10 Ways to Stand Out From the Crowd & Boost Website Traffic

There are over 1 billion active websites on the Internet today. 

Numerous companies are constantly competing against one another for user attention, forcing business owners to find new ways to share and market their products and services online. 
While it is true strong search engine optimization (SEO) will help boost your website up the ranks of a search engine result listing and increase your website traffic, it’s going to take more than that to turn website visitors into customers. 

If your site is boring and generic, they’re going to leave without looking around your site. Not only does this mean you lose out on a sale – and drag your revenue down – but those bounce rates can adversely affect your SEO. So, what can you do to make your website stand apart from the competition? The following tips well help you make sure your website is interesting and memorable, so visitors will be more likely to turn into prospective customers. 

1. Be Authentic 

Your customers want to know that you’re more than just a faceless brand. They want to know who they’re buying from, or who they’re working with. This is one of the best ways to increase website traffic. So, get creative! 

When you’re doing your employee bios, encourage your employees to tell a story. Share their favorite song, their favorite beverage, or a weird hobby they might have. Maybe they have a pet tarantula (I do!), or maybe they absolutely cannot stand bacon. Whatever it is, show your customers what makes your team unique. 

2. Include Video Content 

Video content is a highly effective way to differentiate your website from the thousands of others in your industry. Not only does it make your content more accessible to those with reading difficulties, but it also makes your website more interesting. 

Include a quick intro video that gives your prospective customers a sense of what you’re all about. Show some behind-the-scenes footage, introduce your team, and really get creative with it. Give your brand some personality, and it will be more relatable to potential customers. It also helps with SEO and, considering how important it is to optimize your website, this is a definite must-have. 

3. Serve a Resource for Your Customers 

It’s one thing to promote your products and services, but customers tend to prefer brands who serve as resources to help them when they need answers or solutions to their questions and problems. 

One of the best ways to do this is to regularly publish blog articles on your site that are directly relevant to the needs and interests of your customers. For example, if you are a marketing automation company, publish educational posts such as ways to boost campaign engagements or increase website conversions. Remember: 80% of your content should be educational, while 20% should be promotional. 

4. Keep Your Website Fresh and Updated 

How many times have you checked out a business’ website, only to find outdated information, old blog posts, and just all-around older content that doesn’t spark any interest? Don’t let this happen to your brand! 

Showcase your most recent (and best) products, blog posts, and/or portfolio work. Include a fresh-looking favicon to appear at the top of the webpage tab. Update your website to give it a contemporary, aesthetically pleasing look. 

5. Have a Design Focused on Navigation 

If your website is too difficult to navigate, or appears cluttered and confusing, your visitors aren’t going to stick around for more than a few seconds, raising your bounce rate and hurting your revenue. 

One of the most important aspects of a solid website design is a layout with strong organization and plenty of whitespace. Each element of your webpage should have a purpose, and should be neatly organized and spaced out. Use fonts that are easy to read, and make sure your website is mobile-optimized. You don’t want to risk losing sales just because your website looks clunky on someone’s device.

6. Keep an Eye on Your Competition 

What is something your competition is doing that you’re not? What are they offering to website visitors that you aren’t?  On the flip side, what is something they’re lacking that you can add to your own website? 

Paying attention to what your competition is doing, and then going one step further, is one of the most effective ways to make sure your website stands apart from the competition so you can generate more website traffic. 

7. Improve Your USP 

The best websites include a hard-to-miss “unique selling proposition” that gives website visitors a reason to purchase their products or use their services. Hone in on what your business’ main strength is, and figure out how that sets you apart from other businesses in your industry. 

Once you’ve found your strongest trait, hire an experienced copywriter to update your website copy and include a compelling USP on your site. 

8. Make Strong Promises 

While you definitely don’t want to be putting empty promises on your website, you do want to show your visitors that you offer a value other businesses do not. 

“Remove stains in just 5 minutes!!”

“100k Instagram followers in 90 days!!!”

These are the type of guarantees that help you stand apart from the competition and increase your website traffic. Bold headlines like those will grab your visitors’ attention and turn them into a paying (and happy!) customer. Just remember: If you can’t deliver on that promise, don’t make it. 

9. Track Your Metrics

How do you know what you need to improve if you don’t even know what’s going on with your site? 

Use online analytics tools, as well as any that come with your website host, to track conversions, click-through rates, popular content, bounce rates, and more. You also want to keep track of how many people visit your landing page from somewhere else. All of these will tell you how your visitors are responding to your website, how any marketing campaigns are doing, and how well your traffic generation efforts are paying off.

10. Conduct A/B Split Testing 

This ties into the last point – tracking your progress. Once you’ve figured out what parts of your site need tweaking (perhaps you have a lower conversion rate from one of your forms or landing pages), it’s time to fix it. 

Find what needs improvement, and then come up with a few different versions of that particular webpage. Conduct A/B split testing to see which one performs better, as this will help you figure out what your audience wants and increase your conversions. By doing this, you will have optimized your site content for your target audience, which sets your business apart from the competition and helps drive traffic to your website. 
 

What are your top tips for making your website stand apart? Let us know in the comments below!