If you’re a business owner or marketing manager, chances are you have already mapped out the digital strategies you want to implement in 2019. If this isn’t the case and you’ve been sidetracked by the holidays and hot weather, don’t despair. We have you covered with 5 online marketing strategies guaranteed to increase website traffic.

The best thing about these strategies is they are all free! And you don’t need to be an SEO guru to implement them. Just set aside some time, put together a solid framework and you will be on your way to increasing your online exposure.

1. Setup a GMB listing

GMB stands for Google My Business and if you have a physical location where you do business, then you simply MUST have a GMB listing. This will allow you to show up in the Google map results, opening the door to a tonne of local traffic.

Setup a Google account for your business (if you haven’t already), and then follow these steps:

  • Search your location to see if there is already an auto-generated listing for your business.
  • If so, click on ‘Claim Listing’. If not, you can ‘Create a new Listing’.
  • Fill in all the business information and make sure it’s correct.
  • Search for a relevant Primary Category for your business.
  • Add all other relevant categories too (only choose relevant ones though!).
  • Add photos (be sure to include keywords in the filenames and geotag all images)
  • Verify your listing via postcard.

A recent audit of 9392 Google My Business listings found that 27% had no website link.

So make sure you add your website URL within your GMB account, or risk missing out on lots of potential traffic!


Your ranking in the map results will depend on a number of factors:

  • Relevance of your business
  • Proximity of your business to the searcher
  • Use of keywords and location on your website
  • Number and quality of Google reviews
  • Number of citations (such as local business directory listings)
  • Consistency of your NAP (name, address, phone)
  • Authority of your website

If you’d like assistance with any of these strategies, you may want to consider our SEO services.

2. Submit your website to local business directories

This is a great way to not only help your rankings on the map results, but this strategy will also result in more direct traffic to your website. Most local Australian business directories offer a free submission option, and this is what we recommend. It will allow your business details, a link to your website, and usually multiple images and your brand logo. It’s recommended to write as much as possible in the business description and always make this unique for each directory.

A lot of the directories will try and upsell you to a “premium” listing that will place your business higher on their site and/or increase the features you can use. Some will even call you to try and get you to upgrade. But in reality, a premium listing will not provide any additional SEO benefit and the free listing (if done correctly) will give your domain a boost thanks to the authority gained from the link and the citation with your NAP. So, if you get offered an upgrade, politely decline. Your money is better invested elsewhere.

Here are some of the local directories we recommend submitting your website to:

https://www.yellowpages.com.au

https://www.truelocal.com.au

https://www.hotfrog.com.au

https://nationaldirectory.com.au/

https://www.dlook.com.au/

https://www.startlocal.com.au/

We have curated a list of over 40 quality local business directories that will help you increase website traffic and dominate the map results. Contact us today to discuss an SEO campaign that will take care of all this for you, as well as other powerful techniques.

3. Embrace Content Marketing

Google loves content. But it needs to be fresh, informative and regular! Making sure your target pages are loaded with useful and enticing information is crucial for any business, but on top of this, posting blog articles on your website is one of the best online marketing strategies you can do.

If your company provides solar panels and you have regular blog posts talking about solar energy, battery storage, renewables, etc, Google will view your website as having a lot of relevant info about that niche and help it rank better for your main keywords. Especially if you link back to your target pages from these articles with suitable anchor text. Some of these blog posts can also be optimised for long tail keywords, giving your website more chances to rank for more phrases.

The more high quality articles you have, there will be an increased likelihood others will share or link to them, giving you more exposure, and more rankings. Another great benefit of having lots of informative, useful articles is that people will view your business as an expert in your niche. This will drastically increase your credibility and result in more potential customers on your website actually contacting you. Before focusing on content, make sure your website design is awesome first. No matter how good your articles are, they won’t be shared if your site looks average.

4. Be All Over Social Media

We all know the power of social media, but a lot of online marketing experts will tell you to pick one platform and focus on that. However, setting up a profile for your business on a wide range of social platforms not only increases your exposure, but also the number of strong authority websites linking back to yours.

Simply setting up a profile on each one won’t suddenly shoot you to the top of Google though. To make the link back to your website count, you want each of these social profiles to be considered quality. Hence, you need to be active on them, posting information, answering questions, sharing with others.

If one of your team doesn’t have hours to spend a week on social, just pick the top platforms. Think Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Tumblr, YouTube. Having all these active social profiles will also increase your credibility in both users and Google’s eyes. Find the biggest Facebook pages relating to your niche (or news pages talking about the type of products or services you offer) and actively comment with insight or helpful information. This is an easy way to get more eyes on your profile and build your followers.

5. Participate in Forums

 Similar to social media, if your brand is active on forums you can easily increase your online presence for free. Find relevant threads and join in the discussions, adding value and enhancing your credibility.

Reddit, Tumblr and Quora are other great places to take part in a conversation, adding your expertise and putting your brand in front of more eyes. Knowing people’s pain points can also give you ideas for blog articles to post on your website. And if done right, you can naturally add a link to these blogs which people will find super helpful, whilst at the same time, enhancing your SEO.

If you like the sound of these strategies but don’t have the time to implement them, our team can take care of them for you as part of an SEO campaign.