Top 9 Channels of Digital Marketing to Increase Your Traffic Now!

There is no way around it. If you have a business website, you’re going to need visitors and traffic. If you ask any entrepreneur in the world what they would like most in the world, and they’ll probably tell you “more customers.”

So after spending decades staring at Google Analytics for my customer’s websites, I’d like to share with you the “Top 9 Digital Marketing Channels” I see most often and how you can increase your website traffic.

Before we jump right in, you may be asking yourself?

“Do I really know what digital marketing is?”

If you answered no, that’s okay. You may not know if you should start with a great article or blog post or focus on email marketing. We will ensure you know the best way forward by implementing the secrets of search engine marketers.

Digital marketing is not just a buzzword thrown around at SEO events. You need to understand as a business owner the top 9 types of digital marketing. You should after reading this article has a steady roadmap of action steps to stay afloat in a sea of fierce digital competition and stand out from the crowd.

In this article, we’ll discuss the how to optimize each channel for maximum benefit. We’ll go over and teach you how to use 9 types of digital marketing. By the end, you’ll feel confident in your ability to employ digital marketing as an effective part of your overall marketing strategy.

Let’s Drive-In!

Increase Traffic with These 9 Digital Marketing Channels

Organic Search – Digital Traffic Channel #1

Everyone wants to be at the top of the search results because they know that not only is it one of the top traffic channels, it is also converts more traffic into leads than any other (3x times on Average).

WHY?

Two reasons really…

1) It can directly answer someone’s query online or solve a problem or pain point for a question in search (user intent).

2) People often favor organic listings over paid search ads because they know great content belongs at the top and it earned its place to be there!

Now that we know that organic search is going to get traffic to your website, quality traffic that converts… How do we get more?

Say hello to Blogging and Content Marketing!

Starting a blog is the best way of getting more keywords to the top of Google! If you are looking for ways to get started you can visit one of my favorite sites CopyBlogger for some great blogging tips!

Now, content marketing can be a pretty large topic, but if we break it down into a few simple steps you will have an action plan to put into place.

• Create a Content Creation Schedule (Grab our template!)
• Start with Content Idealization (Answer the Public)
• Do proper keyword research (SEMrush)
• Utilize a On-Page SEO Plugin (Our Agency Uses Yoast SEO)
• Share Your Content on Social Media (Hootsuite or Buffer App)
• Start Content Promotion (Ninja Outreach)

Look what happened to this company’s traffic after they implemented a content marketing plan and adhered to a blogging schedule. (just 2x blog posts per month!)

The result was 8x-10x the website traffic, we had Sooo many keywords phrases ranked high in Google search! Site was pulling in around 1500 visitors per month just by consistently creating new pieces of long form content.  

Direct – Digital Traffic Channel #2

Strictly speaking, direct traffic happens when someone navigates to your website by typing your website URL into their browser’s address bar. However, in Google Analytics, direct traffic numbers can sometimes be inflated because traffic from unrecognized sources is also counted as direct traffic.

Most people don’t know this but the online world is often times just a digital representation of real life and ultimately Google is looking for Brand Recognition just as consumers are when they are shopping.

So, How do we win Mastery over this Channel?

Brand Your Business Well.

Ensure you have a well-designed website with a consistent logo, color scheme, and message. Work on things like your vision, ideal client, and clear message. They matter more than you think, here is an amazing article by Godaddy about Visual Branding online. After you have the look and feel of your business down to a science start marketing yourself in the following ways…

• Business Cards
• Vehicle Lettering
• Invoicing / Receipts
• Letterhead & Footer
• Email Signatures
• Networking & Speaking Events
• Signage / Billboards / Banners
• Packaging / Labels
• Print / Direct Mail
• Promotional Materials

Usually all of these fall into traditional offline marketing, we find that online marketing has a better return on investment than traditional means.  However, at the start, you may need a brand boost to get you started and it never hurts to have a good marketing mix (traditional and digital). Remember your #1 marketing lead should always be word of mouth!

Social Media – Digital Traffic Channel #3

This channel alone can have a whole universe of websites dedicated to it (not to scare you off). We find if you only use the social networks that make sense for your business your social media marketing will be a big player for traffic to your site.

Let’s Get Through The Ground Rules of Social…

The first thing that I would suggest would be to target either B2B (business to business) social sharing sites or B2C (business to clients) sites that way you are not fishing in the wrong pond or ocean for that matter.

Are there some overlaps, Sure! But dedicate yourself to mastering one or two platforms, it’s hard to know and understand all platforms and stay current with monthly updates in a techy world. We know some automation wizards that rock LinkedIn for business leads. We know some killer outsources who can build product boards on Pinterest for steady E-commerce product sales,

See the difference?

Now let’s get to those Rules….

1. Only Choose Social Media Accounts that Make Sense for Your Business
2. If you Create a Channel, Use IT…. Please don’t keep blank sites live
3. Create a Social Media Strategy
4. Create a Social Media Posting Schedule
5. Do proper #HashTag Research (Our Agency uses RiteTag)
6. Include GEO Targets in Posts
7. Utilize an Automation Tool (Check out Social Pilot)
8. Curate Rss Feeds Into Your Social Sites
9. Include a Website Link When Possible & Use a URL Shortener (We Like Bit.ly)
10. Create Delicious Graphics & Branding (Check out Canva)
11. Focus on Getting Likes, Comments, Mentions & Shares!

Again, we could write a novel here on social media as a channel of traffic. I have seen  3000+ word blog posts on Facebook marketing alone! As with all online marketing, do your research, create a plan, stay consistent and measure your success with analytic tools. If you need more help, we like social media examiner they are a wealth of knowledge online for winning at social.

Referrals – Digital Traffic Channel #4

Whenever users’ click on a link from another website (other than major search engines), they are categorized as referral traffic. This is commonly known as backlinking, it’s one of my favorite topics in digital marketing.

WHY?

Till this day backlinks are still considered one of the top 4 ranking factors for winning the rankings game. Search Engine Journal posted an entire article around the topic and had this to say about links as a ranking factor….

“Backlinks remain an important Google ranking factor, but over the years, Google has learned to weed out the bad links from the good. More links will still result in a higher score, but only if they’re from a number of diverse and authoritative domains.”

“The key to a strong link building campaign is to create content people crave, and then to promote that content relentlessly. When other industry authorities read and link to your content, Google will read your backlink’s matching anchor text and consider your content more relevant.”

So what makes a good link vs a bad link? Well, the first thing we should look at is this concept of “DA” or Domain Authority we have in the backlinking world. It’s a metric that we attribute to websites so we can calculate how much “ranking potential” one site has over another, and ultimately how much power a link from that site would have in the way of giving us a ranking boost for our keywords.

Simply put, the higher the DA of a website the more positions we would move up in the SERPs (search engine result pages) if we acquired a link from that domain.

Most SEO experts use and trust Ahrefs for measuring and tracking their backlink profile, but MOZ also has a chrome extension that you can start using to measure site authority of sites you may want a backlink from.

Simply install the plugin, log into your MOZ account and you can start to see live metrics of websites that you are prospecting to get a backlink from. These tools are great to use on the fly when looking at sites because they can also warn you of a bad link profile on a website. This metric is known as the “spam score”. You should try and target website with a DA of 25-30 or higher and a lower spam score (2-3 or lower).

Once you have a list of solid blogs that meet your specific backlinking goals you can start your outreach campaign. There are a lot of tools out there for outreach but if you are just starting out, I would recommend MailShake it’s simple to use and set up automation so you know you are contacting your backlinking prospects the right number of times for them to take action.

Look, the three main things you should have in the back of your mind is what does Google want in a backlink? The Answer is this…..

What Does Google Consider a “Good” Backlink?

• Authority
• Relevance
• Trust

So for Authority, we already cover it, they are looking for High DA…which literally stands for Domain Authority.

Relevance would be to ensure the links you are building are from the same industry or Relative to yours. An example would be a Tech Blogging site pointing to an Internet Company.

Trust, gets into a spam. The better the backlinking profile of a website pointing to yours the more ranking potential it has to boost your site up in the SERPs. Again we can measure this easily with the MOZ bar by using the spam score as a metric of Trust. Majestic also uses a TF (Trust Flow) and CF (Citation Flow) metric that you can see if a site is trustworthy of getting a link from.

The main thing you should ask yourself when getting a link is this, “Would I want this Link if Google Didn’t Exist?” meaning, is it going to get you any real traffic from a person that would be in the market to buy from you.

Here are Some Link Building Ideas to Get you Started

• Online Directories

• Google My Business / Bing Places

• Social Media Accounts / Social Links

• Bookmarking Sites

• Web 2.0 (Tumblr, Blogger, etc.)

• Video Sharing Sites (YouTube)

• Guest Posting

• Sponsorships / Events

• Website Resource Pages

 

There are literally thousands of ways to get links! If you are looking for a guide to follow I really enjoyed this post by Brian Dean…  https://backlinko.com/link-building

 

Other – Digital Traffic Channel #5

When Google doesn’t know how to classify a specific Source/Medium of traffic, it falls into this (Other) channel. You should be using UTM tracking for each specific online marketing campaigns you build out. If you haven’t been introduced to UTM Tracking yet you can use this Google Tool to help build and track your UTM tracking URL’s.

Before we dismiss this channel as a “mistake” I would like to point you to all the wonderful marvels we have available to us in the 21 Century. We have so much variety in marketing options just ready for us to execute online. Consider adding these to your marketing mix next time you are thinking about new campaigns…

• Videos Sites, Yes there are more than just YouTube!

• Presentations & PDF Sharing Sites

• Infographics & Image Marketing

• Podcasting & Audio Sharing

• Question & Answer Sites like Quora

• Blog Posting Platforms like Medium

• Magazines, Catalogs, E-book Directories

• Reddit & StumbleUpon and Micro Influencer Sites

• Press Release Sites like Newswire

 

Here is this exact post as a SlideShare Presentation! Why not take your most valuable pieces of content and add a Video, Presentation, Infographic, Questionnaire to them! This offers real value to your subscribers and you can also add content upgrades to your posts as well to build your list!

Your posts will become power page giants with multimedia content that people LOVE to share!

Display – Digital Traffic Channel #6

Display ads are the boxes on websites that are obviously advertising. They can be along the top or side of web pages such as the traditional banner ad, or the larger text billboard, they can also be videos. These types of ads appear on distinct sections of the site that are specifically reserved for paid advertising and are aimed at generating a quick conversion.

The wider banner ads generally perform better than their tall, narrow counterparts. According to Google, the most effective display ads are 336×280 or 300×250 pixel rectangles, 300×600 pixel half-page ads, and 728×90 or 320×110 pixel banners.

Like anything else, display ads come with their own set of pluses and minuses. On the one hand, everything above illustrates the flexibility. There are countless combinations of formats, sizes, and styles, allowing you to mix it up.

Display ads also travel far, given the millions of websites reached by Google’s Display Network. The search giant can match your ads up to websites and apps based on keywords or your own targeting preferences.

They’re also fairly straightforward to measure. Display advertising analytics allow you to track the number of clicks, impressions and conversions the ad has generated in real-time, giving you an up-to-date picture of what is resonating with consumers.

Here is a beginners guide to display advertising from Search Engine Watch.

Email – Digital Traffic Channel #7

Email marketing can be the #1 source for steady business and repeat orders. It all starts with building your list. Before we jump into campaigns or email automation software a great place to start would be building up a list of people that actually want to read your newsletter? Right?!

I would sign up for SUMO suite of tools to start capturing leads from your website right away, you could create a full lead magnet (Ebook or Guide as an Example) or you can use content upgrades as mentioned before.

Basically, this type of software provides you with different ways to capture visitors emails while they interact with your website. Here is a list of my favorite tools for email capture.

• SUMO app

• Hello Bar

• Thrive Leads

• OptinMonster

• Sygnoos Pop-Up Builder

They all do pretty much the same thing, some with more bells and whistles than others. The reason I post this list is so you can decide what features and at what price point is best for your company.

After you get a healthy list together, you can start using more advanced email marketing tools.

I started out with MailChimp and recently leveled up to Convertkit because they had more ways to communicate and capture my audience.

Here is a great PDF Checklist from SendinBlue to work off of every time you send out a new email campaign.

• The campaign has a clear goal

• You’ve asked yourself the 3 most important questions (See PDF)

• The contact list has been segmented

• The email list is clean

• There is a clear subject line that entices readers to click

• Email and sender name are clearly identifiable

• Return email address has been set (if necessary)

• Personalization has been included in the email

• All of the default text and images have been replaced

• Alternative text for images has been set

• Links have been added to buttons, images, and logos

• CTA is clearly identifiable and aligns with the goal of the campaign

• Text has been proofread

• Only used short sentences with no jargon

• Preview text has been optimized

• Personalization has been used correctly

• Preview works on desktop, mobile, and tablet

• Preview works for different email clients

• Inbox test complete

• Test email sent out to test list with various email clients

• Pre-header looks good on different email clients

• All links are functioning properly

• Dynamic text/ personalization is rendering correctly

• The campaigns has been scheduled for a strategic time and day

• Monitor engagement metrics and results

 

Email marketing is a pretty big time investment, but if done correctly you will have leads for life!  Here is a guide on what to work on first from Neil Patel called A Beginner’s Guide to Email Marketing.

Affiliates – Digital Traffic Channel #8

Any traffic resulting from affiliate marketing efforts, namely visitors arriving at your website via affiliate links, is called affiliate traffic. It usually starts with picking a niche or finding the right products to offer.

Choosing an affiliate program will take some work, but don’t be afraid to invest a significant amount of time into it because this is, of course, where your income will come from.

There are a lot of platforms offering affiliate cash or even referral programs, where you can get paid when someone visits from your website and makes a purchase on an affiliate site.

The products and services you will be promoting to your audience must be relevant and good quality. Make sure you believe in them and know everything about them, because this will be crucial to you delivering the sales pitch to your audience.

You need to build trust with your audience so make sure the products and services you choose to promote are trustworthy enough as not to give you a bad reputation.

Ads like the one below often lead to sketchy products — do you want to be associated with a product that promises results that may or may not be true?

If you are in digital marketing like me, you will have lots of top quality tools and resources to provide your clients with. Here is a list of top Web Hosting affiliate programs for bloggers.

You can also start your own referral program or join an affiliate network to start sending traffic to your website. Either way it should be cash in the bank  ; )

Paid PPC – Digital Traffic Channel #9

The opposite of organic search is paid search. Paid Search traffic occurs when somebody clicks on an advertisement inside the Google search results. You need to pay for this traffic, usually on a pay-per-click (PPC) basis. It means you pay each time someone clicks on your ad.

Google Ads are paid traffic source that usually has a high conversion rate than other channels, though the cost per click is often high. The basic concept is that you choose keywords that you think your potential customers will search, and you bid on putting your ad in the number #1 spot as the sponsored search results fill up the top of the page.

Of course, AdWords has gotten way more sophisticated as the online advertising world has evolved. Now you can use dynamic search ads, a feature that customizes your ads based on what’s on your website and what people are searching without having to fiddle with your list of keywords all the time.

The more specific you are with keywords and Geo targets in Adwords the higher chance you have of success. Figuring out exactly which copy is most effective and how to increase CTR (click through rate) as essential to a great ad campaign.

One of the top Keyword Research Tools for PPC has been WordStream and they have been leading the PPC research space for many years now. You can also install the free Chrome extension Keywords Everywhere to get search volume and PPC spend for a list of keywords right in your browser! It’s pretty cool! Of course, you can always use Google’s Keyword Planner direct from your Google Adwords account.

I would recommend putting together your Seed Keyword List then organizing them for only the ones that would perform the best in as a Paid Money Keyword.  

Essential Metrics for PPC Keyword Success

• Search Volume
• Keyword Trend
• Suggested Bid Price / CPC
• Number of Results in Search
• Competition Level in Adwords
• Keyword Difficulty in Organic Rankings
• Keyword Gap (Don’t pay for Keywords that You already Rank for Organically!)

If you are looking for a great book on Optimizing your PPC Campains, I read and enjoyed the Ultimate Guide to Pay-Per-Click Advertising, 2nd Edition which you can purchase here: https://bookstore.entrepreneur.com/product/ultimate-guide-pay-per-click-advertising-2e/

Getting even more Traffic for your Website or Blog.

There is one major RULE that I would suggest when using any of the above strategies and tactics for growing your online traffic. The caveat here is this, only implement 1 market channel at a time, ensure that it is set up and that the strategy is working before moving on to the next channel. That way you will not get overwhelmed or even worse try and implement 9 things at once for your site. It won’t be as successful as it could be.

How about that last tip for getting EVEN MORE traffic over to your blog!??

Be sure to add a social sharing widget to your pages so your content gets shared more often! We use social warfare! But if you need a free version sharethis is also available. Comment below with your favorite traffic getting tips, tricks, tools, and strategies!