How To Drive Traffic To Your Site: A Case Study
How do I drive traffic to my site?
That’s one of the most common questions we hear from startups and small businesses.
It’s a question that we heard early from a client of ours in the staffing industry, back when they were just launching their business.
In this post, we’ll explore what we did to drive traffic to their website.
Overview: From Zero to 75,000 Monthly Website Visitors
Our executive search firm client wanted one thing when they first engaged with us: traffic.
Why traffic? As a new company, brand awareness was equally important as lead generation.
With that said, their website had not yet been built. They had 0 website visitors. No one outside of friends and family had ever heard of the company.
So how did we go from 0 website visitors to more than 75,000 monthly visitors in the course of a few years?
Challenges: Why Driving Traffic To a New Site Is Hard
New companies in competitive industries face an uphill battle. Search engine result pages are dominated by larger companies. Pay per click advertising sometimes demands a cost per click that rivals a nice lunch. Social media and email marketing feel like you need a large following to be effective.
Sometimes, it just seems like internet marketing conspires against the success of a new company.
Driving traffic to a new site is hard because you need momentum. Establishing that momentum requires grit, ingenuity, and a little luck.
Solution: How Did We Drive Traffic To The Site?
Alright, enough reading. How did we really drive traffic to the site?
Short answer: we tried different marketing ideas for staffing agencies and some of the methods stuck.
What did stick? Here’s how you can drive traffic to a site:
- Blogging. Produce how-to articles. Share tips. Write about staffing industry blog topics. Blogging can help provide a sustainable inflow of traffic.
- Directories. Submit to recruiter directories and human resources sites like SHRM’s Vendor Directory. Directory submissions help build traffic on the local level.
- Digital PR. Build backlinks through digital PR. Online placements drive referral traffic and helps establish authority in your industry.
- Website Development. Follow website best practices like optimizing site structure and improving page speed. Emphasize accessibility to ensure that content can be enjoyed.
- Relationships. Develop referral agreements with industry thought leaders (like keynote speakers). Relationships help deliver traffic that trusts your brand.
What worked “okay” to drive traffic?
- Social media. Execute social media campaigns to build brand awareness and drive short-term traffic.
- Email marketing. Send regular email campaigns with blog content to engage potential customers and build brand awareness.
- Paid advertising. LinkedIn Ads, Google Ads, and Facebook Ads help drive instant traffic. The problem is that paid ads are hard to target in staffing. If you target a term like “executive search firm,” 90% of your budget is spent on candidates with the other 10% going to employers.
- Memberships. Join entrepreneur groups, industry associations, and local chambers of commerce to develop new relationships.
- Traditional PR. Get featured in local news and industry publications. Traditional PR requires a lot of effort, and sometimes has a “hit or miss” impact on a business.
Result: Sustainable & Predictable Traffic To The Site
Through trial and error, our client site now attracts more than 75,000 visits per month.
Sure, it took a while to get there (years!). But the traffic converts to leads and new customers, which enables our client to confidently operate and grow their business.
Looking back on the journey, there’s one piece of advice I would give to any new business: invest in SEO.
I’m biased. We run a SEO company for staffing agencies. Of course I’d say that.
But, it’s true. Organic traffic helps build a business. When your site ranks for keywords that customers are searching for, you can rely on traffic coming to your site on a regular basis. If that traffic converts to leads, then you have a business.
On the other hand, marketing methods like social media and email marketing require consistent effort. If you don’t post, you likely don’t receive traffic. That’s not very sustainable.
If you wanted to explore how SEO can help you drive traffic to your website, then there’s three things you need to do.
- Run a free SEO audit. See how well your site is optimized for your target keyword, and receive an actionable report on how you can improve your online presence.
- Determine if SEO is right for you. SEO takes between 4-12 months to see results. Not every business can wait that long. Most companies will need to invest in short-term marketing tactics to help drive immediate results.
- Get help. Contact us to schedule an initial 15 minute consultation. After our consultation we’ll conduct an SEO audit. Then, we’ll go over the audit recommendations and see if Markitors can help you get more traffic to grow your business.
