The goal of every content creator is to have people love their content. But in the beginning, we can waste a lot of time looking for love in all the wrong places. This article will show you the key to increasing website traffic and growing your online audience.

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Specifically, if you're looking for a way to increase website traffic to your blog, online shop, YouTube channel or podcast, you'll discover the best ways to get your content seen by people who are actively looking for what you have to offer.

We've All Done It the Wrong Way

Without traffic, you have no one to talk to about your business, unless you spam or run people down.  And even then, you still have no one to talk to, because those folks aren't listening.

If you've spammed people or ran them down in the past to get their business, you know that method doesn't end well.

We've all been there, but we're glad you're looking for better ways to build your business and reach your goals. 

This post will give you the low down on traffic and how it works. Plus you'll receive several tried and true areas to focus on when it comes to building consistent, targeted traffic for your business.

First let's set your expectation. There is no magic or "easy" button you can push that will bring traffic automatically flowing from the heavens once you do _______, you fill in the blank.

Traffic is about having the right elements that work together to bring traffic to your business. 

Now if you're like I was, you might be waiting on SEO to kick in. You might be spending your day posting to social media hoping "the right people" will find you. If so, you're probably more than ready to get off those sinking ships.

Dont get me wrong. SEO and social media are great ways to build traffic, but without a few other missing elements, they will lead you down the path to nowhere.

This post will show you why you want to take a proactive approach to building traffic for your business. Let's get started answering your questions. 

Will Traffic Increase as I Post More Content?

Where Does Traffic Come From?

Traffic begins with your offers and how well they connect with your ideal clients. It begins with a simple click from the right person at the right time.

You're probably asking yourself, "how can I get more clicks?". 

The short answer is, by creating, presenting and packaging great offers that will attract your ideal clients, customers and people you want to do business with.  

Getting traffic boils down to that overused phrase that says "content is king".

Even though I know you're more than tired of hearing this phrase, it's really the way to bring targeted traffic to your business.  You just need to understand the key elements needed to create great content.

So consider this... content is only good if it's something your audience can use to improve their lives. We talked about posting "garbage" in the previous section. If you post garbage no one will click, right?

Here's the part I left off of that previous statement. One man's garbage can also be another man's gold. 

Garbage is a very subjective thing. For example, I may consider your content uninteresting, and even boring today. Tomorrow that could totally change based on my needs.

For example, today I may not need your content on how to rebound when you lose your primary source of income, because I have a job that I love. Tomorrow I may be scrambling to find that content because I have lost my job with no warning.

How Do I Create Great Content and Offers?

To create great content you have to determine who would think your content is gold? You certainly don't want to talk to people who would think it's garbage.

The first question to answer is who your content is for. You can start by selecting a niche or segment of the market that you want to reach.  Who would be an ideal customer for your products and services?

Now You're Ready to Create Great Content

Now that you've selected a niche and you've identified and understand your ideal customers, you're ready to create content. 

That means creating content that involves answering burning questions, solving problems, creating ideas, and those kinds of content for your audience. You need offers and content that your ideal customers are looking for. 

The key takeaway is that without great offers and content that's presented and packaged to appeal to your ideal clients, you probably won't get many clicks or generate much traffic. 

For details on how to craft offers that attract your ideal clients, check out last week's podcast. 

I Have a Great Offer, Now What?

For the sake of this post, we'll assume that you have the perfect offer for your ideal prospects and customers. So, you'll need a platform that you can use to communicate and present your offers to your audience. You also want a platform that makes it easy for interested audience members to buy from you. 

It's always best to choose a platform you own and control, like a self hosted blog.  Blogging gives you lot's of options and formats you can use to build authority for your brand and tell the world about your amazing products and services. 

There are several great platforms you can use to educate, empower and engage and audience without being salsey or pushy.

The diagram below shows how we use our blog with other platforms and marketing tools to increase website traffic. We use it as a central hub, and we funnel in traffic from other places online.

You can also choose a YouTube channel as your platform of choice. Video is a great way to communicate with your ideal clients and get your point across quickly.

With YouTube, your audience doesn't have to sit down and read, they can get what you're talking about by viewing a demonstration or diagram. They can watch on the go or sit down and watch your presentation on the big screen.

Video enables people to listen to your voice and mannerisms to learn your approach to helping them solve their issues. This will help them determine whether they want to do business with you. 

A Video to Watch On the Go

You can also host a podcast that you do solo, or by hosting an interesting guest each week. You can talk about a variety of topics that your ideal clients are interested in, leading them to resources they can use. 

You can use one or more of these platforms to create an audience of loyal fans who visit (create traffic) your business (platform of choice) on a regular basis. 

A Consistent Flow of Traffic That's Virtually Free

Traffic is all about quality links that you place around the web. These links should lead your ideal clients to quality, actionable content they can use to answer a question, solve a problem, or provide an idea that will help them reach a goal. 

Your links should be attached to content that grabs the attention of your ideal customers and takes them to places on your platform of choice. 

Here are a few of the places on the web that you can place quality links that lead to your platform of choice: 

Social Media - Choose 1 or 2 social media platforms where you ideal customers hang out and become really good at understanding how they work. Read the platform's business help section in detail. For example, Pinterest's help section for business has a lot of useful information on how to maximize the platform to grow your business. 

When signing up for each platform, use keywords to optimize your profiles and boards (Pinterest) with links to actionable content.

That means including appropriate calls to action that tells your audience what they should do next. 

And each time you update your content on your platform of choice, (blog post, video or podcast) be sure to share your update on social media.

This Week's Podcast, Season 1, Episode 9

Email - This is one of the most powerful ways to build an audience and generate traffic to your platform of choice. By regularly communicating through email (or SMS text messaging) you build the know, like and trust factor with your audience. 

Another way to build a relationship (as well as authority) with your audience is to set up a welcome series using your email provider's auto-responder tool.

Use lead generation forms on your platform of choice to create a mailing list. 

Each time you update your content (blog, videos, podcast) and send an email to your list

Forums - Forums used to be really popular and there are still many good, niche specific forums you can join to learn about your industry and the people you want to serve in your niche.

 Pick 1 or two good ones with a large number of active participants and answer relevant questions. It's important when joining forums that you don't just join to spam the group with your links. 

Follow the rules and put links where they tell you to, back to valuable, relevant, actionable content on your platform. To find forums to join, enter, Forum + Your Niche into the Google search form. 

Groups - Join groups on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest for additional resources in your niche and to find people you can help with your products and services.

These groups are a great way to network, and find out what people in your niche are struggling with. 

You'll find some really high quality groups that provide helpful information. There are also dead groups and groups where everyone spends their time spamming each other with no real content or help being given. Avoid those at all costs. 

You may have to actually join a few to find out what's really going on. If you find that a group is going nowhere, you can leave at any time.

You can also learn the language and industry specific "jargon" people are using to describe their struggles. That can lead to new keywords you can use to optimize your content.

Offline Activities - Just because you have an online business, doesn't mean you can't participate in activities that occur offline! You might have a brick and mortar business that you run in addition to your online business. 

If so, be sure to have lot's marketing materials in your offline business or shop that gives people a way to check you out online. Use posters, signs and SWAG to entice people to visit your online store. 

When you have offline events like speaking engagements, in person meetings, live Q&A sessions, etc. don't forget to use the web address for your platform so that people can learn more about your company.

Mention your site at an appropriate place in your presentation. Use a tool like Pretty Links to create simple, easy to remember links to your premium content.  

Search Engine Optimization - SEO is an ongoing process that takes time to materialize as a long term strategy. When you create content, you always want to do keyword research and ensure that your content is optimized so that it can be found. 

SEO can be considered the icing on the cake when it works to learn the right people to your site at the right time.  There can be times, however when SEO sends the wrong people to your platform. If that happens, it might be a good idea to hire an expert that can help you properly optimize your content. 

You may not know how, or have time to give your site an SEO overhaul. To outsource that task to a top rated SEO expert on Fiverr click here.

Your Other Business Related Properties - Have a brick and mortar shop where you interact with customers in person? Maybe you have an online shop, like an Etsy store. You might be a moderator for a group or forum. Use signs, posters and promotional materials (SWAG, t-shirts, pens, etc.) in your other properties to promote your platform of choice. Send readers, shoppers and members of other properties you control to the web address of your platform of choice so that they can learn more about your business. 

Traffic That's Not Free

Paid Advertising - This can be a great way to build an audience quickly. There are social platforms like Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest (where your ideal clients are probably hanging out) that will allow you to target your audience to find your ideal clients. If you have the budget and you know "how" to use paid ads, this is a great way to kick start a new business.  

On the flip side, if you don't know what you're doing, you can lose a lot of money using paid ads. It's best to spend a little money learning how to market using this method or work with a pro who can guide you on optimizing this method.

Contrary to popular belief, building traffic is an ongoing process. It involves creating great offers, and distributing links, using the methods above. 

One of the best ways to consistently distribute your links is to create a posting schedule and include links to content that creates brand awareness, lead generation using freebies, value based content that answers questions, and takes your ideal clients through your sales funnel. 

Stay Tuned...