For online businesses, a high-performing website that encourages engagement and conversions is the key to successful growth. It often takes time to build up a steady stream of website visitors and consistent buyers. However, there are some things you can do to help accelerate the process.
If you want to scale your site visits and engagement, try these 13 growth hacks recommended by the experts of Young Entrepreneur Council.
Photos courtesy of the individual members.
1. Focus On SEO
Search engine optimization is a great way to increase your online presence and drive people to your website organically. SEO is effective because you sprinkle in special keywords in the written content on your site. Those keywords will in turn drive people to your site because they use the same exact keywords when searching for something on Google. – Patrick Barnhill, Specialist ID, Inc.
2. Run A/B Tests
Lower your customer acquisition costs through multiple rounds of A/B testing. Once you’ve hit your targeted acquisition rate, deploy large amounts of marketing capital through that funnel. This has proven to be effective because, as you begin to understand your target audience, it becomes easier to predict their behaviors and tendencies. – Jordan Edelson, Appetizer Mobile LLC
3. Launch Retargeting Campaigns
Launching retargeting campaigns as part of your online growth strategy is one of the most effective approaches. In fact, it often achieves greater results and exceeds conversion rates of regular advertisements. Retargeting allows you to focus on shoppers with high intent to purchase, in addition to decreasing acquisition cost. – Blair Thomas, eMerchantBroker
4. Develop Comprehensive Customer Personas
I think the key to website success is developing comprehensive customer personas. You’re going to have a hard time growing your business if you’re not sure who to target. Review your website analytics and feedback forms so you can learn more about the people that frequent your website. Use this information to create compelling content and offers that are geared towards those users. – John Turner, SeedProd LLC
5. Experiment Often
In growth hacking or growth marketing, rapid growth can be achieved by carrying out experiments. You can do split tests to see what keywords, prices and offerings create the best results for your audience. When you find something that works, leverage the experiment by scaling it up and applying it to your marketing activities. In this way, an experimental mindset helps you grow your business fast. – Syed Balkhi, WPBeginner
6. Expand Your Pinterest Presence
Whether you own an e-commerce website, run a blog or lead a service-based business, develop an audience on Pinterest to send back to your website. Create content and visuals that represent your brand to attract website traffic, and use links back to blog posts with content upgrades. This will be one of the most effective ways to build an engaged audience. – Kristin Kimberly Marquet, Marquet Media, LLC
7. Tap Into Your Network
To accelerate your online growth, don’t underestimate what your networking connections can do for you. Knowing the right people can make all the differences in the direction your company goes in. A few positive endorsements from well-known entrepreneurs and leaders can put your foot in the door for more great opportunities. – Jared Atchison, WPForms
8. Be Customer-Centric
To accelerate your business growth, you need to create customer-centric strategies that focus on your buyers and their needs. If a company develops a plan based on the results instead of the data and people they serve, then it’s clear why they aren’t reaching the level of success they want. When your customers know that you want to provide for them, they’re sure to come back. – Stephanie Wells, Formidable Forms
9. Build A Brand Community
Do whatever it takes to create a community around your website, brand or products. You can do that through social media, user-generated content, guest posts, email newsletters and more. By inviting people into your world, you’re helping them get invested in your business, making it easier for them to become loyal fans and customers. – Thomas Griffin, OptinMonster
10. Provide Value And Education Through Content
Creating great content isn’t a “quick fix” hack, but it is the best strategy for the long-term. By creating high-quality content that actually educates and engages your audience, you are giving them a reason to return to your site and making your company stay top-of-mind for them. – Kelsey Raymond, Influence & Co.
11. Devote Resources To Content Promotion
Don’t just create good content—promote it. I see many organizations making this mistake. They invest time and money in creating great content and posting it online, but nothing happens. So they get frustrated, thinking that content marketing doesn’t help them grow. Promoting your content doesn’t make you intrusive. It only puts you in front of the right people—those who are interested anyway. – Solomon Thimothy, OneIMS
12. Build An Email List Before Your Site Launches
Many people often wait until the day of their website launch to start building an email list. A powerful way to build an audience and grow your business even before it’s launched is to create a “coming soon” page. Here, you can create a registration form and add a countdown timer. A “coming soon” page will help you build an email list and nurture your audience even before your business opens. – Blair Williams, MemberPress
13. Review Your Analytics
The key to boosting your growth is to look over your analytics. Data from your website, social media and email campaigns can help you make smart marketing decisions. For instance, if you notice that a majority of people across all platforms are clamoring for a specific feature, you can quickly add it. Using your data in this way can boost customer satisfaction, retention, sales and traffic. – John Brackett, Smash Balloon LLC
