Direct traffic refers to direct visits to your website or visits generated from visitors who search for you by brand/product name in search engines. One way to increase direct traffic is by creating content that appeals to a specific target audience. This allows you to induce consumers within that group to share it with their peers directly. For instance, an article on how young females should dress this season, can indirectly encourage young fashionistas to share the blog post directly to their friends via Facebook or other message services. We’ve experienced this phenomenon first-hand when we created content geared towards a particular crowd. When we create tailored content, people tend to share it directly with their friends or colleagues because it enables them to bond with their peers more closely. In addition to using intriguing content to drive direct traffic, you can also use it to encourage current readers to frequent your website. For instance, create daily articles on technology to motivate readers to visit your website to learn about the latest tech trends.

This refers to traffic from search engines based on industry and product keywords. In order to improve your organic search traffic, perform competitive keyword audits and identify keywords suitable for your audience. For instance, if you’re an organic food retailer that targets young adults between the ages of 20 and 29, use the same type of language in your articles that younger consumers use. This will increase the likelihood of appearing on search results when consumers look for products or services.

This refers to traffic from paid search and display ad campaigns. When using Google AdWords to generate paid traffic, use different key terms to target consumers at each stage of the buying cycle. For example, use generic keywords such as “Vancouver fitness gyms” during the awareness and search stages, question-based keywords like “should I workout at night” during the evangelize stage, and brand-based keywords like “Steve Nash Gym” during the buying stage. This will allow you to target audiences at various buying stages and push them through to the next stage. 

This is traffic from outreach marketing such as email newsletters or engagement-based interactions such as social media. By sending emails to existing customers, you can generate more sales as email marketing accounts for 7% for all customer acquisitions. Additionally, target other potential buyers by encouraging current customers to share the newsletter their friends. In addition to email campaigns, leverage social media to improve your social traffic. By showing promotional content on your social networks, you reach qualified consumers directly since people who follow or ‘Like” you on social media are already interested in your products or services. 

This refers to traffic from other websites that link to yours. The traffic could be from mommy bloggers, directories, or company blogs that have used your web content.  The number of qualified backlinks you have is a major determinant of your page ranking. By getting other websites to link back to your site, you gain brand exposure and improve search ranking. This helps you further enhance your online visibility since a higher search ranking allows you to be found more easily by more potential customers. 

This refers to traffic from print ads and other offline sources. While digital marketing has become arguably the chief aspect of a company’s integrated marketing communications, offline marketing is still very important to a business’ marketing program. By showing ads on specific magazines such as BCBusiness to reach Vancouver business professionals or on newspapers like Richmond News to reach Richmond consumers, you have the opportunity to customize ads for a particular consumer group. For instance, if you’re hosting an event in Richmond, create ads tailored to target Richmond residents. This allows you to localize your advertisements and enhance your appeal.

 

By understanding the 6 kinds of web traffic, you can develop a more comprehensive marketing plan that reaches different consumer groups through multiple channels. This helps increase web traffic and most importantly, improves revenues.

 

If you want help with improving your web traffic and sales generation, please contact us to book a complimentary meeting with one of our digital marketing experts.