There are well over 1.5 billion websites on the internet today.
Although only 200 million of these sites are actually active, that’s still a lot of competition for new website owners. How do you make yourself stand out from the crowd?
With great website ideas for beginners, that’s how.
If you’re new to websites, it’s not enough to post content and hope for page views and conversions. There are strategies for making a website successful. In this guide, we’ll give you 8 ideas for creating the best website you can.
Aim for Organic Traffic
Organic traffic is the key to website success. Research shows that the most popular websites get 51% of their traffic from an organic search.
But what is organic traffic? It’s people visiting your website as a result of natural, unpaid, and editorial search results on search engines. When a user searches for terms that are related to content on your page and clicks in, that’s organic traffic.
Traffic is important to your website success because the more often your website receives clicks, the more you can expect to convert your users. Conversions are most often related to sales. They can also refer to any action you want your users to ultimately take.
Create Good Content
It’s not enough for you to post content on your site and hope for the best. Your content has to be both consistent and high-quality.
High-quality means that you are providing value to your users. You’re teaching them something new or solving their problems through your posts.
Posting low-quality content isn’t going to drive organic traffic. That’s because search engines can tell the difference between high- and low-quality content.
Bad content won’t help you rank in search results. Whereas valuable content will increase your rank, drive traffic, and in turn drive conversions.
Use Long Tail Key Phrases
Keywords help drive organic traffic to your page. It’s a strategy that involves researching the commonly used search terms and inserting them into your content wherever possible.
You have two choices when it comes to using keywords:
- You can use broad keywords that have a high search volume and a lot of competition.
- You can use long tail key phrases that have lower search volume but less competition,
When you go with option 1, the likelihood that the term is searched increases. However, you’re competing with thousands of other people using them and have less chance of ranking high for their use.
Instead, try option 2. Long tail key phrases can attract more targeted traffic to your site. The more targeted our traffic is, the better the chance that the user needs your product or service and will convert.
You can use keyword research tools to help build your library of potential keywords. For more on the best research tools, check out this helpful review.
Engage Your Audience
You can engage your audience with reviews, comments, and social media.
If you’re a business, you’re likely being reviewed on Yelp, Google, Facebook, or one of many review platforms. By responding to reviews, you engage directly with your clients and develop relationships with them. It’s also an opportunity to show your dedication to your product and positively shape the conversation about your brand.
Reviews and comments also give you a chance to get creative with your topics. Listen to your reader’s suggestions and give them the content they’re actually asking for. This ensures you’ll have return traffic and that you’re providing valuable, desirable information.
Build an E-mail List
You can build an e-mail list by creating an e-book or newsletter subscription. Whichever way you choose to do it, start building an e-mail list of people who visit your website.
While an e-mail list is a great way to reach your target audience when you’re trying to sell something, it’s also useful when you’re not selling anything. It gives you a way to reach an audience that is independent of search ranking.
Whenever you publish new content, send an e-mail out to your subscribers.
Know the Importance of a CTA
A CTA is a call to action. It entices your user to perform a specific act. For example, “buy now” or “subscribe here” are common calls to action.
Include CTA’s wherever you can. You can’t rely on your users to share your content, subscribe to your e-mail list, or follow you on social media platforms. You have to entice them to do this after you’ve provided them with valuable information.
Finish all your posts with a call to action. This can be anything from signing up to your newsletter to following you on Twitter. Try something like “if you enjoyed this post, please feel free to share it or follow me on Twitter.”
The goal here is to increase your traffic through shares and regular visitors to your website. Don’t forget to share your own posts and share them often. Sharing and re-sharing your own posts is a smart way to drive traffic.
Write Long Posts
This goes hand in hand with providing quality content. It’s not enough to post short blog posts with very little value. Your blog posts should also be significant in length.
Longer blog posts tend to get more share on social media. And more shares means more traffic coming to your site.
Aim for posts that are between 3,000 and 10,000 words in length. These get 2 times the amount of social media shares when compared with posts that are less than 1,000 words. Just make sure you’re not compromising on quality when trying to increase your word count.
Be Patient
You’ve probably read articles and heard stories about people making 6 figures through their website and blog. But these success stories don’t happen overnight.
You’ll have to invest a lot of time into your website before you start seeing anything significant. This is in terms of both traffic and money.
While a successful website doesn’t require a large monetary investment, it does take your hard work in proving consistent, high-quality content. But if you follow the tips above, you’ll slowly start seeing increased traffic on your site that will bring more and more conversions.
More Website Ideas For Beginners
If you’re new to the online market, these website ideas for beginners will get you started on the right track. The most important thing to note is the importance of driving organic traffic and the methods of doing so. Focus on providing value to your target audience first and foremost and the rest will follow.
But if you’re looking for more advice and tips on how to be successful, check out our blog. It’s full of helpful information for newbies to pros.