Most business websites start with low requirements and minimum visitors. However, as your brand awareness and conversions grow, your website also needs to adapt.
From performance issues to poor visibility in search engines, businesses need to overcome many challenges during the growth stage.
Here are a few simple ways to scale your website as your company grows.
Use PPC to Increase Website Exposure
The website launch is one of the most exciting aspects of your job. Your site is finally up and running, and it is time to spread the word about it.
However, just because you have a visually appealing website does not mean it will immediately attract visitors. You need to figure out how you will drive traffic and conversions to your new site.
While investing in search engine optimization right from the start is essential, it takes time. Since your site is new, its domain age, authority, and traffic are low.
That is where new website owners should prioritize paid search traffic. Unlike SEO, PPC campaigns deliver immediate brand visibility and relevant traffic. Your ads will start appearing online as soon as the campaign is approved.
Given that, it is not surprising that 79% of marketers say PPC is hugely beneficial for their business. Moreover, ads on the Google Display Network reach up to 90% of internet users.
Another benefit of PPC is that you can control how much you spend on each campaign. Most importantly, both Google Ads and social media ads have advanced targeting options. That means you can narrow down your customer base and ensure your ads show up in front of the people interested in your business. That way, you can create more effective ad copies and start generating qualified leads.
Additionally, the following tactics can also serve as your new site’s quick wins:
- The word-of-mouth marketing
- Early social media efforts
- Press releases
Plan Website Growth Ahead
One of the most common mistakes businesses make in the launch stage is not preparing for website growth. While this stage is super-exciting for you, you should never forget that your website needs to scale parallel with your business growth.
While investing in PPC is vital, you cannot rely on it as a long-term traffic source. You would exhaust your traffic resources (and budget) fast. That is why you need to prepare your website for more sustainable traffic sources, such as SEO or organic social media marketing.
Boost UX and Drive Organic Traffic
During the website growth phase, you will see a lot of referral spikes. People will start mentioning you on social networks, finding your website via social media, and visiting your site by googling long-tail keywords.
Therefore, it is vital to focus on user experiences and organic website traffic.
Here are a few tactics to apply:
Start Investing in Search Engine Optimization
According to a Sydney SEO agency, 26.4% of small business websites cannot be found on Google. That is why investing in SEO should be your company’s priority.
At the growth stage, your brand awareness is still low. Therefore, focus on combining branded queries with competitive long-tail keywords.
One of the most common misconceptions about SEO is that the process is all about keyword research. While that is one of the most significant aspects of search engine optimization, it is far from being the only one. SEO also includes the technical SEO aspects, as well as on-site and off-site optimization.
This process requires industry experience, as well as lots of analyzing and strategizing.
For starters, keywords mean nothing if they do not align with customer intent. Every user typing a keyword into Google’s search box has informational, navigational, or commercial intent. In other words, while some users want to learn more about products or compare prices, others already know what they want to purchase.
An SEO professional helps you align keyword optimization with your content. That is how you will start appearing in more relevant searches and attracting qualified website leads.
Inspire Social Media Chatter
Social networks play an immense role in the website growth stage.
Since your website is relatively new, it still does not attract enough visitors.
That is why you need to focus on those people who find and read your content.
Create strong CTAs and add social media buttons to inspire them to share your blog posts on social networks. That way, they increase your site’s reach and visibility.
Once you start building an engaged community on social networks, you can also inspire user-generated content. Get customers to share photos of your products and use your hashtags. That is another way to maximize brand exposure and website traffic.
Create Quality and Unique Content
There are many ways to attract website traffic. However, content research and marketing should be the nerve center of your marketing strategy.
Quality and optimized content is an opportunity to increase your search rankings and organic traffic. It inspires people to share your content across social media. As more people get to share and discuss your content, your site’s visibility will grow.
That way, it may get noticed by industry experts. If they find your content fresh and insightful, they may decide to link back to it from their websites and share it on social networks.
Natural backlinks from authoritative websites plus user engagement are your stairway to higher rankings.
Now, to engage wider audience groups, you can create different types of content, including:
- Blog articles
- eBooks
- guides
- infographics
- videos
- lists
Identify Technical Website Issues
As your website matures, its technical requirements also grow. For example, once your website starts attracting more traffic, it may experience performance or accessibility problems. That may harm user experiences and compromise your brand image.
Users that have just found out about your website expect you to provide exceptional browsing experiences. If your site is slow or unavailable, chances are they will leave it and never come back.
That is why you need to analyze your website thoroughly and identify its major pain points. Some tried and tested ways to improve its performance during the traffic spike are:
- upgrading a hosting plan
- investing in a content delivery network (CDN)
- installing a caching plugin
- moving your website to the cloud
- using load balancers
- optimizing images by reducing their size
Keep Increasing Website Authority
When your website starts driving traffic, that is when everything comes together. Since your website keeps attracting new users, ranks well for competitive terms, and has a base of repeat visitors, non-paid search traffic becomes the backbone of your digital marketing efforts.
At this stage, focus on your SEO campaign. By targeting the right keywords, you will generate a consistent stream of new website visitors.
In this phase, customers are aware of your brand. Most will google your brand or product name to find your content and products/services. Since your direct traffic will grow, focus on optimizing your website for branded keywords.
Off-site SEO, such as claiming and optimizing your Google My Business account or registering on relevant business directories, can also boost your brand visibility.
Increase Customer Conversions
For example, invest in a series of personalized marketing campaigns. Relevant and individualized content inspires people to visit your website and finalize the purchase.
That is where segmented email marketing campaigns can help. You can break your audience list down based on their gender, age, geolocation, education, content preferences, problems, etc. By delivering relevant content and offers to them, you will engage them and boost conversions faster.
Another way to boost conversions is personalizing on-site experiences. For example, you can add chatbots and virtual assistants to provide immersive user experiences. Provide users with AI-backed product recommendations or deliver 360-degree product photos.
Finally, optimize the checkout process. For starters, diversify the checkout process. Offer multiple payment options to satisfy the needs of various customer groups. If you have their preferred payment method, chances are they will purchase from you faster.
Are You Ready to Grow your SMB Website?
As your small business grows, your website needs to scale, too. Keep that in mind while building your website. Invest experienced website developers and digital marketing professionals that will focus on website scalability right from the start.
Next, analyze and identify your SMB site’s technical issues. Whether it is the growing server requirements or an insufficient hosting plan, resolve these problems to ensure website availability and top performance. Once you do that, start boosting website visibility and traffic through content creation, SEO, social media marketing, and referral marketing.
Finally, keep growing website credibility and boosting conversions through optimized UX and personalization.
Sure, there is no one-size-fits-all strategy for all small businesses. The pace at which your site will scale depends on a wide range of factors, such as your industry, budget, growth requirements, current resources, etc. However, I hope these tips will serve as your starting point!
How do you scale your SMB website? Do you use the tactics mentioned above > Please, share your thoughts and experiences with us!
