This will not be the last time I say this: building a website does not guarantee traffic let alone conversions. In my last post, I wrote about how to direct your visitor once they get to the site, but how do you get them to the site in the first place? I hope to help you with the answer.

One mistake many business owners make is they approach marketing without doing the right research and they end up wasting money. When a client comes to me with this question, these are the four questions I have them ask themselves. Once you answer these questions, the marketing vehicle and message should start to be clear.

Who is my core audience?
Everyone is not your CORE audience. Everyone could be your audience but I like to use the example, would your rather have a thousand visitors and no sales or ten visitors and five sales? You really need to breakdown who is shopping for your product or service.

For example, if you sell pink bikes, you may think core audience is most likely female and young. However, you wouldn’t be selling pink bikes to a seven year old girl, you will be selling it to her parents. Also, a seven year old will not be searching Google looking for where to purchase a pink bike. More than likely, her parents will.

Where do they begin their search for the products I sell?
Google would be the obvious answer but think of it this way, searching Google might be the last step in the process of purchasing something. The process may begin much earlier.

Could the process begin on Facebook? How many times have you seen a post from someone asking for a recommendation? There is opportunity to build an audience and brand ambassadors on social media. This way when someone asks where’s the best place to buy a bike for my daughter, the audience that you built can now answer that your website is the best.

Could the process begin with search? If your customer is searching for your product or service then it is key to identify what they are searching for and devise a search engine optimization (SEO) and content strategy focused on those search terms.

What are the phrases that will catch their eye?
Whether you are using social media or SEO, appearing on the search engine results page is not always the formula for success. They still need to click through. What are the phrases that will catch their eye?

We have all developed this nasty habit of thumb-flick scanning. Battling against the thumb-flick scanning method of reading is what makes it tricky to have real success with any campaign. Think about your Facebook or Twitter feed. Depending on how many people you follow, you could have hundreds of posts to sort through. Of these, how many articles do you really click on? Not many. Only the ones that catch your eye.

Identifying what is going to stop your audience from thumb-flicking any further, whether its a phrase, a problem to be solved or a creative headline, is only half the battle. The next thing they need to do is click through to the website. Which leads to the final question to ask yourself…

What will entice them to take action?
Now that you stopped them, what’s next? You have to get them to click through in about 160 characters, including spaces! This will require a bit of trial and error. You may have to test a few different action phrases before you find the one that works that best.

Does your service solve a problem? Does your product enhance someone’s life? What is the real discernible point of difference? It’s not a ton of space so you will have to fine tune your message and make it laser focused.

Going back to pink bikes for a moment, an example could be “The most recommended, highest rated, best built, pink bike.” This would grab my attention because nothing is too good for my little girl. At least that would be what I would be thinking if I had a little girl.

Building online traffic takes time and the right strategy.
Having a great website and no one visiting is frustrating. Even if you go through all these questions and develop a plan, you will still have to battle your competition for space on the page. However, the most important takeaway is to have a plan, continually tweak it, and make it work for you.