After The 2024 Digital Experience Benchmark Report and Interactive Explorer revealed that web visits in 2023 declined by about 3.6%, it is no surprise that businesses are making more efforts to improve these numbers. According to the report, 55% of websites actually saw their web traffic decline.
Perhaps, if you were affected by this trend, you may want to know what other businesses are doing to stay ahead. Thankfully, there are more than enough tools to help you check website traffic of competitors and analyze their strategies to optimize your own.
But even if you were not affected by this 2023 trend, it might not be harmful to add some extra knowledge. Reading this article, you will find some amazing facts that can help you refine your marketing strategies.
The power of blogs
Do you actually know that, according to Word Stream, businesses that blog received 55% more visitors than those that did not?
The research also revealed that marketers who used blogs were 13 more times likely to generate a positive return on investment. And the good thing is that if your blogs offer more value, the number of visitors might significantly increase.
Some experts recommend focusing on evergreen topics, as newsworthy topics may only boost your traffic in the short term. The beautiful side of evergreen content is that it can encourage traffic over time, especially if you often refresh it.
Writing irresistible headlines can help enhance the appeal of your blogs further. Actually, some studies have confirmed that such titles can increase traffic by 500% more traffic.
Taking advantage of SEO
Now, just imagine that you have all your blogs set up, but no one can find them. How would you expect them to drive traffic if no one can find them? Especially now that there are more than 200 million active websites, the challenge is even more serious.
But this should not worry you; SEO can actually help you bring your website right in front of your target audience. In fact, a recent study found that the first page of Google can capture up to 71% of search traffic clicks – proving the need for a proper SEO strategy.
This may involve:
Incorporating target keywords
Keywords are basically words that a customer can use to search and find something online. Now, you can use keyword research tools to see the keywords and phrases that have more search volumes. But you must exercise caution with super-high volume keywords – they tend to be very broad and might reduce the chances of being visible.
You may want to consider using long-tail keywords, as they are quite easier to rank for. According to Embryo, Long-tail keywords tend to do better than short-tail and can lead to an average conversion rate of about 36%. Plus, placing them strategically in places like H1 and H2 headings can help strengthen your SEO strategy.
Enhancing page speed
Do you remember ever visiting a site that took all the while to load? What was the experience like? Chances are that you will never return to the site again. Actually, statistically speaking, Findstack found that websites that took unusually long (10+ seconds) to load increased bounce rates by about 123%.
Another 70% of customers said that page speed affected their enthusiasm to purchase from a brand. Speed is definitely not loved by users only – search engines like Google love it, too. If Google perceives that your site loads faster, it might rank it higher, which might affect your visit and cause more traffic.
Adopting responsive designs
Who denies the fact that mobile technology has affected almost every area of our lives? Regardless of whether you want to stream a song or event or catch up with your favorite game, all these can happen with just a simple touch of a button.
As such, most of the traffic in e-commerce comes from mobile devices. Actually, Exploding Topics highlighted that mobile traffic accounted for 63.38% of all website traffic.
And that definitely means that even if you have a basic website, you still have to ensure that potential customers can access it using multiple devices without compromising their experiences. If we were to look at the statistics, Ucraft suggests that more than seventy percent of users may remain loyal to a mobile-friendly website.
But how exactly do responsive designs better your SEO efforts? With more people searching from mobiles than ever before, most search engines have now adopted the mobile-first approach.
That means that if your website algorithm fits with this bill, you will likely rank high. Since responsiveness improves your website’s usability, potential customers will likely spend more time on it.
The idea is that they have found content that aligns with what they are searching for. This could point to Google that your platform offers satisfying experiences, which might positively affect your ranking.
Final thoughts
Consumer behaviors keep changing. Perhaps it was not possible to convince someone fifty years ago that shopping from the comfort of your home could actually be possible. However, this is what we see most consumers doing. And good enough, mobile technology has now made it possible to shop from any place at any time.
As more businesses implement websites to cater to such preferences, generating traffic can be challenging. But by applying some of the strategies discussed here, you can always be sure to stay ahead of your competitors.
