Know-How Exchange : SEO/SEM

General branding either traditional or online will increase both direct
and search results. These can include email, print, radio, TV, social media, events, online ads , PR and whatever.

I am not so sure why you feel direct traffic is so important, but these are the tools that will increase it.

Several questions spring to mind here:

1. What do you mean by "direct" traffic?
2. Of the 7 percent, how much of that traffic is converting to sales?
3. How well optimized is the text on the page in question?
4. How could you improve this optimization?

Bear in mind that your figures may be skewed by page visibility. Google does not rank websites, it ranks web pages. How many pages are you dealing with here and how visible are they to search engines and how attractive are they to searchers?

What kind of business are you in? Why do you want more direct traffic? If there is greater value for direct traffic, how much are you willing to spend to shift the mix?

Are you using Adwords now? If you are and you stop using it, you'll probably get more direct traffic as a percentage of the [reduced] total. I suspect it's not the percentage you want to change, but the absolute number of direct visits.

If that's right, then looking at the percentages is likely to lead you to the wrong conclusions. One way to get a higher percentage of direct traffic is to get less Google traffic.

I have a client who gets more than 75% of his Google natural search traffic from people whose search term includes his company name. They don't know if his domain name is the same as the business name, so they just Google the business name. His brand awareness is largely a result of a very aggressive television advertising campaign that has been around for 20+ years now.

Maybe you need some traditional advertising to do the branding work for you. Then you may get more direct AND Google traffic.

The other respondents make very good points for you to consider.

Without knowing your business, market or reason, these are generic ways to increase direct traffic to your site:

1. Email. If you have an email list, and you can offer a worthwhile bit of news or a meaningful offer to your list, then email them with the offer and provide a link to the page you want them to visit, to complete the reading or transaction. Note, you might have to build a landing page, depending on the news topic or offer.

2. Twitter. If you have a Twitter following, make a provocative statement or strong offer with a link to the relevant web page. Twitter is often very effective at bringing in clicks when the proposition is highly interesting and straightforward.

3. Facebook. If you have Facebook fans, present your news or offer (strong and short) with a link to your website page.

4. Advertising. If you have an advertising budget and a distinct message or offer, aim your ads at your target audience. If you advertise digitally, the click-through is more effective than if you advertise in print, because the reader is using a clickable device at the point of contact.

5. Serialize. If you have valuable information, create a series of chapters, reports or videos that are released weekly. Each week, send an email to your audience with a link to the newest chapter. Your releases should span two or more months so that your "unique visitor" numbers are raised for more than one month.

6. Humor. If your business or topic allows, create a really funny cartoon or picture with caption, and release it to social media. Make sure the item is hyperlinked to your web page, in addition to providing a text link. Humor is viral and if it includes a fun or engaging reason to click to your site, visitors will follow. Or, as a variation, hint at humor in venues such as Twitter. ("Our newest Bio-Pharm associate is a cat who giggles at politicians! Look here.")

7. Urgency. Using the same method as humor, engage social media with solutions that need to be applied immediately. "One-hour fix for flooded basements," or "Double your website traffic every month," or "Cure itchy skin for free -- one day only." These appeal to people who are dealing with such problems currently and who are active seekers of solutions ... so make sure your website page delivers a real solution, otherwise they'll bolt/bounce.

I hope one or two of these ideas are of practical use to you; but do keep in mind the higher-level advice of the others. Thanks for visiting Marketing Profs.