The most beneficial type of traffic for your website is targeted traffic, as visitors are specifically seeking out your site. This in turn boosts your likelihood of transforming them into potential customers or leads.
What is targeted traffic?
Targeted traffic refers to individuals purposely visiting a website with the expectation that it can fulfill their needs, either by providing an answer to a query or resolving an issue with a specific product or service.
Targeted traffic is distinguished from normal traffic by the fact that the former has a definite aim, while the latter browses the internet without any particular objective.
To put it differently, targeted traffic refers to individuals who visit a website with the purpose of taking a specific action.
To comprehend the disparity between the two, allow me to provide a couple of illustrations.
Individuals who browse Amazon.com with the intention to purchase a filter coffee machine are presumed to have a higher likelihood of completing a transaction compared to those who visit to simply explore the latest deals.
How to Get More Targeted Traffic?
To drive more targeted traffic to your website, the most effective methods are:
Optimize your website for SEO
The traffic obtained from search engines, whether paid or organic, is incredibly focused as individuals turn to search engines with a specific intent in mind.
Undoubtedly, organic traffic stands as the most efficient sort of focused traffic one could obtain.
In order to benefit from this, your website must rank among the top positions in the search results, a feat achievable through search engine optimization (SEO).
What is the importance of having top-page rankings? Well, it’s quite clear that most search engine users tend to visit sites that appear within the top 5 positions. Hence, if you desire to attract some of that valuable traffic, it’s imperative to have a strong presence there.
In addition, being at the top of search results is insufficient. It is crucial that it is for keywords relevant to your business products or services.
What are the steps you take to ensure that your website ranks high in the SERPS for the keywords that are relevant to your business?
The optimal strategy for achieving high search engine rankings involves integrating various SEO techniques and delivering appropriate content to satisfy both search engine algorithms and human users.
Provided herein is a summary of the SEO procedure:
Begin by performing the initial step.
The initial stage involves ensuring that search engines can easily access and index your pages, commonly referred to as technical SEO in the realm of SEO.
Search engines function by scanning the internet and incorporating all discoverable pages into their index, which is then used by the ranking algorithms to assess their significance.
Without optimizing your website for technical SEO, your pages will not be included in the search engine’s index and will therefore not appear in any search results.
Proceed with the second step.
Step two involves ensuring that the context of your content is comprehensible by search engines. You can accomplish this by transmitting an array of signals within your content.
On-page SEO refers to the process of creating content that is optimized for search engines.
Maintain the identical meaning while rephrasing the following text: Third Step
In order to boost your website’s off-page SEO, the third step involves obtaining references from other relevant websites on the internet. These references refer to links that redirect towards your website from other web pages.
The significance of backlinks lies in the fact that the algorithm of Google regards inbound links as indications of reliability, which can enhance your website’s ranking on the SERPS for a particular keyword.
To obtain a small portion of the total traffic produced by Google and other search engines, it is crucial to ensure that your website is optimized for SEO.
Run paid search campaigns
In addition to SEO, targeted search traffic can be obtained by utilizing platforms such as Google Ads and Bing Ads. These platforms enable running of paid campaigns and displaying of ads in the search results of Google and Bing for predetermined keywords.
Pay-per-click advertising, also known as PPC marketing, involves paying a search engine for each click on your displayed ads, in contrast to SEO, which provides free traffic.
PPC campaigns offer an expedient approach to acquiring precise website traffic. This strategy is viable for websites that are either newly established or well-established, and it yields instantaneous outcomes.
Unfortunately, the expenses associated with this approach are often considerable and may prevent you from generating a profit. Furthermore, relying entirely on paid advertising is not a wise strategy for running a successful business.
If you’re launching an online business presently and require instantaneous, focused traffic, you can initiate with PPC advertisements, nevertheless, you must simultaneously commence optimizing your SEO.
Run targeted social media campaigns
In the past, social media traffic was viewed as untargeted, although this perception has undergone significant changes over the past few years.
Social networking has become more focused, thanks to the efforts of prominent social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, and LinkedIn, who have fine-tuned their algorithms.
Utilizing the advertising platforms of social media networks and running paid campaigns is the approach to obtaining targeted traffic.
Although keyword-based targeting (such as Google Ads) isn’t an option, you can still pinpoint a precise audience for your ads by utilizing alternative targeting criteria, like user location, device, age, gender, educational attainment, and areas of interest.
The ability to segment the audience into groups and display different ads, similar to the stages and groups of a regular sales process, is made possible by the adaptability provided by social networks.
This is an instance of acquiring specific traffic from Facebook:
To illustrate, if your aim is to market your online courses to a US audience via Facebook, your campaign may take on the following appearance:
The first campaign (General) aims to reach individuals aged 25-55 residing in the United States who have an interest in subjects pertaining to ‘Digital Marketing’.
Target individuals who engaged (shared, viewed, liked, commented) with your previous advertising campaigns in Campaign #2 (Segmented).
For the third campaign, focus on a highly targeted audience consisting of people who viewed your sales pages as a result of a Facebook advertisement, building upon the previous campaign’s audience.
Optimize your website for mobile traffic
Although similar to the previously mentioned search engine traffic, it is important to acknowledge that having a mobile-friendly website is crucial for attracting targeted traffic from mobile users. Without this, your website will not be accessible to those on mobile devices.
If your website is not geared towards mobile optimization, Google will exclude it from search results specifically for mobile devices, resulting in its low ranking performances on mobile search engine results.
The features of a mobile-optimized website are as follows:
- It’s easy to use and looks good on all devices
- It loads fast (less than 3 seconds)
- It allows users to perform the same actions as the desktop
- It has the same or closely related content as the desktop
- It has no vertical scroll bars
- The text is easy to read and the buttons are large enough to be accessible by hand
Failure to meet the conditions listed above will result in a low search ranking and unsuccessful PPC and Facebook campaigns. This is because the majority of users on all platforms use mobile devices instead of desktops.
Create a native mobile app
In order to obtain a native mobile app designed for either Android or iPhone, users must carry out specific actions by searching for it, locating it, and downloading it from the relevant mobile marketplaces.
When users search for a particular item, they become a specific audience, and meeting their requirements can result in gaining customers (in the case of selling) or readers (in the case of publishing content).
Generating specific traffic towards a website via a mobile application is not as simple as developing an app and publishing it on the mobile markets. How can this be achieved?
It’s essential to consider the kind of app you want to develop, as well as devising a strategy to advertise it effectively and distinguish it from the vast number of existing apps in the market. Of utmost importance is figuring out how to entice mobile app users to browse your site and take some kind of action.
The app must provide beneficial and significant content to its users to encourage them to perform the download.
The application can offer users a unique experience by fully utilizing the capabilities of their device or provide them with an alternative means of accessing website content on their mobile devices, depending on the website’s type.
What is the way to increase the number of visits to the app? Utilize the app notification mechanism. Once fresh content is uploaded to your site, notifications will be sent to users of the mobile app.
Considering the fact that individuals typically check their phones 110 times per day on average, a portion of them will access your app by clicking on a notification, while others may be directed to your website via a link or internal banner.
Although the traffic generated through this approach cannot be compared to search engine or paid advertisement traffic, it is incredibly precise.
Free Online Marketing Courses: Learn Digital Marketing
Here, you can find resources suitable for both beginners and more experienced learners in marketing. We have compiled a list of highly recommended online marketing courses, most of which are available for free or at minimal cost. Start your learning journey now!
The PPC University offered by WordStream
PPC University is an assemblage of excellent online advertising articles, tips, tutorials, and guides. It provides a comprehensive platform to acquire knowledge regarding every aspect of PPC, with user-friendly lessons for individuals of all skill levels. The composition encompasses five distinct sections:
- PPC 101: Learn all the basics for search advertising, including keywords, metrics, Quality Score, account setup, and structure.
- PPC 102: Go a little deeper by learning about bidding strategies, negative keywords, ad copy, and budget management.
- Advanced PPC: Maximize your performance with remarketing, audience targeting, optimizing for lead quality, and more.
- Social Ads 101: Understand how social advertising works and browse through cheat sheets for each platform.
- Facebook Ads: Use their step-by-step guide to set up your first campaign, then discover how to optimize your copy and creative, which campaign types to use, how to retarget, and more.
LocaliQ’s Marketing Lab
If you’re interested in mastering local marketing, LocaliQ’s Marketing Lab is the perfect place for you. Its series of courses on digital marketing is designed for both local business owners and beginners who want to learn more about this field. The courses are easy to follow, and they cover a range of topics, including:
- Local Marketing 101
- Local PPC
- Local SEO
- Local Social Media Marketing
- Small Business Websites
Digital Garage by Google
Are there any other resources to learn about online marketing besides Google? The Google Digital Garage provides multiple digital marketing courses covering topics such as PPC, SEO, coding, careers, and additional areas. If you’re having difficulty deciding which course to select, we suggest beginning with the Fundamentals course.
The Social Media Quickstarter of Constant Contact
The Social Media Quickstarter by Constant Contact is a set of web-based marketing tutorials that enable individuals to become skilled in social media marketing quickly. The comprehensive resource comprises straightforward and concise guidelines that even novice social media users can peruse at their own pace.
The course, Internet Marketing for Smart People, offered by CopyBlogger.
The Internet Marketing for Smart People Course by CopyBlogger comprises of 20 installments that offer insights into content marketing, copywriting, SEO, keyword research, and other related topics. The best part is that the course is delivered through email in a structured way, preventing saturation due to information overload.
Courses in digital marketing from Coursera
Coursera is a leading destination for web-based learning that boasts a wide range of options, including free courses in marketing. Be sure to take a look. Moreover, if nothing catches your eye, make sure to revisit the site frequently as fresh classes are continuously added. Some typical examples of courses offered include:
- Google Digital Marketing & Ecommerce: Gain the skills to get an entry-level job in digital marketing and ecommerce, such as analytics, search marketing, and email.
- Meta Social Media Marketing: Learn how to set up and manage social media accounts, create engaging social media posts, and measure your performance.
- The Strategy of Content Marketing: This course is brought to you by UC Davis and Copyblogger to help you develop, organize, and implement a measurable content marketing strategy so you can build your personal brand.
Training for Inbound Marketing provided by HubSpot.
HubSpot offers a range of free marketing classes and materials, one of which is the Inbound Marketing Training Program and Certification. This program will equip you with the skills needed to master inbound marketing, covering topics such as blogging, SEO, keyword strategy, social media, email marketing, calls to action, and more. Upon completion, you will take an exam to demonstrate your proficiency.
The courses on digital marketing offered by Alison.
Alison has a broad range of complimentary online business courses, and they also provide free virtual degrees for lifelong learners. You can search and refine your results by filtering through the subject matter, length of time, skill level, and other options.
Some noteworthy individuals:
- Essentials of Digital Marketing and Lead Generation: Learn how to build your presence with SEO, with a particular focus on WordPress.
- Introduction to Online Marketing Strategies: A primer on different ways to promote your business with search, social, email, and more.
The digital marketing courses offered by edX
One other widely used website for participating in complimentary online courses is edX. A virtual classroom that lacks the enigmatic school meals.
Marketers may find some archived classes of interest, which include:
- Fundamentals of Digital Marketing. Class sessions focus on the different aspects of marketing including mobile, omnichannel, marketing mix modeling, and creating a strategy.
- Digital Marketing Analytics. Discover the power of data and learn about SEO, PPC, web analytics, online testing, machine learning, and more.
