3 unconventional ways to get traffic to your website

Get traffic to your website for free

Many businesses try hard to get traffic to their website. They join social media channels, like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. They spend a lot of money on advertising on these platforms or google ads. But does this work?

Yes and no. With a large marketing budget, you’ll make some progress. Yet, it’s not a sustainable solution. And for businesses with small budgets, generating results worth the investments fall short.

There are other ways, though. That is why I listed three unconventional (low budget) methods to bring traffic to your site. You want to keep your edge right? The upcoming techniques will help. You will get more clicks and leave the competition behind.

1. Write a PS in your marketing emails

That’s right, you only have to put a PS under your marketing emails, and you will already increase your traffic. PS means postscript, aka “written after.” It’s a chance to add one more thought to your message after you’ve finished writing it.

Kate Goldstone revealed that “79% of people who opened a direct mail pack read a PS first, before the content itself.” And there are a lot of reasons for that.

According to Lesley Vos, the Content Strategist at Bid4Papers:

• The first reason is its visual and summary advantages. In the world of content shock, people have short attention spans and scan rather than read things.

• The second reason is the Zeigarnik effect. People feel uncomfortable if they have incomplete tasks. So a PS with a top-notch CTA will encourage readers to click.

• And the last reason is a habit. The most interesting and important information ‘hides’ in the end. So we read a PS first to see what we have for dessert.

Adding a PS to marketing emails boosts your CTR. People scroll through an email without reading but stop for a second at the PS, especially if you make it stand out. So, in your emails add links to your landing page, blog, sales pitch, or whatever you need to promote in the PS.

Moreover, it’s also a great chance to add a personal approach to your message. Adding a P.S. to a reader with their name makes them see the message as addressed to them. This is a perfect way to generate traffic, boost trust and build more customer loyalty. I assure you the traffic you’ve been looking for will follow.

2. Use a Referral Program

One of the best ways to drive profits up while keeping costs low is referrals.

You think this is a new-age offering. But it’s the most underutilized part of any compensation and benefits program.  Numerous studies prove that referrals are the most trusted form of advertisement. Happy customers create referrals and spread word-of-mouth about your business for free.

But how can you turn your company into a referral machine?

The easiest way to encourage referrals is by implementing a referral program software. Because even if customers love your product, it doesn’t mean they’ll talk about you. Such software can make that happen. It is a process in which you prime and reward customers for spreading the word about you.

Nowadays,  everyone knows how vital word-of-mouth marketing is. Customers trust their friends and colleagues. This is why word-of-mouth is the most valuable source of marketing. 92% of consumers believe their friends, family, and colleagues more so than advertising. This stat alone solidifies the word-of-mouth case.

A referral program makes word-of-mouth trackable. The system tracks each encounter, providing convenient analytics. This leads to an easier way to figure out what works best for getting leads.

3. Post on question forums like Quora

Quora has a mission to share and grow the world’s knowledge online. Quora uses advanced machine learning and AI. It connects people who have the knowledge to those who need it in the form of questions and answers. And what is a better way to share your knowledge about topics you have experience with?

There are questions on Quora relevant to your website and products or services. So, open a second tab in your browser, go to quora and enter a relevant keyword for your website, product or service. Then proceed to read this blog 😉

So, have you found anything? If so, you should create a profile and answer. Why? People are looking for the best replies; they don’t post irrelevant questions. You can also see how many people follow the topic. This can sometimes be 10 people, but it can also reach thousands.

Read the first 2-3 answers. Write a better, more detailed explanation that outshines the current top three. Include a link to your site in your response. Provide a link that offers more value instead of pushing sales. Also, add a relevant image that clarifies your information. If you’ve got a catchy byline and provide relevant answers, you can draw in curious readers.

The next thing is to get upvotes to move your answer to the top position and get the most views and clicks. One way to do that is to ask friends and members of help-promotion groups.

“One of those groups is Growth Slack. I asked members there for Quora upvotes and I got 52 upvotes from them in 12 hours! And my answer ranked on 1st position among the other answers.” – Georgi Todorov, founder of Digitalnovas.

You need some strategy here, though. Provide quality answers and look for questions that aren’t saturated with responses. The result: many views, shares and most of all traffic!

PS a little Bonus Tip

You can also use a quiz on social channels or as a google ad to get traffic to certain pages. A good example is this Eneco case, in which Eneco collected 1000 leads in 6 weeks! You can do this in a very affordable way with the right software.

These are easy ways to get traffic to your website

These are all good examples of low budget ways to drive traffic to your website. There are many more, but these are my unconventional favorites. Some of them are more effective than others, but they all work if you apply them well.

Good Luck!

About the author

Isabelle Bleeker is an International Business and Languages student in the Netherlands. She enjoys traveling and she is eager to learn everything about international business and developments. She’s most passionate about Marketing, Intercultural management, and Business Administration.