A frequent comment from B2B business owners that I often hear is; 'we have a website but it receives no traffic'.
A website without traffic is about as useful as having a shop on the moon!
20 years ago, it may have been enough for businesses to have a mere online presence for branding purposes.
However, today a B2B website should be regarded as a vital sales channel.
This week I will be discussing 5 tried and tested ideas for generating traffic to a B2B business’s website.
Sure, some of these ideas apply equally to B2C, but as I specialise in B2B Search Marketing in particular, my discussion will primarily apply to this segment.
Today, we start with Google Ads!
Idea 1 - Google Search Ads
If your target customers use Google Search, there are two key ways to get noticed by them on Google - SEO/Organic or Google Search Ads/PPC.
For those unfamiliar with Google Search Ads, it is a form of pay-per-click advertising.
Advertisers set a bid they’re willing to pay for visibility on a keyword, and your ad (and website) appears on Google Search, subject to a number of factors such as ad relevance, website landing page quality etc.
This is a quick and relatively easy way to get website visitors from Google.
However, the only drawback is that when you stop paying Google, you lose the traffic.
Google Ads works best for when bidding on keywords that have ‘buyer intent’.
By this I mean, the keyword typed in by the user implies that the user is looking to buy.
For example HR software solutions is a keyword with strong buyer intent that an HR software firm might be interested in.
This gives your business exposure on Google to people actually in the market for the goods and services your business offers.
I wouldn’t recommend bidding on non-buyer keywords, unless you like giving Google money!
Why?
Because it is important when using Google Ads to be able to accuratley predict ROI from the advertising budget you allocate.
And bidding on buyer keywords and directing the ad to a landing page that has a lead capture form, enables you to accurately determine a cost per lead.
And by extension cost per customer acquisition, once campaigns mature.
Bidding on generic keywords and sending traffic to the homepage, for instance, can be an easy way to deplete your advertising budget in no time, without any clear value add to your business.
As with any digital marketing activity, focusing on metrics that lead to revenue generation, should always be the primary concern.
That’s it for today.
Tomorrow I will discuss another idea for website traffic generation.
Until then, hope you have a productive Monday!
I am an experienced Search Marketing Consultant.
I specialise in B2B SEO, helping businesses drive growth and revenue through organic search.
