Content marketing is one of the best ways to increase organic traffic. As long as it is informative, relevant, genuine and good enough for your viewers, a natural increase in traffic plus a higher ranking on the search results are expected. But do directory sites drive traffic to your site? To answer this question, let’s find out what works and what doesn’t in traffic generation.
- If you say you’re serious about SEO but you don’t have a blog—you’re probably kidding!
- The best way to attract links and boost local rankings is to create really good content and promote it.
- Build a genuine library of relevant and original content to attract links. It will eventually push your rankings up while your content gets the engagement it deserves.
In short, the local directories out there that are thriving are those with good content, great user experience and adapts both the desktop SEO and mobile-first strategy that increases their organic traffic. But, you can scratch everything else—they simply have good content. That’s what works. So, if you own a directory site, create a blog and fill it up with fresh loads of information at least once a week. If you own a business and you are submitting your site to paid article directories for a hefty fee, think again. A blog can do miracles—better than an outdated and ‘tanked’ directory.
Build traffic to your site without relying on local directories
Create interesting headlines
But, don’t copy the style of spam contents. Whenever I see headlines, like ‘earn $100 in a minute by doing this simple trick right now’—I’d skip it right away. It is bogus by itself. Worst, I’ll check for malware’s because that’s what those sites do best. So what does a great headline look like? Well, it definitely catches the attention of a pre-determined audience and target market, provides a complete message—just by reading it you already know what you can expect in the body of the article. And of course, it urges you to finish reading the content. A good headline doesn’t insult the readers’ intelligence by making them appear dumb, nor promises something different from the body of the article.
Write articles that help your readers meet a specific need
We need something—that‘s why we look for it. We will not spend time on the internet if we are not looking for something. In fact, boredom is one of the precursors of a useful search. So, if you want to engage your readers, make sure that it is something worthy of their time. Tell a good story that could help them discover their goals, motivate them to work on them and keep them inspired in doing what they do best.
Here are tips when writing articles for your website:
Pick a topic that you’re really good at. Your article is the best nook to showcase your talents. If you love helping people—it’s your chance to do it. Write down everything you know about a topic that can help people solve some of their issues.
Research
This is the hardest part of writing. It is challenging to find books, journals and topnotch materials where you can draw ideas for your articles. In fact, it takes almost 50% of my time on a single article. Another 25% is spent on brainstorming on those ideas. The reason is simple—if you want to create genuine content offer a fresh perspective. Even if you use the same reference as another author, you look, at it at a different angle. That’s what people are interested in—they like to see things from a different point of view. And your view can be useful for many people.
Market your content
Utilise social media. Find out your appropriate social media audience and share it on Facebook, Twitter and Linked In. Create a Facebook Page for your business and share your latest content to a larger target audience/market. You can also try Instagram if it fits your audience and post a photo that best describes your content. Well, even a simple “Hi!” could spread like wildfire when you put your best smile on it.
Last thoughts on directory sites
The local directories out there that are thriving are those with good content, great user experience and adapts both the desktop SEO and mobile-first strategy increase their organic traffic. But, you can scratch everything else—write really ‘good’ content and it’s impossible to not get any traffic.
Do directory sites work to drive traffic to your site? Well, yes… but not as much as a targeted content marketing strategy that attracts, retains and keeps loyal customers.
