Tips for Increasing Your Website Traffic

(This blog has been updated from a previous blog to be even more awesome.)

You’ve done all your SEO homework and improved the Google ranking for your practice website. Yet according to Google Analytics, your website traffic numbers have barely gone up. What gives? 

While SEO is certainly integral to boosting website traffic, it’s only one piece of the puzzle that involves other methods to attract all-important repeat traffic. 

Here are a few ways to help increase website traffic from both new and returning visitors: 

Provide New Website Content

In addition to helping boost SEO to attract more organic traffic, fresh, regular blog posts mean there’s always something new and interesting to attract visitors back to your website. And since people enjoy variety, don’t be afraid to offer a mix of posts: educational articles, fun stories, seasonal health topics, and so on. When someone comments on a blog post, make sure to reply. When people see that you reply to comments, they’re more likely to engage, then come back to read your replies. 

Other content ideas: 

• If you’re hosting, attending, or sponsoring a special event, post event information on your website so people will visit for the details. 
• Partner with a local shelter or animal rescue agency and post an “adoptable pet of the week.” 
• Any time you have a promotion or awareness campaign, put the info on your website. 

Consistency is a big factor when it comes to providing fresh website content. The more often you post, Google will crawl and index your website more often, which helps boost and maintain search engine ranking. Fresh, regular content also keeps visitors returning to your website, whether directly or through article links posted on your social channels. 

To make posting regular content easier for practices, Plus and Pro editions of WebDVM custom veterinary websites come with built–in blogging functionality to more easily keep your website up to date, plus how-to videos for pet owners on a variety of topics. And all editions of WebDVM include weekly news automatically posted to your website to engage clients and keep them coming back. 

Spread the Word with Your Current Clients

• Print your website address on receipts, client education handouts, and any promotional material. Websites disappear from the screen, but printed material tends to stick around, and when a current client passes something like promotional material to a friend, that person knows where to find you online and can more easily visit your website. 
• Work your website into client conversations and provide a compelling reason for people to visit. If it’s heartworm season, for example, and you have a blog about the signs and treatment for heartworm in cats and dogs, encourage people to visit your website as a follow-up to your conversation. 
• Collect client email addresses on your intake forms, on a sign-up sheet on your front counter, and through your website (along with consent to send clients emails). Then, periodically send clients your practice newsletter with links to the great content you’re posting. 

Advertise Locally

• Paid search and social-media advertising are excellent ways to boost your online presence to attract more website visitors but consider running an ad in your local newspaper. Despite assertions that “print is dead” and “no one reads anymore,” a new study conducted by Totum Research reveals that printed newspaper ads rank second for engagement only to search engine results, and this includes Millennials (or, the largest demographic of pet owners). 
• Sponsor a local event that includes advertising in event marketing materials. 
• Make sure you’re listed in every online directory you can think of, including Yelp, Google My Business, and Apple Maps. 

Raise Your Local Profile

• Community involvement is a great way to raise your local profile. Raise funds for charity, have a pet-food drive, or sponsor a local sports team. Community involvement tends to attract good press and links to your practice website, and your involvement provides you with something fresh to write about on your blog or social channels to further attract more website visits. 

• Write a pet health story or column for your local newspaper or online community forum. 
• Make sure to include the why in your community involvement. If your practice receives a special award, for example, the name of the award alone may mean little to nothing to pet owners. If you add that the award is for outstanding service to local pet owners and their pets, the dedication of your practice to your community is clear to anyone. 

In short, attracting more website visitors doesn’t begin and end with search engine ranking. By providing regular content, spreading the word with current clients, advertising locally, and raising your local profile, you cover a broader range of activities and channels to boost website traffic.