How to Scale Your Website Traffic

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www.webfx.com
How To
Scale Your
Web Trafﬁc
A Guide by WebFX
Local: 717.609.0360
Sales Direct: 717.609.1553
Toll Free: 1.888.449.3239
Fax: 877.611.5945
WebpageFX. Inc.
1705 N. Front St.
Harrisburg PA 17102

www.webfx.com I 717.609.0360
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction .................................................................................................... 3
The Three Phases of Growth ......................................................................... 4
Stage One: Launch Stage .............................................................................. 5
Launch Stage Checklist ................................................................................. 6
Stage Two: Growth Stage .............................................................................. 8
Growth Stage Checklist ................................................................................. 9
Stage Three: Mature Stage ........................................................................... 10
Mature Stage Checklist ................................................................................. 11
Conclusion ..................................................................................................... 12
Resources ...................................................................................................... 13

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INTRODUCTION
Every website starts with zero visitors. You can have visions of a massive ecommerce empire, but we all
start at square one. This is what allows tiny startups to compete with giants companies online. It’s the
beautiful democracy of the Internet at work.
But starting with zero traffic and a brand- new website is terrifying. Getting 100 visitors a day, let alone
1,000, seems impossible, doesn’t it?
The websites that are the most successful online are typically those that are quick to market and quick to
scale their website traffic. They rapidly move from zero visitors to thousands by using a variety of
marketing channels.
Timing is everything when it comes to scaling your web traffic. Your plan of attack for getting your first 100
visitors won’t work when you want to move from 10,000 monthly visitors to 100,000. And if you didn’t plan
things out early on, you probably won’t even make it that far.
In this guide, we’ll walk you through the ways that you can scale your web traffic at each stage of growth.
Keep reading to learn more about what we have to offer.

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THE THREE PHASES OF WEB TRAFFIC
Your website’s traffic, depending on several different factors, will typically fall into one of three stages:
Launch, Growth, and Mature.
Below is a representation of what these three stages might look like in an analytics tool:
These three phases of web traffic for online business will help you determine what strategies to go after
to grow your website. It might take a bit of work, but before you know it, your company will grow and your
business will mature.
In this guide, we’ve included information and checklists for each stage so that you can track your growth
from the Launch Stage all the way to the Mature Stage. As your website matures and your traffic begins
to grow, you can refer to the strategies detailed at each stage to learn more about what you should do
next.
There are many strategies for getting to the top, but based on our experience, we at WebFX know that we
can help you with the least amount of headaches and confusion. That’s why we created this guide, after
all!
Let’s get started!

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STAGE ONE: LAUNCH STAGE
Websites in the Launch Stage are typically new, but they could also be stagnant. This is where people
panic and realize all of the work they’ve put into getting their website launched is worthless — unless they
figure out how to drive traffic and conversions.
A website that falls into this category is unlikely to rank well in search engines, as the domain age is low
and the website has been crawled only a few times.
This is where marketers and business owners need to leverage some digital marketing tools to generate
immediate traffic to the website. Most start by encouraging those closest to them to visit and share. Email
blasts and press releases can also generate some quick wins during this stage.
Paid search traffic also works great for new companies.
You get to control exactly how much you are spending, as well as where visitors are landing on your
website. Plus, visitors don’t know if your website is new or if you’ve been around for ages. With paid
search, you can also collect some early data on how people interact with your website.
Paid search is an asset throughout all phases of growth, but it’s critical for new websites.

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LAUNCH STAGE CHECKLIST
Word of Mouth
Start talking! Tell everyone you know, including your family and friends. Word of mouth is still the best form
of marketing out there. Use it for an early and quick win for your website traffic.
Family/Friends — Your mom is your number one fan!
Email Marketing — A quick email never hurts, as long as subscribers have opted-in first.
Press Releases — Try one of these websites for easy press releases: PRWeb.com, PRNewswire. com,
or PRLog.org.
Traffic from paid search works great for new companies. You get to control exactly how much you are
spending and where visitors are landing on your website. Visitors also don’t know if your website is new
or if you’ve been around for ages.
Google AdWords — The most common and most popular (almost 80% market share).
Bing Ads
Yahoo Gemini
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Direct Traffic
You will receive some direct traffic, although it most likely results from your word of mouth marketing and
other early social efforts.
The most common mistake during the Launch stage is forgetting to scale and prepare for the next phase
— Growth. The Launch Stage is always an exciting time. Compared to developing a website, sending out
a few emails and writing up a press release is a breeze.
However, you can exhaust these traffic sources in just a couple of weeks or months. So, you’ll need to shift
your focus to traffic sources that are more sustainable, mainly non-paid search traffic.
Make sure you’re investing your time heavily in the following things:
Search Engine Optimization — Optimizing your website for search engines will allow your website to
transition into the Growth Stage and create sustainable traffic for your business.
Content Creation — There is no better way to get people to your website than creating content that is
unique, compelling, and shareworthy.
Conversion Rate Optimization — Use the data you’ve earned have collected from your quick wins to
analyze the behavior of your visitors and tweak certain areas of your website for better conversion
rates.
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STAGE TWO: GROWTH STAGE
The most difficult leap for a new website is moving from the Launch Stage to the Growth Stage. Most
businesses that fail online do so because they’ve relied too much on word of mouth or paid search to drive
long-term traffic. If you can pivot into a growth phase, you’re in for lots of excitement.
This stage lots of referral traffic spikes. Referral traffic can happen when your website receives a feature
in a news story, as well as increases in social media traffic or chatter. That’s when you see non-paid
search visitors roll in from branded and long tail queries.
It’s important to note the Growth Stage can, like adolescence, be a bit awkward. To your small, but
passionate, number of brand advocates and frequent readers, you’re already a huge deal. With that said,
you still need to hustle as much as you can to drive traffic to your website, while staying professional
about it.
At this stage, you should hustle like the small, hungry company you are, but you should start thinking like
the mature company you want to become. You can’t make that transition unless you start thinking like a
bigger, more recognized entity.

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GROWTH STAGE CHECKLIST
Most of the big traffic spikes your website sees should come from your marketing efforts. If you want
people to come to your website, you still need to hustle and reach out to other websites.
Traffic during this stage typically correlates with how much time you’re investing. You’re not big enough
that people have heard about you and naturally include your latest blog post in their industry round-up. It’s
your responsibility to to let them know about it.
Here’s how:
Build Your Social Media Following
It’s much easier for newer websites to build up consistent traffic from social media than from search
engines. While you can rapidly create a large social media presence, it takes time to gain authority and
trust from search engines.
Facebook LinkedIn Snapchat
Twitter Pinterest
Focus on Your Content Quality
The most crucial aspect of the Growth Stage is your content. Having fresh content will attract visitors now
— and having evergreen content will keep them coming back later. Give people a reason to keep coming
back to your website. Align yourself with information and work towards becoming an expert in your
industry.
Blog Posts Google+ Photos
Videos YouTube Articles
Guides Foursquare
Instagram Infographics
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STAGE THREE: MATURE STAGE
This is where everything come
s together. Some websites transition into the Mature Stage in a couple of months while others take 10
years. Overall, it depends on your budget, industry, strategy, and execution.
This is where non-paid search traffic becomes the keystone for your online marketing efforts. Now, your
website ranks high for a variety of keywords, including some competitive terms. That non-paid search
traffic provides a constant stream of new visitors to your website — and without any upfront cost to you,
as you’ve scaled your SEO efforts throughout the process of launching your website.
Direct traffic also increases because people have heard about you by now. A lot of these visitors probably
heard about you during the Growth Stage, whether by seeing you featured on another website or by
encountering your content. If you’re engaging in a lot of offline marketing, this will impact direct traffic as
well.
You’ll still see large traffic spikes from referring websites, but they aren’t as noticeable anymore with so
much traffic coming from non-paid search and direct traffic. The key difference is that influencers are
reaching out to you now, instead of you having to reach out to them.
Social media continues to play a role as well, though you won’t have to go out of your way as much to
encourage people to share and discuss your website, brand, or product. With so many visitors, it will occur
naturally.

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MATURE STAGE CHECKLIST
.
While it’s important to break into some smaller channels, increasing and optimizing the channels that are
currently driving visits and conversions should be your main task.
This includes optimizing the following areas:
Non-Paid Search Traffic
Continue to fight for the top spot on search engine results pages as this will continue sending high- quality
traffic to your website. The following focus areas will really boost your search traffic:
On-Page SEO Fresh Content
Off-Page SEO Microsites
Link Building Lead Generation Websites
Direct Traffic
This will continue to provide you with quality leads. Assist in the growth of direct traffic with some of the
following ideas.
Offline Marketing Giveaways/Contests
Promotions/Offers Big announcements
Social Media
While it will be much easier to create leads from social media with so many brand advocates, there are
additional strategies to employ:
Facebook Ads Pinterest Ads
Twitter Ads Social Media Customer Support
Instagram Ads Social Media Promotions
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CONCLUSION
No path that any two businesses take online is going to be exactly alike. Every website, product, and
company is unique — that’s why cookie-cutter marketing solutions are never as effective as customized
solutions. But businesses all go through similar growing pains online, and anyone who has morphed their
website into an online powerhouse has learned to scale their web traffic.
Overly relying on one source of traffic, or ignoring the long-term value of another at launch, is a recipe for
disaster. Try to build a marketing plan that relies on multiple traffic sources, so that if one vanishes
overnight, your website won’t become a dead-zone.
That’s why your online marketing strategy should evolve as your website grows and changes. We wish
you the best of luck as you continue to grow your presence online!

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ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
resources from WebpageFX will help you fuel future growth without making a huge investment.
including social media networks, marketing methods, and more.
Don’t have much - or any - money to spend, but still need to get more people on your site? This blog
from our clients.
Beginner’s Guide to Keyword Research
chosen the right ones with our free beginner’s guide to keyword research.

How to Scale Your Website Traffic

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