• Once the hype of designing and building your website is over, you may find yourself with a new problem of trying to get your site out there and driving traffic.
• It takes time, commitment and consistent effort to improve the visibility of your site and achieve the results you're looking for.
• Read on to discover 5 free strategies that will boost your visibility and drive your target audience to your new website.

Have you launched a website for your new business and wonder how on earth you are going to get anyone other than your friends and family to visit?

This is often what happens when we first launch our brand new, beautifully designed website. Once all the initial hype dies down and you’re sitting in front of your Google Analytics looking rather sombre and you start to question: Where is everyone, why are people not finding my page and how do I get my website out there?

It’s now time to take action. I’ve listed below, five free strategies to help drive traffic to your site. Remember, free doesn’t mean it’s easy. You only get back what you put in. As a small business, you’re probably wearing a few hats and work on a minimal budget, so you know you have to put in the hard work and time required to receive the desirable results.

Use all the motivation, energy and passion you have right now and leverage those feelings to do your best work. Be consistent, give it time and ultimately these five steps will pay off in the long run for your business. 

What are you waiting for? Let’s get started!

How to Drive Traffic to Your Professional Services Website 

There are five free ways to drive traffic to your professional services website:

1. Invest time in social media
2. Provide helpful content in your emails
3. Get your SEO right
4. Find opportunities to guest blog
5. Maximise opportunities in your emails

1. Invest Time in Social Media

You know what to do, it’s time to get social! Chances are, a majority of your potential clients are browsing social media heavily every day. Although social media sounds easy and fun, the key is to plan out the content on your social channels and have a clear and concise call-to-action (CTA) which directs people to your website.

Consider which social media channels your target audience use the most and find relevant and meaningful content to post 3-4 times per week as a minimum. You could include a unique offering such as free initial consultation, downloadable document that addresses problems your target audience are facing or a special discount and package to increase engagement.

2. Provide Helpful Content in Your Emails

Don’t forget email marketing. It is still a powerful form of advertising if you nurture it right. Send out engaging emails to your database with a CTA and link to your website. Provide content within the emails that people would be willing to pay for.

A good example would be to answer frequently asked questions on your social media channels. Offer freebies such as planners and templates. You could also include discount codes to your email database only which you can then use as an incentive for people to join your mailing list.

There are plenty of easy to use email marketing platforms such as MailChimp which allow you to start creating beautiful emails for free. 

3. Get Your SEO Right

Make sure your website is searchable by search engines. Use the Google Keywords Tool to find out what the most common searches are related to your industry and use these keywords within your website copy and blogs. This way, when someone googles ‘Freeways to drive traffic to your professional service website’, they may end up on your blog.

4. Find Opportunities to Guest Blog

Write for other online sources. Research other blogs and websites which are complementary to your business and offer to write a blog post for them for free in return for a link to your website, called a backlink. The more backlinks you have, the higher your page will rank because search engines regard your site as a trusted source.

Guest blogging is a quick way to put your name in front of a whole new readership. While this may require some cold emailing or messaging, it will be worth it for your site’s traffic in the long run.

5. Maximise Opportunities in Your Emails

Last but not least, use your email signature wisely. As you send out emails every day to establish new contacts and communicate with potential and current customers, you should have a killer email signature in place that clearly identifies your website URL and links straight to your website.

Building traffic to your website doesn’t happen overnight but if you consistently follow the above steps, you will be surprised with what can happen in three, six or twelve months time!

Remember to track where your traffic is coming from using tools such as Google Analytics to help you further refine your strategy. You can see which strategies are working best for you and dig deeper into the demographic and real time information which is great to learn more about what your customers want. Get to work and you’ll have everyone wondering how you magically drove so much traffic to your site!