Drive Traffic to Your Site

We all know the saying “Content is King”, but what types of content drive traffic to your website?

It used to be, “content” referred to written articles – blog post, informational webpages, news stories, etc. But today, thanks in part to social media sites like Facebook and Twitter, content can refer to photos, videos, lists, polls, pictures, and all kinds of things that people like to click, share and look at.

Of course, now EVERYONE is making their own photos, videos, infographics, lists, and polls. After all, a variety of content can help increase your engagement with your audience. With so many of these types of content, how can you stand out from the crowd, and still drive traffic to your site?

What Other Types of Content Drive Traffic?

So now you might ask, what other types of content drive traffic?

Believe it or not, there are many other types of uncommon content you can use. Here are five of them you should incorporate into your content marketing efforts:

1. Statistics

Statistics are boring and dry. Why would anyone want to read about them?

Think about the last report, white paper, or infographic you read. How many times have you read things like:

• 20% of all FaceBook users hide ads
• There are over 1 billion active Twitter users
• 50% of LinkedIN users found their last job through the site.

While statistics are quite bland to read alone, when put in context, they lend credibility to many types of things. Bloggers in particular love to quote stats – so not only does this type of content drive traffic to your site, but you might be able to get some backlinks as well.

2. Viral Story Videos

Videos are one of those types of content that drives traffic, and it’s growing more and more each year.

Viral videos may seem so 2008, but today, video is one of the best ways to engage your audience. In fact, because Facebook has been pushing their native video application, they are 27% more likely to promote your content IF you use video.

You don’t need a fancy ad with graphics and special effects though. In fact, you DON’T want this type of content.

Viral story videos are more of a soft-sell, compared to the hard sell 30-second ads most brands use. Because these are Internet videos, you’re not limited to just 30 or 15 seconds.

They can be as long or short as your want and you should tell a story.

Tell a story of how people use your products or service.

Tell a story of how your company helped improve someone’s lives.

Tell a story about your employees.

Don’t go for the hard sell. Instead, you can add value to your brand by drawing people in with video content, instead of hitting them hard.

3. Tools

There are types of content that drive traffic that may not seem like content, but they can be considered as such.

Think of tools, for example.

There are many types of tools you can use on the Internet today.

For example, you can use this percentage calculator, if you’re always struggling to figure out how many percent of X is Y:

Or how about this grammar check website that can spot common spelling and grammar errors:

Thousands of people are using online tools like this – especially since many of us now carry around our smart phones and tablets.

If you have the resources to put a tool on your website – do it! This type of content can drive traffic to your site, especially from people looking for some simple solution to their problems.

4. Interviews

Interviews are an excellent way, how you can drive traffic to your website, not only because you can get a mention/link from your interviewee, but they can be quite easy to do.

You see, interviews practically write themselves.

That’s right – if you don’t have a lot of time, then consider doing interviews with industry experts or influencers in your niche (try to reach out to them on social media or have a connection introduce you).

Once you get someone to agree to an interview, you can send off an email with questions and have them return them to you with their answers – then you simply cut, paste, and make the format pretty – voila! That’s one blog post you can publish this week.

Of course, you can also do audio interviews or video interviews. If you have the time to write out a transcript, that would be great, but then you can also post the full audio or video file on your blog, social media page, or website.

5. Podcasts

Do people still listen to podcasts?

The answer is a resounding YES.

Perhaps with so many types of devices today, people don’t refer to them as “podcasts”. However, this is another great way of producing content to drive traffic to your website.

So consider creating your own podcast. You can use basic recording equipment or even just use your smartphone or laptop. You don’t have to start out with a full season of shows – just try snippets, like interviews or reviews, maybe some how-tos.

What Else Matters?

The type of content matters – to a certain extent. After all, you want to reach your audience and create the type of content that they consume the most. But, don’t forget the second part of this equation – the actual content. Even if you spend hours and hours creating podcasts, researching statistics, making videos, or creating the perfect tool, you need high quality content that can add value to your audience’s lives.

Just a reminder – before you start to  look at driving traffic to your website consider strategy. If you have a website put it through NOVA1 our website auditing platform to see what your foundation (Website) is built on. If you are going to invest in a content strategy, make sure you have laid the foundation for it. You can get the audit here. 

Till next time, be sure to leave your comments below.

Lorcan