Why Isn’t Anyone Coming to My Website?

There are currently over 1.7 billion websites on the internet. Yep, you read that correctly! 1.7 billion. But don’t worry, If that statistic sounds daunting, only about 15% of those sites are active. While the competition may seem fierce, the truth is, these numbers are just that: numbers.

Today, we’re going to focus on the one website that matters most: yours.

If you’re experiencing a lag in website traffic, you are not alone. As of 2019, at least 91% of content on the internet wasn’t getting any traffic from Google. That’s a lot of people asking the same question: Why isn’t anyone coming to my website?

Getting traffic to your site isn’t about competing with the 1.7 billion other sites on the internet. It is about doing everything within your control to get the right traffic to your site. The truth is, there are plenty of people searching for exactly what you have to offer. Our goal is to help them find you. So let’s get started!

These are the top 8 most common reasons you aren’t getting the traffic you need to your website—and what exactly you can do to fix them.

You Haven’t Spread the Word

Believe it or not, promoting a website may be one of the biggest challenges website owners face. Once your website is online, visitors will know to find you, right? Unfortunately, if you don’t let people know you exist, they won’t know to look for you. With 1.7 billion sites on the web, however, it takes some effort on your part to spread the word about your online presence.

Promoting your website simply means getting your site in front of other people. This can be done through ads (print and digital), social media (more on that in a minute), and Search Engine Optimization. If you have a brick and mortar store, then advertising your website throughout your store is also beneficial.

The simplest—and most affordable—way to start promoting your online presence is through social media. Start by adding your URL to every page you’re connected with. Even add it to your LinkedIn profile, Pinterest, you get the picture.

Then, make sure it is on any printed material you use: business cards, pamphlets, signs, and sales sheets. It is as important as sharing your phone number or email. Promoting your website makes sure your URL gets in front of the right audience.

You Don’t Have Enough Content

Every item on this list plays a role in boosting your SEO, and your content is no exception. The more content (edit that: the more quality content) that you have on the internet, the more opportunities Google has to put your site in front of potential customers.

Think of it as the index in a book. We use the index to find the page number for a specific topic. People use Google to find the best website to answer a specific question. The more “pages” of content we provide that point people to an answer to their question, the more likely we are to appear at the top of a Google search.

How can you add to your content collection? Start by adding relevant blogs to your website. Do some research to determine what keywords to focus on (here’s a research guide and keyword tools from Ahrefs), and then blog about those topics. Make sure your content is helpful and practical and don’t stuff it full of your keyword of choice. Google ranks based on quality and usefulness and penalizes the overuse of keywords.

Your Target Keywords Aren’t…Well…Targeted

We talk about keywords a lot. But the thing is, they are that important. In the olden days of keyword stuffing mania, businesses would simply pick a few choice words and use them over and over again on their web pages, blogs, social…everywhere.

While those days are (thankfully) over, it is still really important to use the right keywords on your website. If we imagine our index example again, and index guides us to the page or pages in a book where a specific word/topic is discussed. The same is true of search engines. They index websites and guide people to pages on the internet (i.e. your website) that discuss those keywords and phrases that they are searching for.

Using targeted keywords—those phrases that are very specific to your audience and your business—will ensure that the right people are finding you when they search that topic. We love tools like ahrefs and SEMrush for the simple fact that they provide relevant competitor keyword research to help you understand what words and phrases other websites are using in your industry.

Your Website Doesn’t Follow E.A.T.

In the world of website optimization, E.A.T. stands for Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness. For certain topics on the internet, Google places a high value on these three factors, as does your potential audience.

If you aren’t experiencing traffic to your site, it may be time to evaluate whether or not your site follows E.A.T.

To boost your expertise, for example, review your site content and blogs and make sure they communicate your knowledge, experience, and specific expertise. General information or vague explanations of your offerings could be inhibiting your site performance.

Asking satisfied customers to submit reviews on Google or Yelp can help boost your authority on the web. Likewise, press releases, news publications, and any other info written about your website or business can lend to your authority.

Trustworthiness comes down to several things: contact information, content that is factually accurate, reference to who is producing the content (typically the website or business owner or team), and reference to trustworthy sources (external links in blogs, for example).

At the very least, even if you do nothing else, we highly recommend making sure your contact information is clearly on your website (in multiple places). If you are eager to get more visitors to your website, however, then focusing on your E.A.T. is a valuable step.

You Don’t Have Any Backlinks

Just like external links to valuable sources help improve your website’s trustworthiness, backlinks from valuable sources back to your website can increase your visibility in search engines. Thus increasing your traffic.

Getting high-rated backlinks can be challenging, but we have a few recommendations.

Start with guest blogging. Find an influencer within your industry (or an adjoining industry) and volunteer to write a guest blog. It helps to offer some topic ideas while leaving it up to the influencer to make the final choice.

Write an op-ed for a journalistic publication. Opinion pieces are thriving on the internet, but we recommend choosing an authoritative outlet (i.e. your local newspaper, Forbes, The Wall Street Journal, etc). This will get your name and business in front of thousands of readers, and provide a trustworthy backlink to your website.

Publish a press release for a new product, service, rebrand, or any major change within the company. If your press release gets picked up by a news outlet, you are on your way to gaining yet another great backlink (and more website visitors!).

Your Website is Too Slow

According to a study done by KISSmetrics in 2011, if your website doesn’t load in 2 seconds or less, you could be losing around 47% of your visitors. Page abandonment due to slow page load speed is a huge factor in website visits.

If your analytics are showing a high bounce rate and low session duration, then there is a good chance you are losing visitors due to your website speed.

Google PageSpeed Insights is a great tool to determine if this is an area where your website needs some work. You don’t have to aim for a perfect score, but pay attention to the recommendations for boosting your website speed.

You Aren’t Optimized for Mobile

Similar to page speed, if your website isn’t looking its best on mobile screens, you could be losing visitors after the first glance. Right now, at least 51% of internet users access the web only from their smartphone. That number is set to increase exponentially in the next 5 years.

Optimizing your website for mobile devices is no longer a nice thing to do if you have the time or budget. It is a necessity in order to drive more traffic to your site. Not only can you lose visitors if your site isn’t mobile-friendly, but you can also lose ranking on search engines. Mobile responsiveness should be part of your SEO and web design game plan.

While there are some easy ways to improve your website’s mobile speed (check out the recommendations from your Google PageSpeed Insights), working with a web designer is the best way to get a website that is made for mobile.

You Aren’t On Social Media

One of the final reasons visitors aren’t coming to your website could be related to a lack of presence on social media. We know, social media comes with a little extra baggage. It can feel like it sucks up your time and energy. But even a little effort on social can go a long way.

Today, consumers are using Facebook almost like a phone book (remember those?). Users will look for a business’s profile on Facebook even before visiting their main business website. If a business is active on social, then it conveys the idea that they are thriving, energetic, and connected with their audience.

Another reason to be on social is that social is where your audience hangs out. Social media has become a key source for referral traffic. In fact, 75% of businesses experience an increase in website visitors when they put forth effort on the main social platforms: Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram.

And did we mention SEO? Yep, social media boosts your SEO as well, driving more engagement, a bigger audience, and more people visiting your gorgeous, well organized, and authoritative website.