’t overthink what the plan should be. Start with what you think might work. You'll tweak it as you go. Set a timer, especially in the beginning. Anything outside your plan is leisure, not work, and definitely not social media marketing.
Another fantastic choice is to use automation tools. These tools let you post and share content regularly without needing to log into social media sites directly. Instead, you’re creating your posts inside a different piece of software or website and the content goes out at the time and date you set. This approach is super effective because it lets you batch your social media marketing. Spend an hour one day each week setting everything up, and you’re free to focus on other marketing and product creation tasks.
Last but not least, consider outsourcing your social media marketing. Not only does it free you up and save you from the temptation of wasting time on your favorite platform, it gives you real numbers to compare. Are you making more money from social media than you're paying this person? If not, it might be time to tweak your strategy.
Day 7: When It Pays To Pay For Traffic
Can you believe it? We’ve come to the end of our little exploration of website traffic. I shared quite a few different strategies with you to analyze and improve your top traffic sources. Today we wrap things up by looking at paid traffic sources. You can learn to advertise in pay per click advertising, pay for newsletter spots and more. And then there are affiliates. How would you like your own army of people who are out there promoting what you have to sell?
So far we’ve talked a lot about getting free traffic by tapping into existing sources, upping our social media game, and investing some time and effort into SEO. All of this takes time, but it's usually time well spent. There is a second way to get highly targeted traffic. Paying for it. While there are many different ways to do this, I want to discuss two strategies with you. Paid advertising and recruiting affiliates to send new leads your way. Let's break them down.
You’re probably familiar with some forms of advertising. The idea is to pay for targeted traffic. Advertising options range from buying space on websites or mentions in newsletters to pay-per-click ads. Facebook and Google ads are prime examples of pay-per-click advertising.
Pick one advertising strategy to start with and focus on it. Tackling one method at a time lets you track results accurately and master it before moving on. Begin with a small budget and increase it once you see it's working. When you've got it down, keep tweaking your ads to lower costs and boost profits. Don't rush to spend too much too fast. Even with this slow, conservative strategy you’ll get traffic faster than if you build it organically.
The biggest problem with advertising, especially when you are getting started, is the risk. You might lose some cash before you get the hang of it. Sure, you can lessen this risk by starting small and increasing your budget as you see profits, but it’s still a gamble. If that doesn’t sit well with you, or if you simply want an additional strategy to grow faster, consider setting up an affiliate program.
With an affiliate program, you track the traffic, leads, and customers your affiliates send your way. You then pay them a commission for any sales made from these visitors. For digital products, the commission is usually around 50%. Sometimes, it makes sense to offer something higher, especially on a front-end product if you have a large sales funnel in place. For physical products, because of additional cost and overhead involved, commissions are typically lower, ranging from two to ten percent.
The big benefit of an affiliate program is that if you recruit the right people, you can instantly get your products and services in front of their large audiences. There is also no up-front risk. You only pay your affiliates when they make a sale, ensuring you stay profitable.
Give both methods a try and see how much traffic you can generate with ads and affiliates.
Key Takeaways
I hope this massive post about website traffic has made the puzzle pieces come together in your mind.
Congratulations on completing the 7-day journey to analyze and improve your website traffic! You've taken significant steps towards transforming your online presence and reaching a broader audience. By now, you should have a solid understanding of your traffic sources, target audience, and the strategies that work best for your website.
Remember, the key to sustained growth is consistency and continuous improvement. Keep monitoring your analytics, testing new approaches, and refining your strategies based on the data. The digital landscape is ever-evolving, and staying adaptable will ensure you remain ahead of the curve.
Whether you're a creative entrepreneur, a small business owner, or a digital marketer, the principles you've learned can help you hit the high notes and make a lasting impact online. Keep pushing forward, stay creative, and watch as your website traffic soars.
Here's to your success and the journey ahead!
I have all the faith that you will gain more website traffic with this knowledge.
If you have any questions, reach out here . There are no wrong questions, and I am always happy to hear from you!
Want to discover another effective way to drive traffic to your site? Check out our free guide, Google Business Profile 101: 5 Mistakes You’re Making and How to Fix Them!
