Without spending a lot of money
In this article we offer four proven ideas for driving more traffic to your website. These ideas include using social media, press releases and free online calendars, and requesting reciprocal advertising. Each idea is written in bullet-point fashion to cover the subject simply. For a more comprehensive discussion of each idea, click through to the related article.
Using social media to drive website traffic
People spend a lot of time on social media. If you find the right combination of content, frequency and engagement, you can increase the number of people who visit your website.
- Getting started with social media can be challenging. By following the points below, you’ll intuitively know what content to share and when to share it, making it more of a habit and less of a burden.
- Write a post to announce every event and significant accomplishment.
- Write a post to announce each upcoming event registration closing.
- When an event or project is complete, write a summary post.
- Getting others to share your news will help spread the word exponentially. Don’t be afraid to ask fans and staff to share your posts. Social media is social. The more it gets shared, the better you will do.
- Every social media post should include the most interesting and highest quality image you can provide. Images attract more attention and can spark emotions, drawing readers in and making efforts more memorable.
Learn more about using social media to drive more traffic to your website.
Write and distribute press releases
As newsrooms continue to shrink, editors simply don’t have enough reporters to investigate and report on every interesting story. Learn how to write a newsworthy press release, and it’s pretty likely that local publications will run it at no cost to you.
- A press release is not an advertisement. With an ad you pay for space to promote your business. A press release, on the other hand, is informational.
- Learn how to distribute a press release.
- Check with each publication individually to learn when and how they prefer to receive press releases. But as a general rules, send releases to monthly magazines three months prior to the event and to weekly newspapers at least two weeks ahead of time.
- Always include the most interesting, highest quality photo you can provide.
- For each event send an announcement press release and then roundup press release when the event is over.
Learn more about how press releases can drive more traffic to your website.
Promote events on free online calendars
Most newspapers and magazines, as well as many radio and local tv stations, provide a calendar of events as part of their website.
- Prepare your information ahead of time. Note: event title, date, start and end time, venue name and address, event description, ticket and/or registration link, contact email address, and contact phone number. Always include a high quality image.
- Visit the websites of local newspapers, magazines and blogs. See if they have online calendars.
- Google [Your county – state – calendar of events, e.g. “columbia county ny calendar of events”]. Click through to see if there’s an online calendar that accepts submissions.
- Keep in mind: The calendar of events will be in a different place on every site and the process of entering your information into the calendar will be different for each one.
- Also: most online calendars will not let you go back and update your entry, so be sure that your submission is accurate and complete.
Learn more about how posting on free online calendars can drive more traffic to your website.
Publicize community events
Your organization may be part of one community or many communities. Obviously, one community is based on where you are located. But you may also belong to a business community, an interest group or a cultural group. Try to find as many common points of interest with other communities. When appropriate, promote their event on your social media. Hopefully they’ll reciprocate.
Learn more about how you can promote other events. Then ask for them to reciprocate by helping to promote your event.
Drive more traffic to your website
There are many ways that people find out about a business. Sometimes they are given a referral by family or friends. They might drive by and see a sign, or notice an ad in the newspaper or on the radio. Their next step is likely to go online and learn more about it. Having a good, clean website with comprehensive up-to-date information can be the key to converting an interested potential customer to a loyal fan.
By building a strong social media presence, writing and distributing press releases, posting to free online calendars, and finding other organizations with which you can cross-promote, you are likely to drive more traffic to your website.
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For the purpose of this article, we have assumed that you already have a great website. We also assume that the site looks good, is well-organized and is easy to use. You update it frequently so the content is fresh and accurate. If not, we invite you to read the following related articles: