How to drive traffic to your commercial website

 

You may have the greatest website in the world, but if no one comes visiting and no one can find it what’s the point. Here are some simple ways that chartered surveyors and commercial agents can drive traffic to their company website. So as we enter the holiday season and your workload gets just that little bit easier, perhaps now is the ideal time to put some of these simple tips into action.

1. Easy Recommendation

Make it easy for visitors to recommend your website, (and therefore your business) to colleagues and contacts that they think will be interested. Add a "Recommend This Site" button in a prominent place on the page. By hitting this button an email with a link to your website will be sent to the recipient.  

2. Spread the word

If you produce a regular newsletter, html mailer or e-zine, make it easy for new readers to subscribe. Identify your websites most viewed pages and include a simple subscription box. If you produce interesting content, expressing a strong opinion, these mailers in turn will be shared. And of course there’s a chance you’ll engage your audience too.

3. Get Social

Embrace social media. Nearly all of the leading commercial property agents have some sort of social media presence, with some taking platforms like Facebook, LinkedIn and YouTube very seriously. Just look at Knight Franks cracking Facebook page and Jones Lang LaSalle’s extensive YouTube channel. And people have the cheek to say the Commercial Property sector is conservative and behind the times!!

Many of these social media platforms can be branded and all can be setup relatively quickly. They will enable you to engage and network with people in your particular niche. Any activity on these platforms linked back to your website will drive traffic to your commercial property website.

4. The Magic 3 Letters – SEO

SEO or search engine optimisation covers a number of process applied to website design, construction and content creation that ensures your website consistently gains a high ranking on search engines like Google. We’ve talked about SEO at length in past articles because we believe website design and SEO are inextricably linked.

Search engines will look for relevant keywords in your titles, headings, page urls and of course body copy. The selection of the right keywords can be an art, as too the writing of fresh and regular copy that includes them. These keywords should not be solely limited to the copy of your site, but used in any mailers and newsletters you produce.

Ultimately high Google rankings will drive traffic to your website.

5. Link Up

Aside from the obvious advantage of various websites linking to your website, part of your search engine ranking will be based on the number of and the quality of, websites that search engines can see linked to your website.

So activity aim to increase the number of back links to your website. Submit your site to relevant directories, articles to special interest news sites. Link to niche resource pages and ask your clients and partners for links.

Don’t just link to your home page, but look for quality links to pages throughout your website.

6. Content, Content, Content

Many of the above solutions involve the creation of regular, relevant and readable content. You have been in the commercial property market for years, you’ve seen it all - booms, busts, good times and bad – you must have an opinion and an insight that you can share with people.

Most of all, establish your personality across the content you produce, its what will make you standout from the competition and what your audience will connect with.

Good luck.

Philip Burrows, Marketing Consultant