3 Crucial Elements of a Website that Drives Traffic Naturally

Everyone has a different opinion on how to drive traffic to a website. Instead of asking what other people think, ask what other websites do that makes them so successful.

Look at some top-ranking websites overall, and the leaders in your industry or niche. There’s a reason they drive traffic like a moth to a flame. In fact, there are a few reasons.

If you want to step up your game, look at the following elements that all successful websites have.

Site Design and Navigation

The difference between good and bad website design is like the difference between a traditional retail store and a flea market.

Retail stores typically feature a neat, organized appearance with specific traffic flow navigation and easy-to-find products. A flea market is usually a little more disorganized and chaotic.

If you’re willing to work for it, you can find some gems, but they aren’t for everyone.

With websites, no one is looking for a flea market.

People want websites that are intuitive, well-designed, and easy to navigate. People visit a website with a purpose, and if you fulfill that purpose, it will satisfy them, and they will probably visit your website again.

The biggest elements of this include:

• Navigational Tools
• Basic Information (including readily available contact info)
• Transparency
• Pricing Information
• Simple Layouts

Check out these tips from Forbes on improving website design.

Quality Content

To weed out the spam and junk, search engine giants have adapted their algorithms to scan content for quality, context, readability, and other elements. There are literally millions of websites out there today, and yours needs to stand out.

Quality content is one of the most valuable ways to do that. It allows you to present yourself as an authority in the industry and shows your customer base you care enough to provide them with the information and resources they need.

Fortunately, there are a lot of tools available to help you create and share content. Tools like Microsoft OneDrive have online interfaces that make collaborating and sharing content across platforms and users easier than ever.

You can also find a variety of content management platforms if you aren’t building on a WordPress site or another platform that has an integrated CMS (Content Management System).

SEO

Unlike in the past when you could just select a high-ranking keyword and insert it all over your website to improve rankings, SEO requires a little more effort these days.

Google and other search engines are indexing for quality, relevance, usability, and so many other elements beyond keywords. Your website needs to be ready for this to achieve the best rankings in search results.

Optimizing your website for SEO starts with knowing where to focus. Content titles should always catch the reader’s eye and contain relevant keywords.

You can’t just use the keyword as the title, either. Readers and search engines alike want more content.

For example, if your keyword is Business Insurance in Seattle, you could choose a title like:

5 Tips for Getting the Best Business Insurance in Seattle

Or

Business Insurance in Seattle: Insider Tips, Tricks, and Ways to Save

One important tip here: don’t use “clickbait” titles. Unless you live offline and don’t use social media, you’ve likely seen these titles before.

They’re the ones that read more like tabloid headlines or use shock to grab your attention:

You Won’t Believe How Much Weight This Woman Lost with Keto Dieting!

The problem with getting rid of clickbait is that it works, most times. However, if you go back to the importance of reputable, quality information on your website, this is where it becomes an issue.

Search engines can identify clickbait and misleading content, and they will flag you for it every single time.

Stick to the truth.

In today’s internet, that’s probably more shocking than anything.

Other SEO areas to focus on

There are many details that work toward optimizing your website for better rankings. That includes adding inbound and outbound links to your content.

Also, using relevant keywords, including long-tail and latent semantic indexing keywords complements the main keyword a certain page on your website is targeting.

And again, maintain the quality of your content (a third mention must mean this is important — pay attention!).

Besides those elements, there are a few more that add up to both better user experience and increased organic traffic levels. 

Page Speed

Your page speed score needs to be high for both mobile and desktop access. Today, a matter of seconds can be too slow for some users. Make sure you’re choosing simple layouts and not bogging the site down with ads, videos, or other heavy content.

Test your page speed at least a few times during the website building process and you will find much better success by knowing where lags are and how to speed things up.

Use this Page Speed Test to test your site.

Mobile-Friendly Website First

A few years ago, Google decided that it will base ranking results on mobile websites first when indexing websites. It’s no longer about offering a mobile option.

You need to design for mobile FIRST. By focusing on a simple design and quick page loads, your mobile website will set you up for a solid desktop site and give you the traffic you need.

You can use this mobile-friendly test to check your website for mobile indexing compatibility.

Copy the Best

These are only five of the many elements you’ll find in websites that consistently drive traffic. If you want to succeed with the best of them, cheat.

Find the websites you admire or use the most and those that always have high traffic rates. See what they’re doing that sets them apart.

Then, you can take notes, come up with your own plan, and follow suit.

In no time, you’ll be on your way to more traffic.