Last week, we shared Part 1 of 2 of our Website Traffic 101 Series: How to Expand Your Reach. So, if you haven’t yet done so, please tune into last week’s episode, Episode 113, where we introduce our series and share 5 ways to expand your reach. 

As a reminder, expanding your reach and growing your website traffic matters for a variety of reasons — for connecting with your audience more consistently, for converting your visitors to paying clients or customers, for boosting your Search Engine Optimization overall, and more. At With Grace and Gold, think of website traffic as something that really grows your business from the inside out — so doing your part to expand your reach and grow your website traffic can make a meaningful difference for your business overall. Today, we’re bringing you a fresh perspective on website traffic and sharing 5 additional ways to expand your reach.

Last but not least, at the end of today’s episode, we’re giving away five $100-off discount codes for our Showit website templates — so please stay tuned in through the end of today’s episode. 

Website Traffic 101: How to Expand Your Reach (Part 2 of 2)

Welcome to Episode 114 of The Brand It, Build It Podcast. I’m your host Kelly Zugay of With Grace and Gold, and today, I’m sharing How to Expand Your Reach, Part 2 of 2. Last week, we shared 5 ways to expand your reach and bring more visitors to your website, and this week, we’re continuing with 5 additional ways to do so. Let’s dive in with number 6:

1. Diversify your marketing strategy. For solopreneurs or small businesses with small teams like ours at With Grace and Gold, we have often recommended using the social media platforms where your audience can be found. That way, the time you spend marketing your business on social media is time well spent — because you will have created content designed for an audience of people ready and excited to see and engage with your content. Recently, we began using a social media scheduling system called Planable which allows us to schedule and cross-promote content among Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok, and YouTube. Systems like these make it easier for solopreneurs and small teams like ours to schedule and cross-promote content with ease. In Episode 110 we share how to take one piece of content and share that one piece of content in 10 ways, which can be really helpful when using a social media planner and scheduler. By doing so, you can increase your reach and equip current or prospective audience members on each platform to click to your website, and therefore, increase your website traffic as a whole.
2. Use influencer or affiliate marketing. Influencer marketing or affiliate marketing can also be creative and helpful ways to increase your website traffic. Influencer marketing refers to the way individuals — such as content creators — can influence  or encourage prospective customers or clients to purchase your products or book your services. Influencer marketing can help to expose your business to your desired audience in a more personal and connection-driven way. Influencer marketing can also go hand-in-hand with affiliate marketing. Affiliate marketing refers to incentivizing your affiliates, brand representatives, or brand ambassadors by giving them a percentage of each sale they help to generate. At With Grace and Gold, for example, we have an affiliate program through which affiliates receive a unique link to refer customers to our Showit website templates. Our affiliates earn $150 for each sale they generate. Whether you personally connect with influencers and pursue influencer marketing, or you create an affiliate program of your own, having others — influencers, affiliates, brand ambassadors — market on behalf of your business can generate meaningful traffic, and therefore, meaningful revenue for your business.
3. Offer a free resource. We recommend creating and offering free resources and using those free resources as lead magnets. A lead magnet is a marketing term for a free item given away for the purpose of gathering contact details. In other words, if you’ve ever signed up for an email newsletter to receive a coupon code, or if you’ve ever signed up for an email newsletter to receive a free PDF, guidebook, or checklist — you’ve signed up for a lead magnet! (For 3 lead magnet ideas to grow your newsletter list, we recommend Episode 16.) Free resources can be a wonderful means for serving and equipping your audience for success, while growing a foundation of prospective clients or customers as your newsletter community. Having a newsletter and newsletter community is one of our favorite ways to connect with prospective clients or customers — because it offers an opportunity to connect personally within their Inbox. These days, social media can feel tricky and inconsistent, so having an email newsletter allows you to create conversation, build personal connections, and cultivate community by popping into your subscribers’ Inboxes with your newsletter content. A great way to build your newsletter community is to offer a free resource or lead magnet, to incentivize their sign-up. At With Grace and Gold, we have found that a great deal of our website traffic comes from the email newsletters we send, so we can’t recommend newsletter marketing enough!
4. Join a credible directory. Being part of a business directory is another helpful way to generate traffic to your website. It’s important that the business directory you choose to be part of, or pay to be part of, is credible — because it’s not about the quantity of visitors you receive, but the quality of your visitors. Being listed in a  credible directory also signals to Google and other search engines that your website is credible and worthy of showcasing in search results. This and a combination of other factors we discuss in episodes 72, 73, and 74 impact your Search Engine Optimization. 
5. Become a guest blogger or podcast guest. By guest blogging or being a podcast guest, you can share about your expertise and be exposed to a new and unique audience by doing so. For example, if you’re a website copywriter, social media marketer, project manager, virtual assistant, or business service professional, being featured on The Brand It, Build It Podcast can be really helpful — because The Brand It, Build It Podcast reaches listeners who are small business owners. Sharing about your business, your area of expertise, and your offerings before a new audience can be a helpful way to enhance your reach overall. The same thing is true of guest blogging. When writing guest blog posts, you may share about your expertise and include links to your business and your offerings — and therefore, lead audience members from an existing audience to your website. Collaboration can be a really fun and really meaningful way to expand your reach. Not only can collaboration lead to new opportunities, but it can also lead to new, strong connections with fellow small business owners. If you’re unsure of where to begin, we recommend doing some Google searches about podcasts currently accepting guests or nominees. Set a goal to reach out to one business owner per week to ask about guest blogging or podcast guest opportunities. 

This week and last week, we shared a total of 10 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 these recommendations can make a major difference for your long-term website success.

At the start of today’s episode, we mentioned our giveaway of five $100-off discount codes for use on any Showit website template of your choice from With Grace and Gold. The first five listeners to do the following will receive a unique $100-off discount code: Leave a review of The Brand It, Build It Podcast on Apple Podcasts, and email a screen grab of your review to With Grace and Gold at hello@withgraceandgold.com. Please note, you may need to take your screen grab while you’re leaving the review, because Apple Podcasts doesn’t always display new reviews right away. So, again, please leave a review of The Brand It, Build It Podcast on Apple Podcasts, and email a screen grab of your review to With Grace and Gold at hello@withgraceandgold.com. The first five listeners to do so will receive a unique $100-off discount code for any Showit website template of their choice from With Grace and Gold.

We appreciate your support of The Brand It, Build It Podcast so much! Thank you so much 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.