How to Grow Your Website Audience!

Whether you’ve already transitioned your business online or are just starting out with your brand new website, the most important task now is to grow your website audience. So how do you go about it?

Here are our top tips to successfully growing your audience:

 
1 Friends & Family
If you haven’t done so already, your friends and family are the place to start. Not only are they likely to want to support you, but they might also share your interests and be your ideal customer. Reach out to them, and perhaps offer a freebee to be incentivated to leave comments on your blog, rate your online shop’s products or generally give any constructive feedback.
2 Social Media
Social media is a great tool to kick start your website’s audience. There are quite a few channels you can choose from depending on which platform suits your website best. It may be worth starting off by focusing on two main platforms, and once they’re on a roll you can add a third, then a fourth, and so on.
Here are some tips regarding platforms:
Facebook – the social media giant we all know and love (or hate!). It is a great platform as you can target your personal Facebook connections and set up a business page promoting your website. Posting shareable content and links to your site is a great way to create engagement, and never underestimate the importance of brand awareness too. And then there is also the option of running paid ads to either promote your website or a post.
Instagram – it’s all about visuals. You will need captivating images to create a buzz on this platform. Adding the relevant hashtags will ensure that your post reaches an audience beyond your followers. There are several apps which generate lists of 30 hashtags based on ideas you enter, such as Tag O’ Matic.
Twitter – tweeting is great, especially if your website involves other people or brands. A tweet lends itself to directly communicating with a given editor, artist or retailer. It is an informal yet powerful tool to reach out to influential people in your industry, or even magazines and online blogs who might find your business the next big story.
3 AdWords Campaign
Google AdWords – offers several types of online advertising including pay per click (PPC) and banner ads. When you search for something on Google, the results always include some listings marked as “Ads”. These are PPC ads, meaning that they are paid for and usually undergo a bidding process to land the top spots. You can fully customize the amounts you’re willing to spend and the duration of your ads.
Banner ads are more cost effective in general as the number of impressions is much higher. These ads are placed all over the internet on websites which relate to your keywords. For example, if your website is about books, chances are your banner ads will appear on book review blogs or magazines which allow advertising. One thing to note though: once you start a banner ads campaign, give it at least one month to reach its maximum potential before making too many changes.
4 Guest Blogs & External Links
If you run a blog or are an industry expert in your field, why not offer to write an interesting post for a blog or website which related to your industry but is not a direct competitor? This way you and the link to your website will receive exposure to a new set of potential customers. This is a great way to be seen and generate interest.
5 Competitions
Whether it’s on social media channels or flyers at events, competitions are a great incentive for new and existing customers to get involved with your website. For example, you could offer a prize to every tenth subscriber to your blog or for sharing your post on Facebook. There are many interesting ideas, and always remember that everyone loves a freebie!
We hope this article inspires you. With these tips under your belt, sit back and watch your website audience grow!