No matter what type of website you have, you’ve got stiff competition.
That’s true even for the most specialized B2B enterprise. If you’re the only business that does what you do, you still have to contend with countless websites, videos, entertainment platforms, distractions, and inertia. It’s a wonder anyone gets anything done at all!
Every moment your prospects spend on your site is one more moment you spend in competition with all the other things they could be doing at the time. In this fast-paced, ever-expanding media environment, it’s fair to wonder how to get your website noticed.
Since the dawn of the Web, everyone from corporate webmasters to lone bloggers searched for a one-hit solution to the vexing question of website visibility. In 2018, more than 20 years after the Web started to go mainstream, there’s still no perfect answer.
That’s because there’s no one technique to get your website noticed that always works.
Instead of thinking in terms of a single quick win that sets the stage for enduring visibility, it’s vital to realize that website success is built on consistent, repeatable processes.
Virtually none of these processes deliver overnight results. However, they position your site to rise slowly and steadily to the top of the heap – and in doing so, make it more and more difficult for newcomers and rivals to overturn those gains.
Here’s some of the most effective ways to really get your website noticed:
A consistent stream of helpful, informative, and interesting content aligned with your prospects’ needs is the biggest advantage you can have when it comes to raising your website’s profile. Good content not only improves your standing in search engines like Google, but also helps you inspire site visitors to share content with friends and colleagues who might act on it.
Your vision for content should be based on the burning questions and pain points that motivate your prospects to go online. When people search the Web, they’re trying to get answers or solve problems – and you can help them. Well-written, compelling text content is the foundation of your site. The longer and more informative that content is, the better.
Here’s the thing: Although long-form blog content is some of the most powerful when it comes to attracting organic search traffic, it’s not all that your site audience needs. Everyone absorbs information in different ways. Catering to that need with a full cycle of content – including written, visual, interactive, and multimedia offerings – will prime you for success.
Luckily, there’s a natural rhythm to this that will become apparent quickly after you spend some time in the digital marketing world. The basic unit of content is the blog post. Synthesize the ideas from several and you get a white paper or case study. Break them down to their essentials and you get a slide deck, infographic, or a video script. All these have something special to add.
Let’s face it: Not everybody is interested in social media. If you feel like you just don’t “get it,” figuring out what the ROI is supposed to be can be a head-scratcher. The real issue? Most people – in B2B and B2C – are doing it wrong. Automated, half-hearted content on Facebook and Twitter is simply ineffective. To make social media work for you, you have to interact.
If social media seems boring and surreal to you, it’s probably because you’re not treating it as a conversation. Devote time to directly interacting with social users, using hashtags, and being part of emerging conversations. Although this is more time-intensive than queuing up automated posts, it can foster relationships with social influencers who’ll promote you to their audience.
Paid traffic shouldn’t be your whole traffic strategy – if it is, you simply won’t have enough to hold users’ attention once they get to your site. That said, it can be a powerful way to get the ball rolling once all of your content, navigation, social integration, and sales funnels are in place. The catch here is that it has to be done right ... in practice, that means very, very carefully.
We all know AdWords is the biggest digital advertising platform out there, and Google makes the majority of its billions through paid search. Every year, those $100 AdWords vouchers sent out to new businesses lead to thousands and thousands in wasted ad spend, often without any meaningful traffic. If you plan on paid traffic, do it last and do it well.
You might be in the most conventional B2B industry in the world, but having a little fun is still the secret ingredient that can help you get your website noticed. That doesn’t mean sending in the clowns and comedians, but having the interest in your subject that it takes to find the most intriguing, thought-provoking angles – the kind of ideas that truly compelling content is made of.
Think about your most basic topics: For example, a step-by-step guide to some simple process in your industry. There will undoubtedly be thousands of other articles on the Web touching on the same ideas. With clear, organized thoughts, strong visuals, and an authoritative (yet relatable!) tone, you can turn your version into the one people will actually use and share.
Until we finally find that magic genie, there’s no way to get your website noticed overnight.
If you do the right things in the right way consistently, however, it might not take very long.
The toughest part of any website’s journey is the early weeks and months when traffic is scarce and analytics data provides few clues on how to improve. With these five simple points, you’ll always have something useful to do – and build up inbound marketing best practices as you do.
Before you know it, your content and social initiatives will magnetize the perfect traffic for you.