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Tim Lorang Blog

25 Ways to Drive Traffic to Your Website

Posted by Timothy Lorang on Wed, Sep 14, 2011 @ 10:00 AM

How to get traffic to your nonprofit websiteYesterday I had the opportunity to give a workshop for the Center for Nonprofit Success along with Joy Gilfilen, founder and CEO for UnitingCreatives.com, and Melissa Tizon, Communications Director for Swedish Medical Center. It was a good group but trying to cover 25 ways to drive traffic to your website in three hours was a tall order. Most of the examples I gave could be all-day sessions and I feel like I just touched on each topic so I ended the workshop with my list of 25 ways to drive traffic to your website with links to important blogs, resources, information and tools. Even with all this the list is not exhaustive.

After working on this presentation the last few days I’m kind of wrung out but I’m also behind on my blogs so, being an essentially lazy guy, I thought I would take the list I gave to the class and post it as today’s blog. This is a list of 25 of the ways I think you can drive traffic to your website. The links go to websites, blogs, E-Books, videos, tools and information that I think will give you more information on each example. This was a workshop for nonprofit organizations so there are some links to specific information and tools useful to nonprofit websites. Otherwise most of the information here should be useful to any website that is trying to improve traffic.

1. Write a Blog:

By far the most important and effective way to drive traffic to your website.

2. Key Word Strategy:

Understanding how key words affect web traffic is vital.

3: Search Engine Optimization:

Where and how you use keywords in your blog and website will help you get found by search engines.

4. Inbound Links:

Links to and from your website are the currency of the internet and a big influence on search engines.

5. Offer Valuable Content:

People will not come to your website if there is nothing they need.

6. Promote with Social Media:

You have to tell folks about what you have to offer.

7. Facebook Page:

By far the most popular social media platform that is ignored at your own risk.

8. Twitter:

A small but very active slice of the social media pie.

9. LinkedIn:

I certainly find LinkedIn a valuable and effective social media platform.

10. Google:

From free Google tools to Google Grants for Nonprofits you just can’t ignore the Google in the room.

11. Social Media Platforms:

There is a lot more going on than Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter. Which ones should you use?

12. Engage in the Discussion:

You just can’t sit back and expect others to just come to you, get engaged.

13. Places & Locations:

Not everything is on the internet, there are still place people go to, and they find them on their mobile phones.

14. Website Design:

Once you have all that traffic going to your website what do you have there?

15. Calls to Action:

Tell them what you want them to do!

16. Capture Information:

Once they’ve come to your website how are you going to ask them to come back?

17. Thank You:

Be nice, tell people thank you and ask them to come back.

18. E-mail Marketing:

Don’t count e-mail marketing out, it is a great way to stay connected with your leads.

19. Video:

I like video. I’ve worked in video for a long, long time and it has a role in driving traffic to your website.


20. Press Releases/News:

Newspapers may be going out of business all over the country but there are still reporters out there (a lot of them are called bloggers) and you should connect with them.

21. Mobile Website:

Within the next six months about 50% of the USA will have smartphones. Are you ready?

22. Mobile Marketing:

With all those mobile phones there is a great need to do a little mobile marketing.

23. Have a Plan:

When I worked in television people who started production without a script wasted a lot of time.

24. Analytics:

Test, analyze, study and test some more. If it doesn’t work stop doing it, if it works do it again.

25. Odds and Ends:

I just had a few other things that didn’t really fit in anywhere eles.

Ok, that’s the list. A lot of stuff and I hope that it is helpful. If you would like to download the slides I used for this presentation you can get them here: 25 Ways to Drive Traffic to your Website. I would like to hear ways that you drive traffic to your website or resources that you have found helpful, let us know in the comments section below.

It was great working with the nonprofit organizations and the Center for Nonprofit Success. If you are a nonprofit and would like a free analysis of your website we would love to help. Just follow this link for a Free Evaluation for Nonprofits and Educational Organizations.

Photo Credit: THEGOLZER

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Topics: Social Media, Online Marketing, Nonprofit