Whether you’re a new small business owner, or a seasoned small business owner, you know there are many foundational pieces to lay when creating a successful, sustaining business. From the foundation-building to-dos we discussed in Episode 102 and your curated collection of products and services — to your brand and web design and your social media strategy, small business ownership can often be a blend of both creating and operating. 

So, once your website — your digital storefront, or your first impression — is in place, what is your next step? For many small business owners and website-owners, bringing visitors to your website is a reasonable next step… but how do you go about doing so? Today, we’re sharing a fresh perspective on website traffic and how to expand your reach so your website works effectively on behalf of your business — and helps to grow your business with purpose. 

Website Traffic 101: How to Expand Your Reach

Welcome to Episode 113 of The Brand It, Build It Podcast.

First things first, what is website traffic? Website traffic refers to the volume or number of users who visit a given website. 

If you don’t currently monitor your website traffic, or you’re unsure of how many users visit your website, we highly recommend using Google Analytics. Google Analytics is a free resource provided by Google at analytics.google.com, and directions for connecting your unique website to Google Analytics are just a Google search away. (Here is how to link your Google Analytics to your Showit website.)

Once your website is connected to Google Analytics, you’ll be able to view and learn all about your website traffic — how many users visit your website, how long users are spending on your website, which pages of your website are viewed most frequently, and so, so much more. Using Google Analytics can be helpful for any small business owner who simply wants to understand more about how their website is — or isn’t — serving their audience. 

But, why does website traffic matter? Website traffic matters for a variety of reasons — ranging from helping your website and business get discovered by prospective customers and clients, and converting those users to paying customers and clients — to boosting your Search Engine Optimization. With so many Internet-users searching online for answers to their questions or solutions to their problems, you’d like your website and business to be presented as an answer or a solution. As an example, if you’re a wedding photographer in Chicago, you’d love for someone searching on Google for “wedding photographers in Chicago” to come upon your website, and therefore, your business.

Much of your website being discovered organically when users use search engines deals with Search Engine Optimization — and for an exploration of Search Engine Optimization, please listen to episodes 72, 73, and 74, our Small Business Owner’s Guide to SEO series.

Today, though, we’re going to focus on boosting your website traffic in free, creative, and innovative ways so you can expand your reach and equip your website to work on your behalf. After all, so much of successful small business ownership is about how several aspects of your business work together — and we’re excited to share our top 10 recommendations with you. We’ll be sharing 5 in today’s episode and 5 more in next week’s episode — making this a two-part series all about boosting your website traffic. 

1. Reframe the way you think about website traffic. Something we often remind ourselves at With Grace and Gold is: It’s not about the quantity of traffic our website receives, but the quality of traffic our website receives. Just like on social media, while high audience numbers can be exciting, it’s more beneficial for your audience to be engaged with you. When your audience is truly engaged with your business, products, and services, they are more likely to confidently pursue your business and choose to purchase your products or book your services. The same is true of website traffic. While high visitor numbers can be exciting, it’s more beneficial for your visitors to truly consider your business. By reframing the way you think about website traffic, you can approach your goals in a more purposeful way — by seeking connection with the right visitors, rather than seeking connection with any visitors. 
2. Understand the existing market for your products and services. This can be especially helpful for location-bound businesses, like brick and mortar businesses or business owners who serve a specific city, state, or region. When setting expectations or goals for how many users you’d like to visit your website, it’s important to know approximately how many users you should expect. As an example website traffic will likely vary between a business with a product or service designed solely for a smaller population in a smaller location — versus a business with products or services designed for a larger population, worldwide. So, we recommend gaining a deeper understanding of the market that exists for your specific type of business, products, and services. That way, you can manage expectations and set reasonable goals regarding your website traffic. 
3. Monitor your website traffic using Google Analytics. As mentioned at the start of today’s episode, Google Analytics can be a truly beneficial resource to use on behalf of your business. At With Grace and Gold, for example, I keep our Analytics open all workday long. I value being able to monitor our website, ensure everything is in working order, and to understand the ways in which our website’s visitors are engaging with our website. Of course, Google Analytics can be used in any number of ways, depending upon the data most valuable to you, your business, and your goals. So, no matter your goals, connecting your website to Google Analytics can be truly beneficial.   
4. Create blog content. We think of the core pages of your website like Home, About, Services, Portfolio, and Contact as the trunk of a tree — and we think of the blog posts you write as the branches of a tree. While the core pages of your website are very helpful from a foundational perspective, the blog content you create can be beneficial in a unique way, too. Blog content helps you to expand the reach of your website, because blog posts often serve as sources of inspiration, as answers to questions, or as a demonstration of your expertise. High-quality blog content, especially when created with Search Engine Optimization in mind, can increase your website traffic in truly meaningful ways. Further, blog content can give you specific topics to share about on social media, via your newsletter, and elsewhere. In Episode 90, we share how your blog and Pinterest together can grow your business — generating and growing your website traffic, and boosting your business overall. 
5. Create podcast content. Along the same lines as creating blog content, we also recommend creating podcast content. On the Brand It, Build It Podcast, for example, our first year of podcast content was inspired by past blog content we had written. This cross-promotion of educational content equipped us to share about small business ownership, brand design, and web design in a new, fresh, and unique way. A podcast can help you to boost website traffic, because you can share links in your podcast episode descriptions and show notes. Further, just like blog posts, podcast episodes can serve as additional branches on your website tree, because when someone searches online for a specific type of podcast or a specific podcast topic, they may come upon your podcast episode. At With Grace and Gold, we always remind ourselves that someone could come upon our business through our website, through a social media profile, through a past blog post, through a podcast episode — or simply word of mouth.  With this in mind, we know and can see how valuable diversification is.

If upon hearing today’s 5 recommendations, you’re thinking, “This sounds like a lot. Where do I even begin?” Our recommendation is to create a content calendar, or to add these recommendations as tasks within your project management system. As an example, perhaps you can aim to create one new blog post per week or one new podcast episode per week — or alternate between the two. 

Today, we shared 5 recommendations for boosting your website traffic in free, creative, and innovative ways. The best part of all is: The more high-quality website traffic you receive, the more your Search Engine Optimization is enhanced — so laying the groundwork through today’s recommendations can make a major difference for your long-term website success.

If you enjoyed today’s episode, please share it on Instagram stories and tag us @withgraceandgold. We’d love to share your post on our profile! Please join us next week for Part 2 of this two-part series — for 5 additional recommendations for boosting your website traffic. Thanks for tuning in!

About Brand It, Build It Podcast, Hosted by Kelly Zugay

Hosted by Kelly Zugay, co-founder of With Grace and Gold, The Brand It, Build It Podcast is a leading small business marketing podcast for small business owners, creatives, founders and entrepreneurs. Enjoy weekly, actionable episodes to build a successful, sustainable small business from the inside out.