4 Factors Influencing Your Website Traffic
February 23, 2022
8 min read
Web traffic is vital in search engine optimization (SEO). It influences your site’s ranking in various search engines and online directories. However, identifying the factors that affect your website traffic is essential to ensure that you attract your target market. This way, you boost your chances of converting them into customers.
Four-item list of factors that influence your website traffic
1. Content Marketing
Content marketing is vital in increasing website traffic because it helps you create high-quality content to optimize your website. You can use this strategy by providing visitors with helpful and relevant information about your products and services. Significantly, you can leverage content marketing to build trust between you and your audience.
The following is a list of elements that affect the quality of the content on your website:
Updated Blogs
The blogs you publish on your website must be fresh and new to attract more traffic. The more frequently you update your blogs, the more readers and customers will be interested in reading them.
In most cases, a blog post with fresh content may rank better on search engine ranking pages (SERPs). To update your web blogs, you may utilize onsite content optimization. It involves researching the latest information about the topics you create. You can check out authoritative websites in your industry to discover the latest news to write about on your site. It’s also best to keep track of the blogs so you’ll know when to update them.
Readability
This is an essential element when it comes to having a successful blog post. If your readers need help understanding what you’re writing about, then there’s no need for them to read what you’ve written. Hence, it’s essential to use a readable font size and color combination so that people can easily comprehend what you’re trying to say.
Content should be written in an easy-to-read format, with a limited number of words per sentence and paragraph, so that people don’t get bored with your content. You should also avoid using technical jargon that makes it hard for readers to understand your content.
Originality
Plagiarism is a massive issue in SEO because it can cause you to rank poorly in search engines. Ideally, you must avoid plagiarism if you want to rank better in search engine results.
In addition, it’s best to avoid using phrases and words already used by other sites. You can use plagiarism-checking websites to assess your articles before publishing them. This way, you can prevent your website from getting penalized for copying someone else’s work.
Keyword Usage
The keywords you use in your content are vital because they’ll help search engines understand the topic and find relevant information on your site. Essentially, the more keywords you use, the more chances of increasing traffic to your site. However, it helps to conduct keyword research to ensure you use the right keywords.
You can do this by finding out what people are searching for in Google or other search engines about the subject matter. This insight can help you identify the right keywords to use in your content. Keyword usage helps your blogs to reach your target audience and boost your chances of converting them to customers.
Accessibility To Screen Readers
Sometimes, visually impaired individuals visit your site and cannot understand your content because it lacks accessibility features. In this case, it’s essential to ensure that your content is accessible to all users.
To add more accessibility, you can put alt tags to images and descriptive text for videos. You can also provide transcripts for audio files. This way, visually impaired people can read your content without difficulty.
Relevance To The Readers
You want to ensure that the content you post on your website is relevant to your target audience so that it can encourage better engagement. Otherwise, you’ll risk losing readers who aren’t interested in what you offer.
On the other hand, irrelevant content can make it hard for prospects to connect with your brand. This is because they won’t learn anything new or helpful about your business or the services you provide. Hence, it helps to conduct market research to ensure your content is relevant and helpful to readers. Knowing what your target readers prefer and need is essential to discover their common pain points.
You can collect insights through surveys and use the information to write content that can solve their issues. This way, they’ll read your articles and consider sharing your blogs on social media, which can boost organic traffic.
Topic Expertise
If you want to become an expert in your industry, you must show your topic expertise. So, when writing blogs for your website, you must show that you’re knowledgeable about the articles.
You can do this by researching the topics before you start writing. It also helps to check other blogs with similar topics and websites related to your industry. By doing this, you can gain different insights into the subject and how others present it to their readers.
If you’re able to provide your audience with content that can help them without plagiarising, you might be able to gain some traction.
2. Mobile Responsiveness
Nowadays, most online users browse the internet using mobile devices. Hence, it helps if your site is easy to navigate. Your website must be mobile-friendly to display correctly on tablets and mobile devices. It’s also best to use the same format across all devices. This way, you don’t have to create different versions for each platform.
A mobile-friendly website must include these five elements:
- Cross-Browser Compatibility: Nobody likes being forced to install an app to view a video or read an article. So, it’s necessary to have a website that works in any browser and doesn’t require extra apps or software to view content. Hence, cross-browser compatibility is essential for websites.
- User-Friendly Navigation: This element gives users confidence when navigating your site because they know what buttons to click and how they work. It also makes it easier for users to find what they’re looking for and prevents them from getting lost while navigating your site.
- Font Size: Your website’s font size should appear larger on mobile phones. The font size on the phone is often smaller than what you see on a computer screen. Furthermore, if you want to attract more visitors and get them to read your content, you must ensure that your website is responsive and compatible with all devices.
- Link Navigation: You can add navigation links near the top of each page to make your website mobile-friendly. Doing so can help visitors quickly find what they’re looking for. This will help increase your site’s usability and make it more user-friendly. In addition, it’s best to check if all the links are working by testing them on various browsers and devices. If they’re not responding, you must review the links to ensure they’re not broken.
- Optimized Images: The visual imagery in your web pages can affect the percentage of traffic that comes from mobile devices. For instance, Google’s latest update prioritizes images optimized for small screens. So, you must ensure that all photos or videos are optimized for mobile devices and of high quality. This way, they’ll load faster and give users a better experience.
When you create a mobile-responsive website, mobile users can have smooth navigation as they browse your pages. This can help you increase your conversion rate and rank better on search engines.
3. Hosting Server Location
A hosting server location is a vital factor that affects your web traffic because it directly impacts the speed of your pages. If your servers come from a remote region, your website will display information slower, affecting your site’s engagement. It can result in a significant drop in website performance.
Choosing the right location can affect your legal compliance because other countries may have strict restrictions regarding storing user information. If you don’t research the data laws in your area, you might face legal consequences. For instance, your users won’t be able to access your website in specific locations, affecting your rankings.
Getting the best website hosting platform is necessary to ensure you receive the highest possible user experience. You can search for a service provider who offers servers close to where you live or work so that there’ll be no delays when loading the page. This way, geographical restrictions won’t affect your web traffic and may increase your rankings in the SERPs.
4. Social Proof
Most online users will look for ways to validate your brand’s credibility. People will look for your social media pages and read reviews from other consumers to assess your trustworthiness. Hence, social proof is essential. It gives prospects the reassurance that your product or service is appreciated by others, making them more likely to purchase from you.
Here are three examples of social proof that can help you raise the web traffic of your pages:
- Reviews From Influencers: Influencers are online users with a broad reach and can affect the purchasing judgment of your potential customers. You can improve sales and generate more leads by partnering with them to promote your brand. One way to leverage influencer marketing is by creating a custom page with a list of influencers. You may include the influencer’s name, social media handle, the size of their following, and how they think about your offers. Publishing these details throughout social media and including the link to your landing page can get online users to click on your website.
- Reviews From Customers: Showing testimonials from your satisfied clients is another way to increase your web traffic. When your prospects see that others are getting results from your products or services, they might get interested in your brand and consider purchasing from it. Also, this marketing strategy can help you gain a competitive edge by showing that you have a vast market share and your company is credible. Another way is to maximize email campaign outreach. You can collect reviews from your previous clients by sending them surveys about their experience with your business. You may also encourage them to publish a post on social media about what they bought from your store. Social media posts can show others that you offer quality products at great prices. This way, you can gain more exposure for your brand and attract new customers who will search for it.
- Awards: If you receive recognition from credible organizations, you may also use them to amplify the value of your brand and boost your online presence. When online users see that you’re recognized for your achievements, they’re more likely to trust you and consider checking out your website. Publishing these awards on your site and social media pages can help increase visibility and credibility. You can also use them as part of your marketing strategy. For example, you can add a link to the award list to give people more information about the organization that gave it to you. Giving people a chance to verify these awards will make them more likely to trust your brand. Remember always to appear authentic when using social proof to boost website traffic. It’s best not to mislead users into thinking you’re an authority in your field. Instead, ensure that you’re publishing testimonials and awards from real people to provide genuine proof of your expertise.
Key Takeaway
Boosting web traffic is a vital component of SEO because it increases your chances of getting more target customers. A website with more views will have a greater chance of ranking better in search engines. As such, it’s necessary to determine the factors affecting your ability to gain organic traffic.
These factors include content marketing, mobile responsiveness, hosting server location, and social proof. It also helps to ensure you address them before you start building your website so that you know what steps to take next.
In addition, it’s best to publish original content. You can also use social media to increase your reach and gain more visitors to your website. All these could lead to more conversions.