Tag Archives: organic

You Asked: Top 10 Questions about SEO from our webinar

The post You Asked: Top 10 Questions about SEO from our webinar appeared first on HostGator Blog . When you think about Search Engine Optimization, you probably think about how to increase your website’s ranking in Google. While that’s correct, it’s not as simple as it may sound, and there’s a lot that goes into the practice of SEO.  HostGator offered a free webinar about the 5 Steps to SEO Success to help website owners get started with optimizing their website for search.  We focused on on-page SEO and covered the following steps:  Implement keyword research  Set up metadata on all pages Create quality content Format URL structure and links Use schema, if appropriate  Missed the webinar? No worries. Check out the recording below. Here are the top 10 questions about SEO that our webinar attendees asked.  1. Once you have a website, what is the #1 thing you should do to immediately increase your rankings?  The easiest thing you can do to quickly impact your search results and rankings is to register your business with Google My Business. Google My Business is the official business profile listing from Google that integrates with Google Maps and Google search. GMB is Google’s way of allowing you to control what shows up in search by giving you the space to provide as much information as possible about your business. You’ll want to make sure that your Google My Business listing is accurate and matches all your listings online.  2. I don’t have a physical address or storefront. Do I still need a Google My Business account?   Yes! If you want to be found online you should definitely have a Google My Business account even if you don’t have a physical address or storefront. In fact, when you set up your Google My Business account, you can note your business as a “ service area business ,” meaning you serve a certain cities or zip codes.  When you set up your account, one of the first questions will be ‘do you have an address where customers can visit you?’ Follow these prompts to indicate that you do not have a physical location. If you already have a Google My Business account, you can edit your physical location from the dashboard. You will see that “service area” and “storefront address” can now be edited separately. 3. How important are sitemaps? Do I need one?  Sitemaps help Google identify and crawl all of your site’s pages and URLs. Without a sitemap, Google might not be able to index all of your pages – meaning you could be missing out on a lot of organic traffic.  A lot of CMSs automatically generate sitemaps; or if you use the Yoast plugin for WordPress, it will create your sitemap for you. Manually creating a sitemap is a fairly intensive process, especially if you have a lot of pages. So if your CMS has the functionality to create a sitemap for you, take advantage of it!  It’s important to note that when SEO’s refer to “sitemaps” we’re typically referring to sitemap.xml not HTML sitemaps that you might find front-of-site.  4. How important are good Google reviews for SEO?  Google reviews are important for SEO! Essentially, Google reviews show Google that your business is real and that people have interacted with it. Additionally, reviews frequently contain relevant keywords which add to Google’s understanding of your business. The more context you can provide to Google about your business, the better.  5. For SEO purposes, is it more important to update existing content or create new content?  This is a great question and one that we debate at HostGator as well! You should do both! As content gets old, it may no longer be relevant, which then causes it to not rank well anymore (don’t forget, you want your content to be timely!) For example, an article about ‘top web design tips of 2015’ only holds value during 2015 because people always want the most current tips. To improve your rankings of that article, you should update the content to make it more evergreen and relevant to your readers no matter when they find the article.  Updating older posts is great because they typically have more SEO value, since they have been indexed longer and have more backlinks. If you do have to delete a post or page however, you’ll want to do a 301 redirect to a new, highly-relevant article. A 301 redirect indicates to Google that the page has permanently moved and allows you to pass 90-95% of SEO value from the original article to the new one. 301 redirects allow you to both maintain your rankings and update your content.  If you can, we recommend that you publish new articles on a regular basis to indicate to Google that your website is current, relevant, and active.  6. How many keywords should I have? And where do I put them?  The number of keywords you need is really dependent on your business. You should have a mix of both long-tail keywords (phrases or questions that are fairly specific) and head terms (general keywords with high search volume). For HostGator, our head terms include our products, such as web hosting and shared hosting, while our long-tail keywords include phrases like what is web hosting, how expensive is web hosting, and how to keep my website secure.  If you are a local business, be sure to include the city or state in your keywords to target people in your area. We covered keyword research in detail during the webinar – go back and watch from minute mark 7:05-12:45. As a reminder, you can target three to five keywords on any given page and the biggest tip we can offer is this – use your keywords naturally.  Finally, think about keywords like topics. Don’t just “say” them, talk about them. Write as much as you know about the topic and make the conversation natural. 7. How do I get backlinks?  Essentially, a backlink is when another website links to yours. The absolute best way to get backlinks is to develop quality content, like blog articles, and wait for other websites to link to your articles. If your content is helpful and original, this should happen naturally.  If you want to take a more proactive approach to building backlinks, you can find a website that might find your information helpful for their readers and actually ask them to link to it.  If you are a local business, you can consider partnering with another business on a promotion and exchanging links in return. Think of this like networking in real life – meet people who have similar interests and ask them to link to your articles, specifically if the content is helpful for their readers.  8. What are the best SEO plugins for WordPress?  Yoast is well-known as the best SEO plugin for WordPress. With a few short configurations, Yoast will manage your metadata, canonicals, sitemaps and your robots.txt. While Yoast automatically selects certain configurations for you, you also have the ability to fully customize your selections. Check out this article for eight more awesome SEO plugins for WordPress .  9. If I’m working with a contractor for SEO, what questions should I be asking my SEO person each month?  I always want to see metrics. While it’s important to note that SEO changes usually take a long time to see results, there are still analytics your SEO contractor could be sharing with you. Things you might be interested in seeing are:  Month over month, or year over year keyword changes The number of keywords you have ranking on pages one and two Organic traffic, transactions and revenue Top organic landing pages Chances are that your SEO contractor is already pulling this information to guide their strategy, so it shouldn’t be too much effort to share that information with you.  You and your SEO contractor should also be monitoring your competitors and any changes they may be making to their sites that could impact their rankings and therefore affect your organic traffic.  10. Are SSL certificates important to being found on Google?  An SSL certificate is very important for a few reasons! To provide context, an SSL certificate prevents a “middle man” from stealing information as it is passed through to your website. This is especially helpful for eCommerce websites where customers are entering their credit card information. Even if you don’t have an online store, an SSl certificate can protect the contact forms on your website.  SSL certificates are also essential for ranking highly in the SERPs. For many years Google has indicated that the presence of an SSL certificate will help your site rankings. Google further proved this statement in July 2018 when Google Chrome started flagging websites without SSL certificates; as of last summer, website visitors started receiving notifications when they visited a site without an SSL certificate. Obviously when visitors see this alert, they will quickly leave your website, which will increase your bounce rate and decrease your rankings.   Luckily, HostGator offers free SSL certificates with all hosting plans . Follow the steps to set yours up today! Want to learn more about SEO? Check out our SEO blog articles or download our free ebook , the Beginner’s Guide to SEO.  Find the post on the HostGator Blog Continue reading

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What Is PPC?

The post What Is PPC? appeared first on HostGator Blog . Marketers throw around a lot of acronyms.  For someone new to online marketing, it can be a little overwhelming to parse what people mean when they say PPC, SEM, SEO , CTA or one of many other common marketing acronyms.  This post will provide a thorough explanation for one of the most common and important acronyms online businesses should know about: PPC .  What Is PPC in Marketing? PPC in marketing stands for pay per click, the term used to describe a popular online ad billing model where the advertiser only gets charged for the ad when someone clicks on it.  This billing model represents a shift in how companies pay for advertising on the web versus what has long been common in other advertising formats such as magazine and TV spots.  Instead of paying a lump sum to reach a large number of people and hope some of them take an interest in your message, PPC marketing allows brands to pay only when consumers take a direct action. You don’t pay for the million people to view your ad, you pay for the hundred interested enough in your ad to do something about it.  The Different Types of PPC There are two main types of PPC marketing advertisers can take advantage of. Paid Search Ads Most of the time when you hear someone talk about PPC ads, they’re talking about paid search ads that show up on the search engine results page (SERP) of Google and the other main search engines. Depending on the search term and how much the advertiser has bid for the spot, these can show up above the list of organic results, to the right of them, or below them.  When you advertise with Google, you also have the option of placing PPC ads across their vast display network, which includes additional Google properties like Gmail and YouTube, as well as over 2 million other websites across the web, including popular media properties like the New York Times and Buzzfeed .  In other words, Google’s network for PPC search ads covers a significant portion of the web.  Social Ads The other main option for PPC advertising is social media. Most of the main social media platforms provide ad options using a similar PPC model to that of search engines. PPC social advertising is possible on LinkedIn , Facebook , Twitter , and Instagram .  With each social platform hosting over a million users (more than a billion, in the case of Facebook), many of them visiting the site multiple times a day, social PPC advertising is a strong option for reaching more of your audience.  PPC Terms to Know Before we get into more details of what’s involved in PPC advertising in digital marketing, you need to understand the language commonly used in the PPC world. Here are some terms worth knowing: CPA – This stands for cost per action . It’s a billing model offered on some PPC platforms in which, instead of paying for each click, you pay for a specific desired action, such as an email list signup or a purchase. In some cases, the acronym could also apply to the similar term, cost per acquisition, meaning you pay for every time you gain a customer. CPC – This stands for cost per click . In the PPC bidding model, keywords are assigned a value based on how competitive they are. So if there are a lot of businesses vying for a certain keyword, you can expect to pay more for each click than with a keyword that isn’t as popular to advertisers. Understanding the average CPC for the keywords you target is an important part of keeping your PPC campaigns profitable.  CPM – This stands for cost per impression , or more accurately, cost per a thousand impressions. For ad campaigns where visibility is more important than inspiring direct action, most PPC platforms allow you the option of paying based on the number of times someone sees your ad, instead of paying for each click.  CTA – This stands for call to action . It’s a term commonly used in all types of marketing, and plays an important role in PPC as well. It’s widely considered a best practice to include a clear call to action in every text ad you write. Some examples of common CTAs include “Learn more” or “Click here.” CTR – This stands for click-through rate . It’s a metric calculated by dividing the number of impressions (or times people have seen your ads), by the number of clicks they receive. It’s an important metric for gauging the performance and quality of your ads and campaigns. Long-tail keywords – The cost and success of paid search campaigns is directly related to the keywords and keyword phrases you choose to target. The term long-tail keywords is used to describe search terms that are more specific and therefore less competitive than broad keywords. For example, “flower delivery” is a broad keyword, while “same day flower delivery austin tx” is an example of a long-tail keyword that would cost less to target, but still reach a relevant audience.  Quality score – The placement of PPC ads depends on two main factors: the amount a brand is willing to spend, and their ad quality score . The search engine ad platforms want to deliver ads that are relevant to what people are looking for—they value delivering a good experience, in addition to getting money from advertisers. They assign ads a quality score based on factors like CTR and the bounce rate for people that click. If your ads are high quality, you’ll end up paying less for each click.  Remarketing – Any time you’re browsing the web and see an ad for a product you viewed recently, you’re the target for remarketing , sometimes called retargeting . On Google’s display network, you can target past website visitors with ads based on the pages on your website they viewed. This helps you stay top of mind for past visitors and increase the chances of a conversion. ROI – This stands for return on investment , and is a common business term. You may also encounter the similar acronym ROAS, for return on ad spend. It refers to figuring out how what you’re spending relates to the amount of new revenue you’re bringing in from your ads, so you can determine if your PPC campaigns are paying off. SEM – This stands for search engine marketing , the catch-all term for all digital marketing and advertising efforts focused on getting noticed in the search engines. It includes PPC and SEO, the paid and organic versions of gaining spots in the search engine results. SEO – This stands for search engine optimization . Where PPC ads help you gain spots in the advertising sections of the SERP, SEO is how you gain spots in the organic results. SEO is distinct from PPC, but most companies that do one will benefit from having a strategy for the other as well.  Now you can talk about PPC with your peers like an expert, and dig deeper into resources that explain how to do it well. 4 Reasons to Use PPC Marketing Businesses have a lot of different marketing tactics to choose from, and limited budget and resources to put toward them all. PPC is far from your only choice, but it’s one of the most popular online marketing tactics for good reason.  Here are four notable benefits of doing PPC advertising. 1. PPC advertising is targeted. PPC channels—both search and social—allow you to limit who will see your ads based on factors like demographic categories and online behavior. If your product’s target audience is middle-aged women who are really into sports, you can use your PPC platform’s targeting options to set up a relevant audience for your ads that’s more likely to respond to them.  2. You can reach a huge audience with PPC ads. A significant majority of people in the United States now use social media, and an even larger number of people use search engines. The main channels for PPC advertising allow you to reach a massive portion of the people online today—and that’s before you factor in the rest of the Google Display Network, which Google says reaches over 90% of all people on the internet.  PPC advertising allows you to get information about your brand, products, and content in front of just about anyone that uses the internet. 3. PPC produces detailed analytics. In addition to (hopefully) driving new visits and conversions, PPC campaigns produce another valuable result: rich analytics.  Every PPC campaign you launch will result in data that helps you better understand who your audience is, what language they’re using, and what kind of messaging they respond to. Those insights not only allow you to continually improve your PPC campaigns, they can also be applied to your other marketing efforts. You can strengthen your SEO strategy, your social media marketing, and content marketing plans based on what you learn from your PPC efforts.   4.  PPC gets results. Google estimates that businesses get a return on investment of $2 for every $1 they spend on the platform. Your success rates will depend on the quality of your campaigns, how good of a job you do targeting the right audience and keywords, and how well you monitor and adjust them over time. But if you do PPC well, you can count on gaining new leads and customers from it. How to Do Pay-Per-Click Marketing Well Anyone that decides to include PPC as part of a business marketing strategy needs to know a few main things in order to do it effectively. Here are eight PPC best practices to follow.  1. Perform keyword research. For paid search marketing, finding the right keywords is crucial for getting the results you want. Keyword research allows you to identify the terms and phrases your target audience is commonly using when they search for products like yours and answers to questions that you cover on your website.  When you enter a starter list of terms you’ve brainstormed into Google’s Keyword Planner , the tool uses historical data to provide: An estimate of how many times people will see ads that target that term (impressions) in a given period of time An estimate of how many times people will click on those ads The expected click-through rate The average cost per click, as well as the maximum cost per click The Google Keyword Planner will also help you build out a larger list of relevant keywords. You can plug in the list you have now, and the tool will both provide helpful data on your current keywords (average monthly searches, level of competition) and a list of related keywords with the same data provided.  There are also a number of other keyword research tools you can use to supplement the data and suggestions provided in Google’s Keyword Planner. Using what you learn, you can build out a campaign that targets the most relevant keywords your audience is using. 2. Set your budget. Once you set up your PPC account , the platform will let you set a specific budget for your ad campaigns and provide a daily maximum amount you’re willing to spend. Since PPC uses a bidding model, your ad placements will depend on the budget you set. If you’re hoping to show up for competitive keywords with a high CPC, you need a big enough budget to account for that.  Figure out what you can afford to commit to PPC advertising and consider how much the keywords you’re targeting cost in order to work out a budget that makes sense for your business. 3. Use negative keywords. With PPC for search, you have the option to include negative keywords that you explicitly don’t want to show up for. This can help you further refine who will see your ads based on relevance, so you don’t waste money on clicks from people looking for something different than what you offer.  For example, a florist that sells pre-made rose arrangements doesn’t need to show up for people looking for tips on how to grow their own roses. So they might add terms like “how to grow roses” or “rose pruning” to the negative keyword list.  4. Create relevant ad groups. PPC advertising platforms also let you set up specific ad groups so you can tailor your ads based on the specific keywords and audiences they’re most relevant for. That means a florist can use different messaging for a set of keywords related to Mother’s Day flowers than one related to bereavement, and can change the wording of ads targeting middle aged men looking to buy flowers for their wives than those for young couples selecting floral arrangements for an upcoming wedding. With ad groups, you can make your ads more relevant to the specific people who will see them, increasing the chances of success. 5. Choose your audiences. Very few businesses need to reach everybody. What you’re selling is most likely to appeal to a specific subset of the population. If you sell business software, then you need to reach professionals from certain types of businesses in specific roles. If you sell skateboards, you want to reach young people with an interest in skateboarding.  Both search and social PPC options let you choose who will see your ads based on some common categories such as demographics and interests. A click from someone in your target audience is worth much more to you than one from someone unlikely to buy your products. By setting up a specific audience for each of your campaigns, you ensure the clicks you pay for are more worth the cost.  6. Optimize your landing pages. Getting someone to see and click on your ad is a big goal, but that’s just the first step in what you ultimately want them to do. For your PPC spend to be worth it, you also need for them to take the next step you want them to, whether that’s clicking through to read more content, signing up for your email list, or making a purchase. Make sure that the web page those PPC clicks lead to is optimized to match the specific keyword and ad you use. The landing page should always be relevant and designed to achieve your specific campaign goal. Always design a landing page with a clear CTA, and try out different wording and designs to learn what works best.  7. Analyze your results. One of the big benefits of PPC is that you end up with a lot of valuable analytics you can learn from. Don’t set your PPC campaigns on auto pilot and hope for the best. Spend time analyzing the data so you can learn what your audience responds to and tweak your campaigns for better results over time.  In your analysis, make sure you factor in conversions, as well as clicks. In order to properly determine the ROI of specific keywords and campaigns, you need to know how often they drive people to take the specific actions you want them to, beyond earning that initial click. Analyzing your metrics can help you cut out costly keywords that aren’t producing the results you want, and help you put more of your budget toward ads that produce new sales and subscribers.  8. Use retargeting. How many times have you visited a website, checked out a product you liked the look of, but decided that you’d better not spend that money right away. It doesn’t mean you’re uninterested in the product, just that the timing wasn’t right.  Retargeting gives you a way to reach the people who like your products, but for whatever reason just weren’t ready to buy right away. You can re-capture the attention of someone who might otherwise forget about your brand. Get More Sales with PPC  A strong PPC strategy can help you gain more visibility with your target audience, and turn that attention into conversions. But it takes work to learn the ropes and do PPC effectively. If you want to give it a try, but aren’t sure how to get started, hiring a team of skilled PPC professionals can take most of the work off your plate, while increasing your chance of getting great results. Contact HostGator to learn more about our PPC services today. Find the post on the HostGator Blog Continue reading

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5 Benefits of Using a Website Builder for Blogs

The post 5 Benefits of Using a Website Builder for Blogs appeared first on HostGator Blog . Website builders for blogs make it easy to publish your content. As a blogger, you’re already tasked with creating and promoting your work. The last thing you want to worry about is building your website from scratch. Haris Bacic , a Forbes contributor, writes: “Creating a website for your business doesn’t have to be a headache and it certainly doesn’t require hiring an expensive design agency to create it for you. Depending on the type of business you own, there are several quick and affordable solutions.” Should you use a website builder for your blog? Here are five benefits to consider right now.   1. Quick Setup A blogger’s focus is creating compelling content for their readers. You need to craft creative topics, design beautiful images, and maybe even record a video (or two).   Your time is limited, and you shouldn’t waste it constructing a site. With website builders, you don’t have to learn how to code or hire a website designer . Website builders cater to first-time site owners and beginners. There’s no stressing about fixing  a HTML error. You could literally set up your site during a lunch break. For example, HostGator’s setup is simple and quick. You can either register a new domain or enter an existing one. Then, you can select a hosting plan and any additional services, like hack alert monitoring or site backup . Website builders also make it effortless to brand your blog. You can add a favicon—a branded icon—in the address bar and browser tab for your visitors to see. It’s a clever way to give your blog a more professional look. If you sign up with HostGator, you’ll also receive 24/7/365 support. The friendly support team will answer your questions and help you resolve any issues. A quick setup means more time doing what you love. Website builders for blogs decrease the technical difficulty.   2 Affordability Whether you’re a seasoned or novice blogger, you don’t need to bruise your bank account to create a website. Your goal is to find an affordable option that will help you communicate with your audience. A few decades ago, developing a website required a tech guru. You would book an appointment with an agency, go to the business’s downtown offices, and talk with their experts about the look and feel of your desired site. This complicated process meant expensive rates. The professionals even charged you for making monthly updates. Bloggers depleted a lot resources to exist on the World Wide Web. With website builders, you’re in control. Now, it doesn’t make sense to squander your time and money with an overpriced specialist. It’s worth it to utilize a website builder . “Be realistic with what’s essential for your website…A DIY website builder will more than suffice. A majority of individuals and businesses looking to build a website will fall into this category…Rest assured, building your website is affordable and doesn’t have to break the bank,” writes Entrepreneur contributor Ana R. Alvarado . When comparing website builders, go beyond primary features. Figure out if the hosting provider offers multiple email accounts, a one-click application installation, or a money-back guarantee.   3. Pre-Designed Templates Visuals are a key component when developing your website. You want an eye-catching design that sparks visitors’ interests. Then, you can lure them in with your original content. The cost of hiring a website designer can get pricey, ranging anywhere from $300 to $5,000. It can take several weeks to produce a custom design that fits your business’s needs. The whole process also can leave you overwhelmed. Pre-designed templates remove that anxiety. You don’t have to constantly contact someone to make simple changes. You can modify the color scheme, font choice, and images when you see fit. Check out the pre-designed template below. HostGator provides a selection of more than 100   mobile-friendly website themes , plus an image library. The drag and drop functionality makes it trouble-free for non-coders. With pre-built sections and pages, you have an array of customization options so you can fully customize and categorize your site. There are no limits on how to develop a site suitable for your audience. Test out your design to ensure it’s delivering the right message. You can run a beta test asking a few consumers for their opinions via a short survey. Then, you can use that input to make improvements. Website builders help you skip the drama when it comes to design. Pre-designed templates offer bloggers the convenience to choose what’s best for them.   4. SEO Tools Getting your website up and running is only the beginning. The next step is to draw attention to your blog and persuade users to actually visit. Search engine optimization (SEO) is one method of earning more visitors. By raising your organic search traffic, you can convert the occasional visitor into a frequent blog reader. HostGator’s SEO tools can provide you with easy-to-follow insights and analytics that help improve your search rankings, boost your website traffic, and monitor local competition. “The best way to start is to build a website that is SEO-friendly. Website-building software that caters to this will help your site rankings to be boosted through allowing you to add and edit title tags, meta tags, and meta descriptions, at a bare minimum,” states Inc. contributor Bubba Page . SEO is more than stuffing keywords into a blog post. It involves doing research to find relevant keywords, optimizing your images, and linking to authoritative sources. Also, consider the permalink structure —how visitors locate your blog and its internal blog posts. After your blog setup, be sure to do experiments and measure the results. SEO isn’t a one-time tactic; it’s an ongoing strategy that needs fine-tuning. Focusing on SEO is essential for growing your readership.   5. Ecommerce Shopping Cart Some bloggers don’t set out to make money with their words. And that’s fine. It starts as a hobby and surprisingly leads to a full-time business. Statista reports that an estimated 1.66 billion users worldwide purchased goods online in 2017. eCommerce opens doors for small businesses to market their products to a global audience. If you’re expanding into eCommerce, one of the first steps is to decide what you will sell to your readers. As a food blogger , you might sell your latest cookbook. A lifestyle blogger may sell unique jewelry. It’s really up to your imagination and the purchasing desires of your shoppers. HostGator makes it painless to manage your store. With a convenient dashboard, you can view recent orders and total monthly sales. Before launching your eCommerce store, you’ll also want to think about how you will ship your products, payment options for customers, and your refund policy. These factors play a critical role in how you run your business.   Starting can be a fun adventure, but if you ever feel exhausted, find ecommerce communities online.  Your local library may be a powerful resource, too. When you’re ready, you can turn your blog into a business. Use the eCommerce shopping cart add-on to monitor your incoming sales.   Blogging with a Website Builder Creating a site shouldn’t be a worry for bloggers. Website builders exist to make the process of publishing content easier. Look for a website builder for blogs that offers quick setup. You want pre-designed templates, so you don’t have to spend money on hiring a web designer. The e-commerce shopping cart also lets you expand your blogging into a business. Start your blog today. Choose HostGator as your website builder. Find the post on the HostGator Blog Continue reading

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9 Best WordPress Plugins for SEO

The post 9 Best WordPress Plugins for SEO appeared first on HostGator Blog . If you want to get organic traffic to your site, optimizing your blog posts for search engines is critical. WordPress SEO plugins can really help to simplify and speed up this process. However, with the myriad of SEO plugins available, it can be overwhelming to know how to choose the best one(s). In this article, […] Find the post on the HostGator Blog Continue reading

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How to Create a Plan for Getting Your First 1M Visitors

The post How to Create a Plan for Getting Your First 1M Visitors appeared first on HostGator Blog . Louis CK is arguably one of the funniest men alive right now.  He fills up massive theaters, sells out in minutes, and is so well known that he makes millions selling his recordings on his site with no advertising.  But he didn’t get there overnight . In 1984, he was getting on stage for the first time, and did so poorly that he didn’t try stand-up again for two years!  Eventually he came back with a plan, worked his way through the ranks, and became a massive success. Building a successful website follows the same path. It’s like Biz Stone’s famous quote: “Timing, perseverance, and ten years of trying will eventually make you look like an overnight success.” You can’t get your first million website visitors overnight. It requires creating a plan, having dedication, and constantly iterating and adjusting what you’re doing to make sure you hit your goal. Here’s how to do that. Planning to Get 1 Million Visitors We made a spreadsheet for you to make this easy. Go ahead and open up it here , make a copy for yourself, and follow along, plugging in numbers as you go. The only areas you need to edit are the ones in blue. The ones in grey update automatically. 1. Figure Out Where You Are Now At the top, plug in your current number of monthly visitors. This is your starting point. Your goal will automatically be set to double your current number . It’s aggressive! But it’s the best start on the road to 1 million visitors and we believe you can do it. 2. Pick Your One Channel Now I want you to pick one channel to focus on. Pick the one that’s most exciting, or that you feel the most comfortable with. Here are your options: Organic (traffic from search engines) Advertising Referrals from other websites Emails Social Media Why these options? Because that’s how Google Analytics breaks out your traffic channels so this will make it easier for you to assess how you’re doing. The easiest way to monitor how you’re performing in these channels as you go? Just use an on-site Google Analytics dashboard plugin . Your #1 focus for the next month: getting this ONE channel up so you can hit your goal number. To make up the difference between your goal and where you are now, you’ll need to try some things that you’re not currently doing. This is where the experiments come in. 3. Brainstorm Experiments Now, for this first month, come up with 3 things you could do to get more traffic. Make sure they’re actionable. Don’t say “get more twitter traffic” say “tweet five times a day and include at least one hashtag in each.” Here are some ideas: Organic Traffic Optimize existing content for keywords Reach out to 100 publications for getting backlinks Set a search volume minimum for future content and stick to it Add more internal site links Buy PPC ads to test potential keywords Advertising Spend $500 on Facebook ads to see how they perform Try the same with Google and Twitter Use an automation service like Automate Ads to test different ad designs Referrals Reach out to 50 bloggers in your field to build relationships and links to your content Find people who compile lists of products / blogs and ask to be included Look for podcasts / webinars you can participate in and get linked to from Use a tool like Mention to find references to you that aren’t link to you Email Start an email list if you haven’t! Read up on copywriting to improve the emails that you send to your list Add an email popup tool to your site to get more people to sign up A/B test your emails when you send them out to see what headlines get more clicks Simply change the frequency of your emails to your list to see how it affects activity Social Join a new social network you aren’t currently using Optimize your tweets for the best number of hashtags Find Twitter chats that you can join in on Create strong visuals for each Facebook post Not sure what to do for experiments? Ask in the comments! Someone else is bound to hop in with more ideas 🙂 4. Guesstimate Your Traffic With your experiments in place, guesstimate how much traffic you think you can get from each idea. Think about it on a daily schedule, and base it on your existing numbers. For example, if a tweet usually results in 5 visits to your site, then sharing 3x a day would get you 15 more visits a day, or 450 a month. Don’t worry about your guesstimate being perfect, the point is to give you an idea of what to prioritize. Now you’ll see the one experiment you should focus on . This is where you need to start putting your efforts for traffic building, everything else is a distraction. ONLY do 1 for the next 30 days. 5. Print it Out Last, print that baby out and put it by your computer. You should be getting reminded of your goal and experiments daily to make sure it happens. To recap, here’s what you should have done. If you skipped a step… well do you want your million visitors or not? Grabbed your most recent month’s traffic from Google Analytics to get your goal Picked which of the channels you want to focus on Come up with three experiments you could try for that channel Guesstimated your possible traffic from each, and put it by that experiment Printed out your spreadsheet and put it by your computer One Last Thing Post what your first experiment is, and how much traffic you want to get with that experiment, in the comments below. Making a public statement will help you follow through, and other people might join in with ideas to help make it happen. Let’s get your traffic growing like crazy. web hosting Continue reading

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