Traffic is a fundamental metric in determining the success of a business’s website. Whether it’s an e-commerce or local business, traffic equals conversions. Therefore, high-traffic websites typically generate more conversions than their lower traffic counterparts.
Of course, there are dozens of ways to generate website traffic. You can advertise on pay-per-click (PPC) networks like Google AdWords or Facebook Ads, publish content on social media, etc. A strategy that’s often overlooked, however, is video marketing. Using video, you can funnel highly targeted traffic to your website, all while generating more sales/conversions in the process.
Include a Call-to-Action
When publishing videos for the purpose of driving website traffic, be sure to include a call-to-action, such as “visit our site today to learn more.” Depending on the channel on which you publish your videos, you may have the option to include a hyperlink as well. This is essential if you want to funnel users from the video to your website, as users are more likely to click a link than type your site’s web address in their browser.
Promote Your Videos
You should also get into the habit of actively promoting your videos. Sharing links to your videos on Facebook, Twitter and other social media networks, for instance, is a simple and effective way to increase views. And with more video views, your website will receive more traffic as well.
Publish Informational ‘How To’ Videos
Your videos don’t have to be strictly promotional. In fact, publishing informational “how to” videos can help you reach a larger market and boost your website’s traffic. You can publish these videos directly on your site, in which case users will find them naturally. Alternatively, you can publish them on a third-party channel like YouTube, in which case you’ll need to funnel them to your site with a call-to-action and link, as mentioned above.
“How to” videos have become increasingly popular in recent years, attesting to the effectiveness of this digital marketing tactic. Earlier this year, Google published a report on the most common “how to” searches from 2004 to 2017. According to the report, some of the top “how to” searches for this period include “how to tie a tie,” “how to kiss,” “how to lose weight,” “how to draw,” how to make money” and “how to make pancakes.
Google further breaks down the most popular categories for “how to” searches, including cooking, romance, coming-of-age, technical and health. Regardless of your business’s niche or industry, it can probably benefit from publishing “how to” videos.
Publish Product Videos
Assuming your business sells a product, consider publishing product videos to drive traffic to your website. These videos should explain your product and its benefits. If a prospect is interested in buying your product, he or she may search for it online.
Not only will product videos boost your website’s traffic, they can also increase its conversion rate. Statistics show that website visitors are up to 85% more likely to buy a product after watching a video about the product.
Quality Over Quantity
Rather than publishing dozens of low-quality videos, try publishing just a few high-quality videos. Some businesses follow the spray-and-pray method by producing and publishing countless videos, only to discover that it offers minimal results. A smarter and more effective approach is to invest in professionally produced videos for your business. Just a few of these high-quality, professionally produced videos will prove far more effective than dozens of low-quality, do-it-yourself videos.
Create Teaser Videos
Another video marketing tactic that can be used to drive website traffic involves creating teaser videos. Basically, this involves teasing the user with a small amount of content or information in the video and encouraging him or her to visit your website for the rest of the content or information.
Include Captions
It’s not uncommon for users to watch online videos with their speakers turned off. As a result, videos that rely on sound are often ineffective at funneling traffic and engaging viewers. There are a few solutions to overcome this hurdle: you can either produce your videos without sound, or you can include captions/subtitles, the latter of which is typically most effective.
You see, including captions in your videos provides search engines with additional content. When search engines crawl your videos, they’ll read this text and use this information to determine an appropriate ranking. Long story short, including captions in your videos can help you achieve higher search rankings for your videos. Alternately, use on-screen text to help boost the effectiveness of narration.
Encourage Viewers to Share
Finally, encourage viewers to share your videos with friends and family. If the videos are published directly on your site, for instance, you can include social media sharing buttons for convenient sharing. This way, users can click the share button to instantly share it on their respective social media profiles.
Video is just one of many tools that businesses can use to drive website traffic. If you want to boost your site’s traffic, you should use other traffic-generating tactics as well.
