In order to have a successful web presence, you know that you need to generate as much traffic to your website, blog or social media pages as possible. Many companies do this by advertising their sites on other marketing channels, creating digital advertisements that lead to their sites, linking to their sites from other sites and implementing SEO and SEM tactics.
What your company also needs to realize is that there’s another great tool you can use to generate website traffic—your customers. Not only can they help advocate for your brand, but by paying attention to the way that your customers talk, you can create the right keywords to help your SEO.
Natural voice is easier to read.
Customers are more willing to visit websites that they can understand, and if your website copy is written in a natural way, then your customers will be able to easily understand the information that you’re trying to say. This means that while you’re writing your website copy, you need to need to use simple words and phrases. If you’re using complex vocabulary, you’ll turn your audience away.
Keep an eye out for nicknames.
It’s possible that your company, products or services have earned nicknames from your consumers, and you need to make sure that you incorporate these nicknames into your SEO and keyword strategies. For example, Coca-Cola also goes by the name of Coke, so when the company generates keywords for its website, it needs to combine a healthy mix of both in order to gain visibility for both names.
Knowing the nicknames of your business, products or services requires you to pay extra attention to the way that your customers talk about you. Get on social networking sites, check out review websites and even perform search engine searches on yourself to see what comes up. You’ll then have a better understanding of how your customers perceive your company, and you can use this information to your advantage. For example, if the real name of your company isn’t generating much traffic to your website, you’ll want to see what type of traffic the nickname is producing, and you just may find that the nickname provides you with a better ranking than your real name.
Accept user generated content.
Allowing your customers to write content for your website is another great way to have them increase your website traffic. You can do this in many ways. You can accept customer reviews or testimonials right on your site (or you can claim your business on popular review sites and allow your customers to generate traffic for you through these platforms), and you can accept guest blog posts or comments on your company’s blog. Allowing users to generate content on your site enables them to speak in their own natural voice. Not only does this resonate well with your customers, but it can also help boost your online visibility.
Jessica Brown is a business manager and reputation management expert. She enjoys blogging and often gives tips for content development and reputation management.