Driving traffic to a website is one of the most important objectives for any business. It takes time and effort for a business to build a good website. However without sufficient traffic, a business is not likely to benefit from a web presence.

A powerful web presence includes several factors including lead generation, effectiveness of the design, and usability; however traffic remains one of the most important drivers for online success.

There are many ways businesses can use to drive traffic to their website. These have been covered extensively on several blog posts and articles. However, due to recent changes to Google’a algorithms, many of these techniques have become outdated.

In this article we take a look at 10 unique, lesser known methods that you may not know about.

Here are 10 ways to get more traffic to  your website.

1. Take Advantage of Document Sharing Website

Document sharing websites such as Slideshare and Scribd have become very popular over the past few years.

Furthermore, document sharing sites have filled the void and offer a viable alternative to article directories which have been devalued in recent Google algorithm updates. Businesses all over the world are now taking advantage of document sites to build back links and drive traffic.

The process is simple:

• Sign up for your free account
• Complete your profile with a good business description and link to your website
• Publish documents frequently
• Make sure to brand your documents and include a link your website.

2. Leverage Content Curation Services

Content Curation is the act of discovering, gathering, and presenting digital content on specific topics. It is the new “buzz word” in content marketing and has taken the online marketing industry like a storm. An increasing number of marketers and businesses are using content curation to grow their audience and drive traffic to their website.

Instead of creating content, content curation focuses on amassing content from a variety of sources, adding your own spin or opinion, and delivering it to your audience in an organised, visually appealing manner. It is a very effective way for businesses to build authority, and expand their audience. There are many free content curation platforms that you can take advantage of e.g. Paper.li and Scoop.it.

2. Comment on Your Competitors Blog

Blog commenting is already very popular among bloggers. However, it can be equally effective for businesses that do not have a blog. The standard approach is to identify and comment on influential blogs relevant to your niche in order to increase exposure and obtain back links.

However, there is another lesser known strategy that can prove very helpful, particularly for businesses. This involves commenting on your competitors blogs. Most businesses have a blog today. Spend some time every week to visit and comment on the blogs of all your competitors. This is a great way to get your business noticed in front of a highly targeted consumer-base whilst attracting quality one-way links from sites that are similar to yours.

Furthermore, if you add value to the discussions, others will take notice and click on your comment link to visit your website. This is a very effective way to tap into the customer base of your competitors with minimal effort.

 4. Write Guest Posts On Other Sites

Guest posting on other influential blogs is already very popular among bloggers who have been using this method to get noticed and drive traffic to their blog. However, this method is relatively under-utilised among businesses. Guest blogging is not only useful for blogs, but can be equally effective for promoting a business.

You can take advantage of this technique even if you don’t have your own blog. A good byline or author biography that is displayed below your guest post offers the perfect opportunity to get extra exposure for your brand and drive traffic to your company’s website.

The process is simple:

• Use Technorati to identify influential blogs in your niche
• Make connections with the blog editors and pitch your request to write a guest post on their blog
• Create quality posts and submit for review and subsequent inclusion
• Make sure to include a good byline at the end of the article promoting your business and include a link to your company’s website

5. Make Sure Your Website is Accessible to Mobile Users

Mobile Internet use is growing exponentially. It is estimated that mobile Internet access will surpass desktop access within the next five years. In spite of this, a recent study has found that nearly 67% of businesses have not yet got around to making sure their website is accessible seamlessly on mobile devices. This is where responsive web design can help. Responsive web design is an approach to designing websites in a way that the website scales automatically to fit the screen size of all devices such as desktop monitors, notebooks, tablets, small phones, and more.

6. Publish an eBook on Your Website

The importance of quality content on your company’s website cannot be emphasised enough. Creating an eBook on a topic useful for your targeted audience is a great way to do this. In addition to standard SEO benefits that good quality content brings to your website, there is another distinct advantage from creating eBooks. Ebooks is a powerful link bait technique that can attract tons of one way links to your website for many years to come.

Publishing eBooks also helps to establish your expertise in your field and builds credibility and trust in your business. Ebooks also get linked to and referenced by many other websites and blogs and can turn into a steady source of back links and traffic to your company’s website. Take a look at the number of back links that were generated by an eBook published on this site a couple of years ago. To date, it has already attracted over 1,600 back links and this number is still rising.

7. Drive Traffic from Pinterest

Pinterest is the fastest growing social network and has become very popular among businesses and publishers alike. It offers a visually appealing way to deliver content, and can be very effective for showcasing your products or driving traffic to your company’s website.

Studies have shown that Pinterest traffic generate more sales and offers better conversion than even Facebook and Twitter.

There are many ways to promote your business or drive traffic from Pinterest . A simple strategy that works is explained below.

How to Drive Traffic From Pinterest?

• Create boards relevant to the services you provide.
• Post quality images and videos on your boards.
• Make sure to link your posts to relevant pages on your company’s website.

8. Be Active on You Tube

You Tube is becoming increasingly popular among consumers. Any business can benefit by investing time to build an active presence o Videos. There are other ways to drive traffic from You Tube than creating your own videos.

Commenting on videos relevant to your niche, voting, sharing other user’s videos that are relevant to your niche – are all effective ways to get noticed on You Tube and get traffic.

How to Drive Traffic from You Tube?

• Create a profile and link to your company’s website
• Post Videos to increase your exposure
• Include your website URL in video descriptions
• Comment on other videos relevant to your niche

9. Use Q&A Sites Like Yahoo! Answers

Question and Answers sites like Yahoo Answers, LinkedIn Answers or Quora offer an excellent way to establish your expertise and increase brand exposure. They also offer an excellent way to increase back-links and drive traffic to your company’s website. These sites receive a lot of traffic however they offer strict editorial control over what can be published. You can include your link in your answer as a reference as long as the link is relevant and legitimate. You can take advantage of the technique below.  although it is time-consuming, it can prove very useful.

How to Use Q&A sites to drive traffic?

Step 1: Find a question related to your niche

Step 2: Create a page on your website or blog addressing the topic

Step 3: Post an answer on the Q&A site and include a link to the resource on your website as a reference

Step 4: Repeat the process as and when you have time

10. Include Your Link in Your Email Signature

This method is neither new nor unique. However, I have decided to include it in this list as in spite of being one of the simplest ways to drive traffic, this method is still relatively under-utilised. Every day I receive emails from businesses that do not have an active link in their email signature. If you don’t already have an active link to your website in your email signature, you should add one today. You will be surprised at the click-through rate a simple link in your email can generate. Think of the number of emails sent by your business every day.

Conclusion:

Obtaining back-links and driving traffic to a website can be very challenging. It has become even more so due to the recent changes to Google’s ranking algorithm that now penalizes many of the old methods used by businesses and web masters. The unique methods discussed above are very effective and conform to the new guidelines.