Getting traffic to your website has proven difficult for most small businesses. This common challenge faced by small business is mostly a result of poor search engine optimization (SEO). As a business with a website, you expect that your investment in a website will contribute to the overall success of your business. What do you do when you realize that your website is a "white-elephant" and even worse a liability to your business. We have put together this blog as a list of tasks that you can do to direct more traffic to your website. Depending on what the main objective is that you decided to launch a website for your business, below you might find some things you can do to optimize for that objective.

Here are a few ways to get more traffic to your website, these are not an exhaustive list but should put you on the path to generating more traffic to your website. Use these and other resources on the internet to getting more information about search optimization.

1. Optimize your on-page SEO
The titles and sub-titles on your pages should clearly define what you want your target audience to know about your business. For instance, having a title like, Lawyer based in Johannesburg, will optimize that particular page for local search. Most people search for products and services near them in search engines.

2. Make sure to register on Google my business
Should someone search for " a lawyer near me" in the Johannesburg area, your business will show in the results listed once you register your business on Google maps. Make sure that you add pictures of products or your premises to show the culture of your business. You should actively manage this channel. It will prove as a great resource of traffic to your website.

3. List on Business Directories
Listing your business on a local directory does not only allow for the opportunity that users of that directory might click on your listing and visit your website but it also helps with your ranking. Directories like "Yellow Pages" are a good place to start, there are also a lot of free directories to list on

4. Social Media optimization
To generate traffic from your social media channels you need to optimize your content and ensure that you post and share regularly where your most active users are, e.g. for b2b marketing LinkedIn is the best. Once you've analyzed your optimal channels you can create content to direct followers to your website

5. Pay for traffic
Important when using paid search marketing to generate traffic to your website is whether you will be getting the right bang for your buck. What we mean here is, will you be seeing an acceptable level of ROI. When using PPC (pay per click), use a keyword planner to analyze the keywords that you wish to advertise for. This will allow you to see the volume, competition and cost per click (CPC) and you can strategize on how to best optimize your budget and take advantage of long-tail keywords.

These few points should give a good starting point to generate more traffic to your website. What you should also consider is, what actions do you want visitors to take once they visit your website. What value can you share and how do you capture and generate leads through your website. Your website statistics should give more insights into where your traffic is coming from and you can use that to optimize resources, content and channels.

For more on how to improve your business online, check back here. We will share regular tips, tricks and methods to grow your business online.