Did you know in 60 seconds, Google receives 3.8 million searches, Facebook sees 3.3 million posts, Instagram uploads nearly 66k photos and there are 500 hours of video added to YouTube? If this doesn’t make you sweat a little, I’m not sure what will. With every passing year (or sometimes even each month) those numbers rise exponentially. So what can you do to catch your ideal buyers’ attention and drive them to your website to learn more about your products?
Here are 7 practices you can start implementing to increase the traffic your website receives:
It’s no secret that in today’s digital-friendly world, one of the most effective advertising forms you can pay for is online. PPC, banner ads, video and retargeting ads not only increase the users on your website, but also ensure a higher probability of sales conversions because of how timely the ads are delivered and who the ads target. While digital ads can be more expensive than other forms of marketing, there is a higher (and easier to measure) ROI rate you experience so it’s worth the investment. This study from Google Adwords shows how effective digital ads can be for our industry. For example, the ideal CTR should be at least 2% and the animal care sector in the study showed a 4.08% CTR!
While there are millions of cute, sweet and funny things to post about dogs and cats on social media, sharing the latest video of a dog doing tricks isn’t going to lead your audience to learn more about you or your products. Be sure you also share valuable information and solutions that leave your customers wanting to learn more and let them know they can find more information on your website. Additionally, don’t only use social media for promotion; participate in conversations and let people know you are human and want to help solve their problems.
Consumers today have a million and one ways to find the products and services they need so they seek help from other consumers to help vet their choices. That’s why consumer reviews are a powerful tool in the consumer purchase journey and should be part of every company’s marketing strategy. Consumers are likely to spend 31% more on a business with excellent reviews. And once on your website, you can help increase your conversion rate by using consumer reviews on product pages: According to RevLocal, just one review can boost conversions by 10%, 100 reviews could give you a 37% boost and 200 reviews could see your rate rise by a shocking 44%.
Influencer marketing is also quickly accounting for more and more time and money in the marketing mix of many pet industry companies for good reason:
Something as simple as segmenting your email lists can help you create a more personalized and effective line of communication with your ideal buyers. For example, do you have an automated email campaign delivered to anyone who abandons their cart in order to drive users back to your website to purchase? Does your social media promote a mix of your own content and products with links to learn more on your website? The call to action you want your audience to follow through with should be driving the content you create and share!
Getting your business’s name in front of new audiences is certainly a great way to peak their interest in who you are and what you can offer them. Additionally, you are positioning yourself as an authoritative voice for your line of business.
Find digital media sites and bloggers who have a similar writing style and an audience that makes sense for your products/customers and let them know you are willing to submit content for them to post. Factors to consider when choosing blogs to align yourself with:
Do they have an engaged audience who comment and share the content? Look at the responses the blog owner posts too (spam comments are a sign of low-quality content).
Do they give proper credit to other guest bloggers including a short bio and link to their website?
Do they promote their content on their social media accounts?
Are they focused on providing quality content versus loading their page with a ton of ads?
Here is a really helpful article from Kissmetrics that gives some valuable information on how to begin guest blogging.
Do you have a content strategy? It’s important to do your research to know what your ideal buyers are interested in and how they’re searching for solutions to their problems. The more in demand your content is, the higher the search engines will rank it for importance. Beyond the quality of the content you post, SEO experts at Moz insist you should pay attention to title tags, the URL structure and image alt text. Learn more about perfecting your on-page SEO here.
While the current trend for website design is embracing white space with simple, streamlined layouts, the trend for user experience is increasingly getting more complicated with interactive and creative functions for greater engagement. The good news is that it’s easier than ever to start including these features. How do you plan to enhance the user experience for your website this year? Can you create a quiz that lets customers know which of your products are best for their pet? Are you able to feature photos and videos of real-life customers in creative ways to provide more testimonials for your products? Bottom line: what additional value can you offer your website visitors that educate them on the problem your products solve and help move them down the funnel. The Farmer’s Dog does a great job of this on their website!
For more support on enhancing your marketing strategy to include tactics that drive more website traffic and higher conversions, contact us today to start the conversation.
