According to experts, around 81% of customers say that they want to see a company’s website before they purchase a service or product. While some people will visit a website directly when they see a link in an email or social media, most will find your company by typing a few essential keywords into an online search engine.

No matter how you plan to get customers to interact with your online presence, it’s important to remember that there’s more to being successful online than creating a website and waiting for the traffic to roll in. If you want to get the best results, then you need a careful plan of action. Here are just a few ways you can get that initial traffic.

1. Begin with Search Engine Optimisation

The more time you spend in the world of online business, the more you’ll learn about search engine optimisation. As mentioned above, most of your customers will find your website by typing keywords into a Google search engine. This means that you need to make sure that Google and other search engines associate your content with crucial words and phrases.

By improving your SEO by adding keywords to your meta-tags, descriptions, and website content, your website should appear closer to the top of the search results for the right words. You just need to make sure that you don’t go over the top with your optimisation.

2. Try Guest blogging and Blogging

What better way to convince someone to come to your website than to give them the chance to reach useful and interesting content that sets you apart from the competition? Blogging can be a great way to give your business authority and improve your SEO potential with more content on your site.

Additionally, it’s also helpful to write for other prominent websites in your industry when you have the chance, as this can help to highlight your name to people who aren’t usually in your customer pool. Make sure you include a bio on any guest blog you write that links back to your website.

3. Paid Advertising

Paid advertising is a common way to generate interest in your website when you’re just getting started online. The most popular option is pay-per-click advertisements that you can create through Google AdWords. To make the most of this system, all you need to do is tell Google how much you’re willing to spend when someone clicks your ad and bid for certain keywords. Make sure that your advertisements send people to a relevant landing page.

4. Social Media Advertising

Social media sites like Twitter and Facebook are a fantastic way to promote your website for the first time. Make sure that you entice your followers with useful blog posts and exciting content that links back to your website. Remember, don’t spend too much time being overly promotional, or you could end up rubbing your followers the wrong way.

5. Write a Press Release

In this highly digital world, it might seem as though a press release is something of an old-fashioned way to earn attention for your company. However, it can also be a fantastic way to get some other media outlets to do your marketing on your behalf. Through the right PR strategies, you can improve your credibility, and establish yourself in your niche.

A few simple press releases can be a great way to generate interest in your product and service and give your brand a little more depth too.

6. Create Videos

Designing your own videos or “video blogs” that you can post on YouTube is a great way to create a name for yourself online and improve your SEO potential. While it’s great to go “viral” if you can, it’s important to remember that you don’t necessarily need to get millions of views just to drive more traffic towards your website. Instead, make sure that you’re focusing on calls to action that tell your viewers what you want them to do on your website.

7. Try Retargeting

Finally, the chances are that if you’ve shopped on Amazon before, you’ve noticed ads for the products you recently purchased on Facebook or other websites that you visit. This is a process called retargeting which works by inserting special codes into your browser so that you see advertisements tailor-made for you. Retargeting can be a fantastic way for companies to draw their initial traffic back to their website and give them a second chance at making a purchase.