“If you build it, they will come” may have worked for Kevin Costner, but I think we all know that marketing a cornfield baseball diamond would only take one step few more work.
Websites are no different. Even the best content needs readers, and if you’re struggling to increase your website traffic, you’re in good company.
Accordingly Content Marketing Institute 2024 StudyMore than half of B2B content marketers say it is challenging to consistently create the right content for their audience.
We’ve got a list of 33 ways to increase website traffic, generate more leads, and improve ROI (and none of them involve waiting for ghost baseball players in a cornfield).
Table of contents
Free ways to increase traffic to your website
Content creation
Topic competence
Organic social media
Website analysis
Influencers
Building an email list
Community engagement
On-page SEO
High quality backlinks
Video marketing
Repurposing content
LinkedIn Creator
SEO tools
Historical optimization
Voice search optimization
Local SEO
QR codes
A/B testing
Internal linking
Technical SEO
EAT
Community building
Content Offers
Media reporting and public relations
Social share buttons
CTR optimization
Academy and knowledge base contributions
Social news sites
1. Content creation
Inbound marketing focuses on attracting the right people to your company. One of the best ways to achieve this is to create content through blogging.
To develop content that attracts the right visitors to your website, you must first understand the buyer persona you are targeting. Once you know your audience, you can create content that naturally attracts them to your website.
But how do you write a good blog post that attracts the right audience? Follow these five steps:
- Identify your buyer persona: Learn more about your target market. Understand everything from job title to vulnerabilities.
- Conduct keyword research: Learn what your audience is searching for on search engines so you can provide the best content.
- Topic ideas: Identify topics that address your target audience’s pain points and achieve high search volume. Tools like ours Blog Ideas Generator can help with brainstorming.
- Write a draft: Start by writing a post that answers your audience’s questions. Use interesting angles to highlight your contribution.
- Publish: Publish your post on your blog site. Use SEO tools to optimize your content.
- Support financially: Promote your blog post on social media and email newsletters to generate traffic. The more traffic your post generates, the higher it will rank in search engines.
Pro Tip: Learn how to implement a blogging strategy with our Step-by-step instructions and templates.
Want to take your blogging to the next level? Discover ours Free AI Blog Writer to optimize your content creation process with the power of artificial intelligence.
2. Topic competence
Ranking higher on Google increases your website’s organic traffic. At HubSpot we use the column/topic cluster model to do this. Google favors websites that are considered experts on the topic they are writing about.
To be seen as an expert, you can create a pillar page, which is essentially a longer blog post that comprehensively covers all aspects of a topic.
You then write “cluster content,” or supporting blog posts, targeting long-tail keywords that show you’ve covered a topic in depth. Focusing on long-term traffic will help you rank higher in search engines.
Christina Perriconea former senior blog manager at HubSpot, says: “The pillar cluster model organizes content on your site based on a single topic and search term through internal linking. This organization helps search engines easily crawl and categorize all the content you have on a website about a specific topic, making it easier for you to rank for that search term.
She continues, “When implemented correctly, the model also helps visitors navigate your site and move through related pages, driving traffic to all pages in your topic cluster.”
3. Organic social media
Organic social media is not a new strategy, but it is still something marketers should pay attention to. In addition to posting on social media platforms, you can also use Instagram Stories, live videos on Instagram or TikTok, or Facebook Messenger.
It’s important to have a diverse social media strategy and use the right social media platforms – not just Facebook, Instagram and X. Platforms like YouTube and even Pinterest can drive a lot of traffic to your website.
And how we transformed Twitter into
Heinrich Francoa former marketing manager at HubSpot, recommends two things when it comes to organic social media.
“First, don’t spam your audience – it costs a user nothing to scroll past your post, and if you don’t provide them value, that’s exactly what they’ll do. Know your audience and create content that speaks directly to them,” says Franco.
“Second, stay active in community management. People love it when brands like and respond to them – this will humanize your business and keep people coming back for more content.”
HubSpot, for example, uses fun carousels on Instagram about your office personality, a light-hearted way to engage our audience (I’m only bi-coastal because I keep mixing up time zones).
Pro Tip: Check out our Social Media Marketing Guide to find out more.
4. Website analysis
Let’s reframe our thought process a bit. Before driving traffic to your website, it’s important to learn more about your audience.
To do this, analyze your website to see where you are losing visitors and where you are gaining. There are many third-party tools such as: Crazy eggand HubSpot has one free website grader You can use.
With this information, you can create the right content to drive the right traffic to your website.
5. Influencers
We know that customers are more likely to buy from companies with great word of mouth, but how do you create good word of mouth marketing?
First, delight your customers. Second, collaborate with influencers.
Influencer marketing is not a fad. In fact, it is a budget-friendly option to drive traffic to your website. When influencers post discount codes, links, reviews, or giveaways, you’re tapping into their audience to drive traffic to your website.
6. Building an email list
Leveraging your current readers and customers is a great way to increase traffic to your website. When you publish a new blog or content offering, you can promote it to your followers/subscribers to quickly increase traffic. For content-heavy websites, repeat readership is helpful for traffic goals, conversions, and lead generation.
Start by building an email list or expanding your current list. Below are some strategies you can use:
- Content offers: Publish content that requires visitors to share their email address to access it. Include CTAs for content offers on your website.
- Easy newsletter registration: Include signup forms on your website, from your homepage to your About page. If a visitor has a pleasant experience on your website, they are more likely to sign up for your newsletter.
Use HubSpot’s free forms tool to easily add a form to your website and grow your email list.
- Social media: Promoting your email newsletter on social media, whether through a post or a contest/sweepstakes, is a great way to convert your current followers into subscribers.
Pro tip: Learn how to build an email list from scratch or Grow your email list.
7. Community involvement
The more brand awareness you have, the more traffic you will drive to your website. One way to achieve brand awareness is to be active and engaged in the market.
You can implement an engagement strategy today by participating in Facebook group discussions in your industry, answering questions on public forum websites, and interacting with your followers on social media.
One of my favorite brands on social media is Taco Bell. Taco Bell delights its customers almost every day on social media. Below are some examples from the company’s X account.
In the example above, Taco Bell uses a simple tweet from a customer to engage with them and build an organic community. The brand also just has fun:
Remember to be helpful and human. Nobody likes spam links or self-serving rhetoric when asking a quick question online.
8. On-page SEO
On-page SEO can help your website rank higher in search engines and generate more traffic. On-page SEO elements include the page title, header, meta description, image alt text, and URL (and more). When you appear in search engines, your website will generate more traffic.
Pro Tip: Check out ours first ultimate guide to on-page SEO.
9. High-quality backlinks
To drive traffic to your website, you need to rank high in search engines. To rank higher in search engines, you need to be an authority in your industry.
One way to achieve this, in addition to the topic/cluster model described above, is to acquire high-quality backlinks. When high authority websites link to your website, it increases your credibility.
Irina NicaSenior Product Marketing Manager at HubSpot, says: “There are two ways high-quality backlinks can help drive more traffic to a website: increase rankings and increase referral traffic.”
She continues: “Backlinks are one of the most important ranking factors for every major search engine out there. By consistently getting high-quality backlinks from relevant websites, you will improve your SERP ranking and thereby see an increase in your organic traffic.”
Nica adds: “Backlinks can also generate a significant amount of referral traffic. This is something to be expected when you are featured on a popular news website. You can also see referral traffic when you are mentioned (and linked to) on an article that is already ranking well for high search volume keywords and receiving a consistent flow of traffic.”
Pro Tip: Want to learn how to earn backlinks? We have 10 creative ways.
10. Video marketing
If video marketing isn’t already part of your content strategy, you’re missing out on a huge potential audience. Statista reports that Google Sites, which owns YouTube, reaches 258 million U.S. viewers.
Digital video advertising spending is projected to rise to nearly $90 million by 2028, up from $59 million in 2024. And these numbers are just for mobile devices.
You can create videos for Instagram Stories or Reels, create live videos, start a YouTube channel, etc. Want to get started today? Find out everything you need to know in our ultimate guide to video marketing.
11. Reuse of Content
Do you need content to drive traffic to your website but are struggling to come up with ideas? I understand it. A good way to overcome this hurdle is to reuse old content. Take a successful blog post and turn it into a video.
Or if you have a podcast that did really well, write a blog post on the topic. Using content that has already performed well will continue to drive traffic to your website.
You can also repurpose written content by leveraging industry trends. For example, if you have a handful of older AI-related content, you can refresh it with current statistics and quotes, summarize the blog posts and promote them as the ultimate topic guide.
12. LinkedIn Creator
LinkedIn is actually more popular among millennials than other social networks. And since Millennials are now in their 30s and early 40s, there’s a good chance they make up a significant portion of your target audience.
Unlike LinkedIn influencers, anyone can become an influencer LinkedIn Creator. You can repurpose blog posts (or write new ones!), host live audio events, and even start newsletters on the platform.
LinkedIn offers great resources for anyone looking to increase their reach Content best practiceswhich suggests that you post at least four times a week and treat each post as the start of a conversation.
13. SEO tools
To increase traffic to your website, it is important to have SEO knowledge. Learning how to use SEO tools like Google Analytics, Ahrefs, and SEMrush will help you develop a strategy to drive traffic to your website.
These tools allow you to find out and analyze what works and what doesn’t on your website. Additionally, these help you come up with content ideas that have the potential to generate high traffic. Check out our roundup of the best SEO tools to monitor your website.
14. Historical optimization
Historical optimization is the process we use at HubSpot to update old blog content and generate more traffic and leads. If you’re like us, most of your monthly blog views and leads come from older posts.
Pamela Vaughana marketer who works on web strategies at HubSpot – and who introduced us to the concept of historical optimization – has written extensively about it.
She says, “Historical optimization is a tactic best suited to a blog that has been around for several years because you need to 1) generate a significant amount of organic search traffic, 2) a critical mass of blog subscribers, and social networks.” Media followers and 3) have an extensive collection of old posts.”
Vaughan adds, “Historical optimization should be a part of your overall blogging strategy – not the entire strategy.”
Pro tip: Follow her Step-by-step process for historical optimization.
15. Voice search optimization
Remember in The Little Mermaid when Ariel wanted to go where the people were? The same principle applies to digital marketing. To drive traffic to your website, it’s important to appear where people are searching.
Voice search is an increasingly important area for ranking, especially given the advances in AI we’ve only seen in the last year or two. According to eMarketerThe number of US users using voice assistants such as Siri, Alexa and Google Assistant will increase from 145.1 million in 2023 to 170.3 million in 2028.
Here are a few tips to get you started:
- Research long-tail keywords: When people use voice search, they speak in full sentences rather than short phrases. To optimize voice search, start by researching long-tail keywords.
- Write answer-focused content: The content you write should answer your audience’s questions.
- Optimize for snippets: Smart speakers like Alexa and Google Home look for short, concise answers. Writing short summaries in your posts makes it easier for search engines and smart speakers to find the answer you need.
16. Local SEO
If your business is a brick-and-mortar store, local SEO is an important factor to consider. In her comprehensive guide to local SEO, former HubSpotter Kelsey Smith wrote that search engines gather information for local searches by “relying on signals such as local content, social profile pages, links and citations to deliver the most relevant local results.”
For example, if someone types “best soul food restaurant” into Google, the results will be generated based on the user’s location. Tools like Google My Business and Moz Local help businesses manage their directory listings and citations so they appear in local searches.
Here is a restaurant that shows up in this search in Chicago:
How to rank for local search:
- Make sure your name, address, and phone number (NAP) are consistent across your Google My Business and social media pages.
- Use a directory management tool to monitor directories like Yelp, Foursquare, Best of the Web, etc.
- Research and use location-based search terms on sites like Google Trends, which analyzes popular search terms in different regions.
17. QR codes
Marketers love a good QR code. And since smartphones can now scan them natively, this also applies to consumers.
QR codes can drive trackable traffic to your website, but you need to give the user a reason to scan them.
Think of it like creating a real CTA button. If you make it enticing and accessible enough, people will scan it and you can judge the success of placing that QR code in real time.
When you use a dynamic QR code generator, your QR code will remain the same and still accessible even if your web address later changes.
18. A/B testing
You know you’re a marketer when your motto is “test, test and test again.”
A/B testing is a split test that allows you to determine which version of a campaign performs best. These tests can provide you with important information about your audience, allowing you to create tailored content and offers that drive traffic to your website. There are many tools you can use to get started.
Pro tip: Check out our summary the best A/B testing tools.
19. Internal linking
When a visitor comes to your blog, your goal is to keep them there.
This is why internal links – links to other pages on your website – are very important. When visitors move on to other pages on your website, they are more likely to convert and become brand enthusiasts.
For example, you can create an internal linking structure using the column/cluster model described above. Pillar and cluster pages link back and forth, increasing your website’s credibility in search engines while increasing the likelihood of conversion.
20. Technical SEO
Technical SEO focuses on the backend of your website to see how the pages are technically laid out and organized.
Factors include elements like page speed, crawling, indexing, and more. Matthew Howells-Barbythe former head of acquisitions at HubSpot, has written about how updating our technical SEO helped HubSpot increase organic traffic by more than 50%.
To get started with your technical SEO, use some tips from Howells-Barby’s article, including:
- Fix broken links and redirects.
- Create an XML sitemap for your subdomains.
- Set up language meta tags.
- Add custom H1 and intro pages to topic pages.
21. EAT
Google has long prioritized content that it believes will be most helpful to users. For many years this was summarized under the acronym EAT, which stands for Expertise, Authority and Trust.
In 2022, an “E” for “Experience” was added, meaning that content should be produced by people who have first-hand experience of the topic in practice.
“EEAT is undoubtedly one of the most underrated content SEO practices,” he says Amanda Sellersthe manager of EN blog strategy at HubSpot.
If you have an established blog or a large content library, take the time to review the following EEAT best practices:
- It’s helpful content.
- Experts created it.
- It’s trustworthy.
- It is updated regularly.
Simply adding a personal perspective and expert quotes to existing content can go a long way in boosting your content in the SERPs.
Pro tip: Here’s how to do it Adding “Experience” to a HubSpot blog post increased clicks by 724%.
22. Community building
Building a community of brand enthusiasts is a great way to continually increase traffic to your website. You can create a Facebook group, Instagram Live events, LinkedIn group, or Quora Space specifically for your followers and others in your industry where you add value while linking to your website.
You can even do this from your own website – think about it Apple’s support communitywhich I’ve used more than a few times to diagnose something on my iPhone or laptop. Lego’s online community allows users of all ages to participate in activities and challenges and even submit their ideas to Lego designers.
23. Content Offerings
Content offers, sometimes called lead magnets, are a way to use content to drive traffic to your website and generate leads. Content offerings vary depending on what stage of the buyer’s journey your customer is in, but can include webinars, guides, reports, trials, demos, checklists, and more.
Pro tip: Learn about the different types of Content Offers and find the best for you and your company.
24. Media reporting and public relations
Earned media coverage is a great way to increase your company’s brand awareness and traffic to your website. When your marketing and PR teams work together, you can drive traffic to your website and do great word-of-mouth marketing.
Ellie Flanagana former senior corporate communications manager at HubSpot, says, “Although most media companies these days avoid including backlinks in their stories (it’s usually against their editorial policies), that doesn’t mean a good story doesn’t drive people back.” to your website.
Media coverage provides your business with excellent third-party endorsement. Stories about new products or services, your company culture, or even thought leadership in the industry can be great catalysts for a reader who may have never heard of your company and wants to learn more.”
25. Social share buttons
Social share buttons are links that make it easier for your readers to share your content on social media. When your readers become patrons of your content, your traffic will increase. Here’s a quick cheat sheet for creating social share buttons.
Once you create your social share buttons, how do you get people to share your content? Here are a few tips to get you started:
- Ask people to share them on social media.
- Create strong content.
- Add quotable content.
- Add multimedia like images, videos, infographics, etc.
26. CTR optimization
Once your content is published and you start ranking in search engines, make sure people click through to read your posts.
Your click-through rate (CTR) measures who clicked on and read your post compared to the total number of people who viewed the link to your post (e.g. the landing page, email, or ad).
A great tool for measuring your organic CTR is Google Search Console. To get more people to click through and increase traffic to your website, it’s important to write compelling and appropriate meta descriptions and titles.
To write high-quality meta tags that are click-worthy, make sure your titles are short and succinct and that your description leaves visitors wanting more. This is related to on-page SEO described above.
27. Academy and knowledge base contributions
One form of content that can increase traffic to your website is educational content. If you create courses, certifications, or educational posts that are helpful to your audience, you will likely see an increase in traffic.
HubSpot uses, for example HubSpot Academy to generate content that is helpful to our audience. We provide videos, certification courses and knowledge base articles to answer questions. Below is an example knowledge base article.
28. Social news sites
Reddit is no longer a playground for internet trolls – it’s an extremely valuable source of knowledge and information. I often use it when researching HubSpot articles to see what the hot topics are or what questions users are asking about a particular topic.
Reddit and similar sites like Quora are social news sites and can be great traffic drivers. By nature, these platforms are similar to social media in that they encourage asynchronous connections between users.
The difference is that these types of websites engage people on a question or topic, and external content can be shared to explain users’ viewpoints.
Another way external websites benefit from increased traffic from social news sites is by sharing them on popular channels. You can share your website content on these sites yourself if you’re just starting out, but do so carefully.
Just like on traditional social sites, too much self-promotion is frowned upon in the Reddit and Quora communities. You perform best when you share your content in the context of the topic and when it provides the best information to answer the user’s question.
Paid ways to drive more traffic to your website
- Paid advertising
- Contests and giveaways
- Guest post
- Guest podcasting
- Thought leadership
1. Paid advertising
You can quickly drive traffic to your website with paid advertising. Search engines allow you to run pay-per-click or retargeting ads. Social media allows you to run display ads or sponsored posts.
Your strategy will most likely include a combination of different types of advertising such as social media, display and search ads.
The Deloitte CMO Survey 2024 says marketers expect social media spending to increase 12.1% in 2025.
Pro tip: Start with our step-by-step guide paid advertising.
2. Contests and Giveaways
An easy way to increase traffic to your website is through contests and giveaways. This can give you a quick boost while rewarding your followers. You can host giveaways on social media, through your email list, or both.
Maybe start with something smaller than beverage maker Liquid Death, which held a raffle in the summer of 2024 for… a jet. A real one. (Pilot not included.)
Implementing such a strategy can be easy. Just follow these six steps:
- Decide which platform you would like to host your giveaway on. (You can use more than one.)
- Choose a price. (Free tickets, discounts, etc.)
- Select the criteria. (Website comments, email signup, etc.)
- Write the ad copy.
- Create the graphics.
- Publish and promote the contest or giveaway.
3. Guest Posts
Likewise, writing guest posts can generate traffic to your website. Guest posts show that you are active in your community while also linking to your website (learn more about backlink generation below).
To implement a guest posting strategy, you need to find a website that’s a good fit for your business, write a blog post, and then write a pitch.
Caroline Forseya marketing manager on HubSpot’s content growth team, says, “I’m always particularly intrigued by a guest pitch when it shows me that the author has done their research in advance.”
“For example, I would pay much more attention to a pitch if it told me how this article might appeal to my readers. Additionally, I am impressed when a writer can identify gaps in our content and how their article can fill those gaps rather than compete with existing content.”
As an example, here’s what HubSpot looks for in guest posts on the marketing blog.
4. Guest podcasting
Similar to guest posting, guest posting on a popular podcast can increase brand awareness and drive traffic to your website.
You may already have a few favorite podcasts that would be a good fit for you. You can also use a “matchmaking” company specifically for podcast guests, such as: Interview connections And PodMatch.
Just make sure you do your own research. Listen to a few episodes to get a feel for the tone and subject matter, research the host(s), read reviews, and see if the podcast has published numbers like subscribers or downloads.
5. Thought leadership
Accordingly Edelman and LinkedIn’s researchMore than half of decision makers and C-level executives spend an hour or more reading thought leadership content each week.
If that’s your audience, it’s time to dedicate a larger portion of your editorial calendar to thought leadership. (And even if your audience isn’t senior yet, sharing thought leadership content can increase your brand’s credibility and visibility—and help you create truly useful content.)
When choosing a thought leader, don’t limit yourself to your own industry. Influential thought leaders often have transferable knowledge that can help your readers, regardless of their industry and experience.
And while “leader” means someone who is well established in their career, there are many younger professionals who are disrupting industries, trying out new tactics and catching the attention of their peers. Above all, look for a good storyteller – someone You I look forward to sitting down and talking to them.
Website traffic is waiting for you
Driving traffic is a never-ending task, but one that can produce long-term results.
There are so many ways your future customers can get to your website – you just need to find the route that works best for your business.
Try one of these methods in your next quarter’s demand generation strategy to see a significant increase in traffic.