Search engines should be the primary source for driving blog and website traffic
In the Mequoda Daily yesterday, we discussed how to use Article Templates to increase website traffic coming from Google. The overall value of an Article Template is that it optimizes blog content for search engines and allows content to be more easily found.
Making content more easily found should be a primary goal for online editors. Their reward? A website attracting at least two-thirds of its traffic from search engines and other organic sources.
It wasn’t always this way…
When Mequoda’s Executive Director Don Nicholas was the CEO at Blue Dolphin Magazines in the mid-90’s, direct mail, space ads, banners and other paid media were the main ways publishers were driving traffic to their websites. Bigger media companies who could afford it were buying radio and TV advertisements to drive website traffic.
Today, things are different. The economics of online publishing dictate that at least two-thirds of a publisher’s website traffic must be coming from organic means.
The shift to organic marketing began in the early 2000s and within five years became the primary strategy being used by most online publishers. In fact, there are very few online publishers today who use paid media exclusively.
This fundamental shift from paid to organic, or earned media, is what made content marketing the quintessential organic marketing machine. Websites built with Google in mind attract visitors and convert them to new audience members.
How are sites built with Google in mind?
Structurally, sites that are true content marketing machines use keyword research to anchor their website architecture. Primary Keywords become Topic Pages and Secondary Keywords become Tag Pages. Keywords are targeted carefully and are used on a daily basis in:
– headlines
– subheads
– body copy
– URLs
– meta data fields
– free report titles
– internal links
This is your last chance to receive the lowest possible registration price for the Mequoda Summit West 2011. Take advantage of our generous early-bird pricing and register now.
Aside from organic search, what are the additional ways that online editors, now the primary drivers of audience development, can drive traffic to their websites?
Our 27 Ways to Increase Website Traffic session at the Mequoda Summit West 2011 will provide dozens of practical, proven ideas.
The rapid-fire pace of this session is always a hit as Don and Kim toggle back and forth with examples and illustrations demonstrating how specific traffic-driving strategies work for online publishers today. Attendees have enjoyed this session style as they stay entertained, become informed and get the chance to ask questions about how to apply the tactics in their own businesses.
If you aren’t experiencing the website traffic you deserve, join us at the Mequoda Summit West 2011 and learn dozens of ways to increase website traffic.
