A large part of the online marketing budget is nowadays spent on SEO. This is totally understandable since Google now handles around 66,000 searches every single second. Search engine optimization is vital for a website, but there are some other methods to consider when you want to quickly increase traffic.
Remember that you have to take into account your consumer base. Sometimes, search engines are just a secondary traffic source because of how well other options convert. While you should definitely always invest in SEO, maybe a part of your budget can be moved towards other alternatives.
Let’s take a look at some.
Online Ads
When you set up a social media and digital marketing campaign, you have to think about ads. While for many small businesses this is not really an option because of the limited budget, whenever it is possible, you have to take online ads into account.
The trick is to spend money on ads that generate the best possible ROI. If you buy an ad and you do not boost conversions to the level at which what you spend is covered and a profit is generated, you lose money.
Creating online ads is a huge topic in itself so I will not go on a lot about it. The only thing that I have to highlight is that using online ads is the fastest possible way to generate traffic to your sites. Some examples of what you could use include:
It is also worth mentioning that if your target audience spends a lot of time on a site or on a social network, it is an option to take into account. For instance, when your target audience often uses Pinterest, you want to consider it.
Influencer Marketing
Influencers are practically social media celebrities. They have a huge following. When you work with them, usually by paying them for some sort of endorsement through the form of online content, you reach their followers/fans.
What is very interesting with influencer marketing is that followers trust what the influencer says. When the fans see that he/she mentions a product, website, or site, there is a very high possibility that traffic will come towards that online entity.
An extra advantage of using influencer marketing is word of mouth. When you want to spread the word fast about something, being given endorsement by a recognized figure in the industry helps. For instance, an Instagram model that often features clothes and fashion tips will be very valuable for an online website that sells modern clothes.
Use Your Site To Host Bloggers
This strategy is actually very popular among top SEO industry websites and blogs, like MOZ, Small Biz Trends, and Search Engine Land. Usually, the idea is to invite a number of bloggers or people that are known in the industry to contribute to a post. This creates a roundup of what specialists are saying about a specific topic. Because of their involvement, the specialists will share the content.
Obviously, another thing that you can do is to host articles written by guest bloggers. This falls into the guest post category. Just make sure that you only accept the best possible content and that you have strict guidelines in place. If you do not do this, you will end up with countless submissions of low quality. You do not gain anything if you have low quality content on your site.
Use The Comment Sections Of Sites
Comments started to get a very bad reputation in the SEO industry. This is because they were overused for spam purposes as some SEO “specialists” did all they could to take advantage of the links that were available.
The trick here is to comment on the sites that are informative and that allow you to start a conversation. Try to comment to some of the top comments. Just share your thoughts and try to add to the conversation. This is very important because it will allow you to generate some interest.
If you decide to comment on other sites, make sure that you do not spam links. Engage with people that are active in your niche. The goal is always to add value to the conversation.
Interview Niche Influencers
When you start to establish yourself in the industry, reputation grows. Eventually, niche influencers start to notice you. This is a great time to interview people for the blog. When you do this, you have a much higher possibility that other people will notice.
Do not be put down in the event that the people you contact do not want to be interviewed. Just be careful in your approach and accept that answer. Not everyone wants to be interviewed for a publication.
Seriously Consider YouTube
YouTube is actually the second largest search engine in the entire world. There are over 1.5 billion users that are active every single month. Also, Google actually integrates YouTube clips in their search results. You can take advantage of this.
Start posting content on YouTube. Then, make sure that you share it on your social media channels. You can also embed the videos on your blog. This last option has the extra advantage of allowing the viewers to watch the clips straight from the site. When this happens, people spend more time on your pages. This is beneficial from an SEO point of view as it is a sign of trust.
Final Thoughts
To sum up, as you can easily notice, there are alternatives to SEO. However, we have to highlight the fact that every single website out there needs SEO work to be done on it. There is simply no way around it because of the fact that search engine optimization is still the best source of traffic for a site. However, this does not mean that you should only rely on SEO. Always be on the lookout for good sources of traffic.
