How to invest time (not money) to increase traffic to your site

A lot of people I talk to are wary about putting a financial investment toward getting traffic to their site, because they’re not sure it will bring them any kind of return on that investment.

That’s understandable! Whether your budget is just tight, you’re trying something new, or you have your marketing dollars tied up in something else right now, it might not be a good time for you to invest financially in that.

But you probably do want to increase traffic to your website, right? After all, that will help you convert those visitors into customers, donors, or volunteers.

One way to do that is to invest time, not money, to boost traffic. Where should you invest your time? There are plenty of places where you could do that, but what I want to focus on right now is strategically sharing links to your site.

How, exactly? Glad you asked! There are three things you should do.

1. Write long-form content

By “long-form content,” I’m talking about blogs, product tutorials, FAQ pages, white papers—anything on your website that provides a decent amount of information and is over about 200-300 words.

Think about what clients and prospects ask you about your industry, products, or services, and write about that! You want to aim for being as helpful as possible, and not super promotional.

2. Be helpful online

Specifically, you want to be helpful online in a way that establishes you as an industry expert. You should participate in groups on Facebook, LinkedIn, or whatever network makes the most sense for you. You can answer questions on Quora or participate in live chats on Twitter.

The idea here is to show that you are helpful and knowledgeable in your industry. You want people to know that you’re someone they can trust.

3. Link back to your website (but not all the time!)

If you’re familiar with some of the best practices for Search Engine Optimization, you probably guessed that I would be leading up to this point.

But wait! The key is to link back to your website when it’s appropriate, and not all the time. You don’t want people to think you’re full of yourself.

When you answer questions on online platforms, you can give a simple answer and link back to a more complex answer on your website (see #1!). But do make sure you actually answer the question within the platform where the question was asked. You don’t want people to feel like you’re hiding information from them. Link back only when it makes sense for the question asked.

If you’re strapped for time, is this a good technique? Of course not! But if you have more time available as a resource to you than cash, this is one way you can increase traffic to your site without spending a cent.