When you think about methods to drive visitor traffic to your website, I bet you mostly think of web related activities. These on-line activities are great, but don’t overlook the offline methods which can be surprisingly effective.
Here are few ideas:
Signage- If you have a bricks and mortar business, include your URL on the outdoor sign.
Invoices- Always include your website address on your printed bills. Make it easy for your customer to find you.
Promotional Items- T-shirts, coffee mugs and pens are frequent choices for logos but be sure to include your URL.
Bumper Stickers- I hate these, but they work too.
Post Flyers- For a small business, the bulletin board at the community center, church, or school is a great way to remind people about your site.
Business Cards- This is a no brainer, but frequently small business owners forget to put their URLs on their cards.
Tattoos- For those of you who are really committed to driving traffic to your website, consider getting a conspicuous URL on your forearm? Count me out on this one.
Leave Fliers – Leave fliers for website at your local university library, restaurants, or stores.
Letterheads and Stationery – Create a letterhead to use for all your off-line communication. List your website address on all forms of company correspondence.
Outdoor Advertising- Advertise on bus benches and billboards.
Newspaper Ads- They’re often pretty cheap and local papers can have a circulation of thousands.
Wear Your URL- Make a custom hat or shirt with your URL on it.
Stickers – Stickers can be very useful especially if you sell to a young demographic.
Direct Mail- You can print up some postcards (with your web address very visible on them) and send them to specially selected customers.
Press Releases- Send a press release to all of the media outlets in your area, including newspapers, radio stations, and television stations.
Printed Newsletters- With a newsletter, companies can communicate with existing and potential customers on a regular basis.
Wrap Your Car- Some people sell advertising space on their car to make some money but you can advertise your own website on your car and it really works and drives traffic to your website. You can find car wrapping services in your city and pay them to wrap up your car. The rear windshield is the most important part.
Give Lectures- Target city community centers, schools, colleges and universities.
Letters- Write letters to the editor. Just have a very small byline at the bottom of your article and introduce your website. If you are a good writer, it will be a great way to drive free traffic to your website.
As you can see, there many off-line ways to drive traffic to your website. I think you get the picture.
John Bradley Jackson
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