Ranking highly in Google is something that many small companies will struggle with because there is no way that they are going to outrank bigger companies who are already well established on Google.
What this means for you is that you need to be smarter with your strategy if you want to naturally rank higher on Google. Many small businesses tend to focus on things like long tail phrases and various other keywords to achieve higher rankings in Google’s SERPS (search engine result pages). Unfortunately too many companies make ranking within Google the focal point of their digital strategy and many of them will never attain it.
The problem is that many companies simply don’t have the budget to be able to generate the kind of rankings on Google that will outrank bigger companies. The best way for small businesses to rank highly on Google is to focus on building their Google traffic organically through a variety of sources.
There are ten ways that you can do this without focusing on Google specifically.
1. Commenting On Blogs
Blog commenting is a great way to get your business ranking higher in Google. There are going to be many businesses within your niche with blogs that you can comment on. The way you approach blog commenting is to read the post thoroughly and then comment on the post with a comment that is meaningful and adds to the discussion.
The whole point of blog commenting is to add value to a conversation and it’s also a great way to connect and build relationships with people in your industry.
Pro Tip: If you have content on your site related to the post then use that URL as a link rather than the home page because this will help improve user experience.
2. Submit Articles On Content Aggregators
You need to have great content if you want to get traffic to your website. The way to get traffic to your website is to use content aggregators. There are some popular content aggregators such as:
Alltop - calls itself the online magazine rack of the Web.
BizSugar.com - a community of small business owners and entrepreneurs.
Growth Hackers - a community sharing online marketing techniques.
Hacker News - a social news website that caters to programmers and entrepreneurs.
Inbound.org - a community sharing and discussing content and online marketing ideas.
Pro Tip: Make sure your content is relevant and highly useful. It’s also important you read the submission guidelines and don’t submit content to unrelated aggregator sites.
3. Comment On Forums In Your Niche
Forum commenting is a great way that you can generate organic traffic to your site. The great thing about forums is that there are literally dozens of conversations happening on the Web right now that are related to your niche. All you need to do is find them and contribute something useful.
The same rules that apply with blog commenting apply with forum commenting. You need to post comments that add to the discussion and you will get the most reward for your efforts. If you are seen as someone who is an authority because of the way you add to a discussion then you are going to drive a lot of traffic to your site over the long term.
Pro Tip: Google is the best way to find related forums for your niche. Join the forum, follow the rules and actively participate in the discussions. Don’t engage in self-promotion because it will end up backfiring. Instead focus on adding value to every discussion.
4. Using Google+
Google+ is a great way to drive traffic organically and the great thing is it can drive traffic even if you don’t have followers. The biggest strength of Google+ is its communities because it’s the same deal with forums. The participants are going to be people who are highly interested in the topic so they make great prospects.
Pro Tip: Be sure to join the leading communities in your niche. Make sure you are active in the communities you join. Be sure to provide useful information to other members, answer questions, and give +1s to others posts. Once you’ve established yourself as an authority in your industry you can post an occasional link or even a related blog post you’ve written.
5. Use Strategic Guest Blogging
Guest blogging is one of the most effective ways you can generate traffic and has been for a long time. Guest blogging is not necessarily about getting links but more about leveraging traffic and building yourself as an authority in your niche.
There are two things that are accomplished when you post on a popular blog:
1. Establishing yourself as an authority in your niche.
2. A portion of the blog readers will end up becoming customers for your product or service.
Pro Tip: There is a great way to get started with guest posting and it’s by reading, “Power Guest Posting for SEO.”
6. Q & A Platforms
There are some great Q & A sites like Quora and Yahoo Answers that provide opportunities to generate targeted traffic. If you can provide a helpful answer to someone then they just may end up becoming a customer for life.
Pro Tip: The point of using this is to provide useful information so don’t go spamming these sites by asking and answering your own questions.
7. Find Subreddits On Reddit
Reddit is worth exploring if you can find a niche or subreddit that has a decent amount of subscribers. The key here is to make sure you create useful content relevant to the subreddit. If you do this then you will find that a portion of readers will click through to your site and become customers.
As is normal in every community it’s important to make sure you contribute to any discussions in the community. Reddit has a voting system so you better make sure you are posting great content or otherwise it will get voted down. If you post good content often enough then you will establish your reputation.
Pro Tip: Before posting anything do some research first and see what kind of subreddits are typically voted up. Once you get an idea for the kind of content people like you can create content that is geared around that and increase your chances of having your content voted up.
8. Use Social Media To Your Advantage
This one is pretty simple. Make sure your Facebook profile is optimized and then direct traffic to your site. You can even use ads to generate traffic to your site as well. Make sure that you post regularly and post content that is useful and interesting to your readers.
Pro Tip: There are other social media platforms such as Twitter, Vine, and Instagram that are also worth exploring if you have the time and resources to test them out.
9. YouTube Is A Great Source Of Traffic
YouTube is a great way to generate traffic because it’s the second largest search engine on the Web. That means it is bigger than Yahoo, Bing, Ask, and AOL combined and has amazing potential to generate traffic to your website.
The best performing videos on YouTube tend to be how-to’s. There are all sorts of videos on YouTube and the best performing ones tend to be niche videos. If you can create a great niche video then you have the potential to generate thousand of new visitors to your site.
Pro Tip: Read this to get started with YouTube - 5 Advanced YouTube SEO Tactics to Drive More Traffic To Your Videos & Website.
10. The Power Of Email Marketing
Email is a great way to get your message delivered and every business should be building an email list. It is easy to get started with as well especially with services like Mailchimp so there’s no reason to not be using this service.
Conversion rates also tend to be much higher with email going at 3.34 percent. Compare this with search at 1.94 percent and social at 0.79 percent and you’ll see that this is a very productive form of marketing.
Pro Tip: Make sure to A/B test your emails. Even doing things like changing the subject line can make a big difference.
In Summary
These are the ten most effective ways that you can naturally generate traffic from Google to your website. Unless you are a big company you are going to struggle to outrank bigger companies when it comes to specific keywords and long tail keywords. Using the ten methods listed above will help you naturally rank higher in Google over the long run. If you use these strategies then you’ll eventually experience success with your Google ranking.
How many of the methods above have you implemented before? And have you had much success with them?
Christian Michaels