How To Drive Traffic To Your Small Business Website Content Seen Without Relying On Facebook

** Updated September 11, 2022 **

Let’s face it. Facebook is not the powerhouse for driving traffic to your small business website that it used to be. 

We’re not making any accusations, but for many people it does seem like links to external websites, like your small business website for example, are being suppressed right along side so called “Fake News” websites. 

While Facebook is trying to solve one problem, they are creating another problem for millions of small businesses trying to drive traffic to their website.

At the same time, Facebook’s almost unrelenting increase in requests for dollars to promote the link to your website also seems to correlate with a drastic drop in traffic going to some people’s websites if they do not buy ads. 

Among those who do buy ads, there are concerns that many people do not receive the hundreds and thousands of views that are implied in Facebook’s sales process. In fact,  some people find that once they advertise they have to keep doing it or their traffic drops to below pre-advertising levels.

Lastly, while the amount of Facebook users continue to grow, as an organization Meta has taken several severe credibility hits over information sharing and apps that breach user data. So much so that many people are hesitant to click a link that they find on Facebook unless they know the business. That’s not good if you’re trying to reach new markets, especially if you’ve paid to boost posts and increase traffic to your website.

An undeniable fact is that if you’re seeing a drop in website traffic as a result of the above, then chances are you are relying too much on Facebook as a means to generate traffic to your small business website.

So what can you do about it? Below are some ways to drive traffic to your website without leaning so heavily on Facebook.

1. Start using or relaunch your email or newsletter system. Email marketing is still growing. Major companies are increasing their email marketing efforts while decreasing spending and efforts in other areas.
   
   Email marketing is very cost effective and can be personalized to your client’s specific wants and needs.
   
   Make sure to provide good content, and to not always be pushing sales. Email marketing is part of relationship marketing and so it takes a bit of time. Don’t rush it, but do have specific marketing goals and a timeline attached to those goals.
   
   
2. Make sure you’re sharing your content on other social media sites as well. This seems obvious, but you’d be surprised how many people forget to do this. If you do not have any social media presence beyond Facebook, now is the time to start looking for new platforms that will help you get in front of your ideal client.
   
   
3. Content marketing is one of the best ways to get found online, but it’s a long game. There are no short cuts.
   
   The downside is that using effective key words and phrases that your ideal client is searching for takes some extra effort to develop. Also, it can take time for Google, Bing, Yahoo and all other search engines to index your content properly.
   
   The upside is that your content will be available to a wider audience for a longer time and in particular to people who are looking to purchase what you have to offer.
   
   
4. Buying online ads can be a very effective way to increase traffic to your website, but you need to know what results you want, set a budget and have a plan in place for managing your ad campaign. Your plan should also cover what to do if things are not going as planned.
   
   If you have no experience in this area, it is best to work with an experienced digital marketing firm that can help you define your goals, make adjustments and get best value for your campaign spend.

Using any of these methods requires knowing how many visitors go to your website as well as where those visitors are coming from. You should also know how many pages your visitors go to on each visit (at least an average) and which pages are the most popular.

A Digital Marketing article from the experienced Team @ ORP.ca

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