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Not all traffic is created equally. Some of it we dread at 5 PM, while others we work very hard to bring to our websites to grow our brands. Do you know the different kinds of traffic that come to your website and the ways you can help them flourish? Take a moment to sit back and enjoy the ride through this particular kind of traffic!

Valentine's day is almost around the corner, and we just love celebrating love. Love of one's brand, love of one's growth, and the love of one's ad campaigns. These three things might be difficult to love because they can take a lot of time and effort to become prosperous. But so does an important relationship. You often spend more time working at your job and helping it grow than you do with your family and friends. Understandably, you need to nurture and support these aspects of your company just like you would a budding relationship. One very popular way to grow your company is to understand the four different types of traffic your website can have to gain followers, new customers, and keep returning customers coming back for more. Remember, your website is a gateway to your business. it's the first introduction many people will have to your brand and what you're selling. If you can increase the number of people who come to your website, potentially you'll have more followers, customers, and purchases.

But building a website and hitting "publish" won't automatically bring visitors to your website. Getting people, and a large amount of them to visit your website isn't an easy task. There are billions of websites out there and infinite amounts of information readily available to you at all times. If you don't have the right tools or don't use the right tools to gain proper website traffic, your website could easily be losing traction and not getting the attention it deserves. Understanding and using all forms of traffic for your website isn't a quick and easy fix. There isn't one solution to make your website the most popular website ever or to get the number of visitors you want right now. Your business and advertising strategies need to have a few different tools working at the same time to optimize your website and to get those visitors you want and need.

We completely understand that online marketing is or can be overwhelming. That's one of the reasons why our company exists. We are here to take away that worry and stress and do it for you. But if you're taking this on by yourself and you're handling it all on your own, it's easy to fall into a pit of despair. But don't fall prey to it. There is a good amount you need to know to be successful in gaining the right amounts of traffic to your website, and sometimes it's hard to know where to start. There are admittedly many places to start and many great tools available to you. But start simply with one goal, getting more traffic to your website. If you start there and continue to grow, there is nowhere to go but up.

In the big scheme of things, four big types of traffic visit your website. There are others, but in this two-part blog, we are just going to be discussing the four main players in bringing traffic to your website. So sit back and learn, and let's get some traffic to your website!  

TRAFFIC TYPE ONE: Direct Traffic!
This audience is specifically looking for you the minute they look for your website. They sit down at their computer and type in your website or specific type in your business name into their browser. They have heard about you and went looking for you directly. This audience and type of traffic already know, is very familiar with, and wants your brand. For companies that have been around for some time and are established, this kind of traffic is the result of years of cultivating an audience through branding and pushing to make themselves a household common name. If a much younger business is getting this kind of traffic, it is thanks to very smartly placed ads and a well-branded marketing plan that understood and knew their demographic right at the very beginning. This type of marketing doesn't mean online marketing. Its benefits come from an offline marketing strategy. If your company is getting a large amount of this kind of traffic to your website, but you're not seeing any sense of return in purchases or new clients, then it might be time to rethink your brand. Always make sure your brand matches what you're selling and who you're selling it to.

TRAFFIC TYPE TWO: Referral Traffic!
This type of traffic comes from visitors visiting your website by outside links that are placed across the internet. If you place your links on popular webpages or forums where a lot of traffic already exists, the more likely you are to also lead this traffic to your website. If you publish an article, popular post, something that grabs an audience's attention with a call to action to visit your website, then you might find some big success using this type of traffic. Be very careful with this type of traffic though. Google can flag these posted and shared links as bots or scams. Which is the last few months, has become a very strict regime. Make sure your links have value and quality, and you post them on reputable sites. Avoid creating or posting on gimmicks, scams, and cheesy advertisement to get followers for the sake of followers. That will blow up in your face before any success comes your way.

Think about this. These are just TWO of the four ways to optimize traffic to your website. They are in-depth, but not out of reach. How are you feeling about these two types of traffic? Do they sound familiar?  Are you using them in your everyday drive to bring more traffic to your website? If you're not, try and add them to your traffic intake, and see where you are when we post the second half of this blog. You should experiment and see what you can gain by using them. Remember, you won't be losing anything by spending time cultivating these types of traffic. Try something new in your ad campaign this month. It might just completely turn around the traffic to your website, and get you on track to exactly what you want from your online business.

Until next time, work hard, stay inspired, and stay caffeinated.  

​Small businesses, be warned! Two of the most important tools in your online marketing toolbox sound very similar but they are two VERY DIFFERENT tools. It's time to break down their differences and pick the right choice for you and your company.

Happy New Year Everyone! We hope you had a wonderful holiday with your loved ones, and you're just as excited as we are to jump into 2020! One of the biggest things we were focusing on before the holidays set in was the challenges, changes, and inconsistencies of online marketing across many social media platforms. If you spend as much time as we do studying and working with advertising on places like Facebook and Instagram, you are very familiar with the fact that it changes constantly. It's hard to keep up with each change and how it affects your advertisements daily. These advertisement tools can determine your business growth and popularity online, so if you don't understand the changes in trends or are unfamiliar with the tools available to you, you could be in serious trouble. One of the biggest things we have been digging into is Geofencing and Geotargeting. This behind the scenes marketing tool can make or break an advertisement campaign without even trying. The names look so familiar, they much basically be the same thing right? Wrong! Although they are connected, you need to understand their main differences. When you understand the differences, you will be able to choose which option is best for your company. The best choice will help you gain more customers, followers, and supporters. First off, let's get down to the definitions.

GEOFENCING: Geofencing is when you draw an actual virtual fence with a predetermined chosen radius. This is used to target and connect specific people in a certain area to your advertisement. It is known to be more accurate than geotargeting. It uses GPS to make sure the audience you have targeted is being tracked and followed based on the coordinates of where they are in that exact moment they're online. When this chosen group of people is online, geofencing collects data and studies how long this chosen group of customers stays within the virtual fence and if and when they come back. This tool helps improve the engagement of local customers for your company and it can help attract customers away from your competition. The disadvantage of geofencing is that it can only target audiences based on physical location. Hand-picking demographics and certain groups of people based on anything besides location have nothing to do with who sees your geofencing advertisement.

Who is the best for? If you are interested in advertising to populations of all interests and ages in your local area, then it is a perfect tool for your company.

GEOTARGETING: This tool is very similar to Geofencing at its base. It does draw the same invisible fence, BUT demographics are included in its makeup. You create your virtual fence, and then you pick who exactly (based on age, interest, gender, etc.) will see your ad.  One of the main disadvantages is that you have to open up your advertisement geographic to a much larger area. You are being very specific about the type of people you want to see this add within a particular area So, to get as much of a result as you would with geofencing, the location needs to be larger to attract the same number of people in a geofencing situation.

Who is this best for? If you are interested in advertising to a very specific group of people inside a certain demographic or niche, then this is a perfect option for your company.

Spend time studying both options. I have just given you the very tip of the iceberg when it comes to using these tools, and there is a lot to dig into when choosing which to use. Understand how each could affect your company for the better or worse. Spend time understanding the consumers you have and those you're trying to attract. This might be the perfect opportunity to step back and define your company and who you want to serve. If you have the time and the means, experiment with both and see which outcome is best. But make sure to decide on one in the end, stick with it, and plan your advertising campaign accordingly. The work put into this decision could lead to a more dedicated consumer base and a fast conversion rate. All of us social media people love to see those numbers jump high and jump quick!

Here is to an exciting 2020, we can't wait to build a better business world with you one day at a time!