Content Contributed By Party Center Software
Congratulations! After months of hard work and long hours, your business finally has a brand new website.
Now what?
You need to focus on getting traffic to your new site.
If you’re opening up your first location, you’re going to start out with low traffic and low conversion rates. This means you aren’t getting many people visiting your site, and for those who are, only a small percentage of those people are turning into leads or customers. Picture an empty bucket with holes at the bottom.
If your business has been around for a while, but your website doesn’t have effective online booking software, you’re probably experiencing high website traffic but low conversion rates. You’re pouring lots of water into a leaky bucket.
Take a look at the quadrant map below—what quadrant do you fall under?
If you’re not doing the moonwalk just yet, it’s probably because your sales aren’t as high as you’d like (or need) them to be. To improve sales, you need to increase your website traffic and ensure your website is optimized for conversion. You need to plug the holes in your bucket so the water pouring into it doesn’t escape you.
To help your facility’s website fall into the upper-right quadrant, consider these six ways to increase website traffic and conversion rates:
6 Ways to Increase Website Traffic and Improve Conversion Rates
Start Blogging
“In 2019, HubSpot found that marketers who prioritize marketing efforts are 13x more likely to see positive ROI. Making blogging a serious portion of your day-to-day is hard work, but rewarding in that you may garner visits and leads.” (HubSpot, 2019)
With the massive opportunity for the family entertainment industry to create content, it’s surprising to see only a small number of business taking advantage of it. Yes, it may take some hard work in the beginning, but you’ll probably start thinking about it differently once you see the amount of organic traffic it can generate to your site in the long-run.
Seek Referrals
One of the most effective ways to increase traffic to your website is to ask for other businesses to link to your site on theirs. In addition to Local Citations from business directories, reach out to local companies/organizations to ask for links. You’ll increase your chances if you have a contextualized web page or blog post, but customers love seeing small businesses supporting others, so its already a “win” for their brand! Here are other helpful ways to get links to your website.
Optimize Your Emails
We’ve all heard marketers say, “email marketing is dead.” While mass email blasts may not be as effective as they used to be, people still check their emails throughout the day!
The opportunity lies in data gathering to trigger personalized, relevant emails to your target audience. For example, you may use a web form on your site to request additional guest information (e.g., zip code, first time visitor, favorite attractions, birthday, etc.) in order for them to gain access to a high-value promotional offer. By using the information correctly, you can send better emails that link to your web pages and blog posts they would be most interested in.
Include Links with Image Posts
Posting fun pictures with your customers is great, but to truly see ROI from your social media activities, you want your posts to direct them to your website. Try adding a link with your posted pictures sharing a blog post on how much exercise your kids need or to a landing page where they can fill out web form to obtain an exclusive promotional offer.
Run Paid Ads
Some of you may have already experimented with paid social ads for promotional offers. If you haven’t yet, they’re a fantastic way to attract new guests in your area. You’re able to set specific criteria so your ad reaches your target audience! Having your ad seen by the people whom it would be most relevant to is key. You can even get first-time visitors to your website to come back with re-targeting through the use of Facebook Pixels.
Utilize Your Company Page and Groups
If you’re looking to book corporate events, you and your sales team can share helpful blog posts on your LinkedIn company page and targeted LinkedIn Groups. As you can see below, a quick search for your geographical area will show potential groups to join. It may not yield a ton of traffic, but it will be more targeted.
Stay Focused on Success!
Having an online booking app on your website won’t be as effective if you’re not driving visitors to it. Following these six tips will help you to increase the number of visitors to your facility’s website, and, with great content and enough opportunities for conversion, the holes in your bucket will be fixed and water will start filling up in no time.
As you look at your website analytics, you’ll be sure to find other effective ways to increase website traffic. You might also find tactics that improve results from one of the methods listed above. If you do, we’d love for you to become a part of our Party Center Software Community Group on Facebook and share your insights with fellow members!