How to Do Website Marketing for More Traffic & Leads
If you want more people to find your business online, it helps to understand how to do website marketing. Since 2019, I’ve worked as an SEO writer and consultant helping small business owners and service providers use their websites to attract consistent inbound leads. Website marketing helps me and my clients show up on Google and in AI tools — and turn visitors into paying clients or customers.
Do you have a beautiful website that no one’s finding or one you’re not exactly excited to share? You’re not alone. Many business owners invest time and money in building a site, but skip the marketing piece — or don’t keep it updated, so it truly reflects their business.
If you’re ready to learn how to market your website and get more eyes on your offers, I’ve got you covered. In this guide, I’ll share simple, effective website marketing strategies you can start using right away to grow your reach and attract the right audience. I’ll also cover how to create a website marketing plan and answer common questions to help you put everything into action.
Pin & save for later
Define Your Target Audience
Before you start website marketing, get clear on who you’re trying to reach. Understanding your target audience helps you create a strategy that attracts the right visitors and speaks directly to their needs.
When defining your audience, consider who you want to reach and what matters most to them. Ask yourself:
Who benefits most from my product(s) or service(s)?
What problems or goals do they have?
What words or phrases would they use to find my offer?
Set Clear Objectives
What do you want from your website? More sales? Email sign-ups? Brand awareness?
You may have one or more goals with your website marketing strategy. Knowing what they are helps you set up your website to meet them, track progress, and see what’s working.
For example, if your goal is to increase organic website traffic, focus on SEO blogging. To grow your email list, create a free lead magnet and add sign-up forms across your site.
Once your goals are clear, make sure every page, button, and piece of content supports them. Then, track your results and adjust your approach as you learn what works best.
Design Your Website
Your website’s design plays a huge role in a positive website experience and conversions. A clear, well-designed site encourages people to stay longer, read more, and take action.
While there’s a lot that goes into design, Emily Court, Brand & Web Designer, shares these key elements to consider:
Use a contrast checker - Low contrast makes text hard to read, especially for users with vision challenges. There are many free tools you can use to test your color palette.
Don’t overdo animation - Many DIY sites have almost every element animated, which can be overwhelming for website visitors. If you want your audience to read your copy, play it safe with animation.
Avoid large chunks of text - Content should usually be kept to one to three short paragraphs at a time. You can break up your working copy with headers or visuals to help keep readers engaged.
Add alt text to your images - Alt text isn’t only for SEO. It also improves accessibility and tells users with vision impairment what appears in your images. Most DIY web design platforms have the option to easily add alt text to images.
Use tasteful stock images or skip them - Bad stock photography is a quick way to cheapen a website, and using custom photography is often best practice. However, you can be deliberate with stock imagery to enhance your website by avoiding ad vibes and using similar colors and lighting that help your design feel cohesive.
Prioritize user experience over gimmicks - While you may be tempted to use flashy features, this can negatively impact user experience. Instead, avoid elaborate design elements like sideways scrolling or unusual cursors unless you’re a seasoned designer building for a specific niche like tech or a creative agency.
Design for skimmers - Most readers on the internet skim. Make your site skimmer-friendly with white space, larger font size, and colors and layouts that highlight key information.
Create Helpful Content
Helpful content shows your expertise and builds trust with your website visitors. This lets potential clients see that you understand their challenges and can offer real solutions.
Google’s ranking systems are designed to share content that’s genuinely useful and created to help people. Here’s how you can make sure your website content does this:
Blog - Answer common questions, share insights, and demonstrate your expertise
Homepage - Clearly state who you help and what you offer
About page - Share your story and what makes your offer(s) and business unique
Service or product pages - Focus on benefits and next steps, not just features
Optimize for AI & SEO
AI and SEO work together to make your website more discoverable. Optimizing for both requires sharing clear, relevant content that helps these AI tools and Google understand and recommend your site.
Here’s how to write content that shows up on Google and AI:
Use relevant keywords naturally - Naturally incorporate the phrases your audience actually searches for in your content. My go-to resource for finding keywords is KeySearch, which also includes other helpful SEO tools.
Answer real questions - Check Google’s People also ask section to find common questions about your topic. Share useful answers within your content or FAQ section to help it show up in AI summaries and featured snippets.
Be clear and concise - Both readers and AI tools want straightforward, easy-to-understand language. Avoid filler content and jargon.
Create scannable content - Use headings, short paragraphs, and bullet points to make your key ideas easy to find and interpret.
Offer a Good User Experience
A good user experience (UX) helps visitors find what they need fast — and encourages them to take the next step.
When I asked people what makes a great website experience, here’s what they shared:
Fast load times - Pages that load quickly without videos, music, or other elements that slow loading times
Simple navigation - Clear menus, predictable structure, and fixed navigation so users don’t have to scroll back to the top
Clear messaging - Your site should instantly show who you are, what you do, and what action to take next
Mobile-friendly design - A clean layout that works seamlessly on phones and tablets
Visible pricing - Showing prices, starting rates, or a range builds trust and removes a barrier that often causes prospects not to inquire
Limited pop-ups and ads - Fewer interruptions keep visitors on your site longer
Accessible information - Services, contact details, and FAQs should be easy to find within two to three clicks
Consistent visuals - A cohesive color palette and design support your message
Helpful extras - Blogs, galleries, or links to socials help you build more trust with visitors
Implement Email Marketing
Nearly 60% of people say email marketing influences their buying decisions, and half make purchases from marketing emails at least once a month.
Email marketing has also been one of my most effective marketing strategies. My website has helped me grow my email list to stay connected with potential clients who may not be ready to reach out yet.
To use your website to grow your list and nurture leads:
Offer a free resource or discount to encourage sign-ups
Add a sign-up form to each page on your site, including blog articles
Email your list consistently (e.g., weekly, biweekly, or monthly) with helpful tips, stories, or updates
Pitch Publications
Pitching yourself to online publications is a great way to build credibility and backlinks, which can help your website rank better.
Free platforms like Featured and Qwoted connect experts like you with journalists seeking sources — and I enjoy using both of these for backlinks. I try to set aside time once a month to pitch because it’s a low-effort way to boost visibility.
Here’s how pitching publications work:
Sign up for a free media platform
Browse opportunities that fit your expertise
Send short, clear responses to relevant questions
Share published features on your website or social channels
Consider Guest Blogging
Guest blogging that allows you to link back to your website can increase your visibility, strengthen your authority, and drive traffic to your site. However, it can also be time-consuming, and that effort may be better spent creating content for your own site.
If guest blogging aligns with your goals, keep it manageable — like one guest post per month or quarter. Focus on writing for high-authority sites or on topics you enjoy that don’t quite fit your own blog. Once published, share your guest posts with your email list or social followers to expand your reach and credibility.
Use Social Media
Social media can support your website marketing efforts by getting more visitors to your site. Share blog posts and updates with links to your site to lead people there.
Although my business is social media optional, and I don’t rely on it for leads, I do enjoy using Threads and LinkedIn when I have the capacity. It can be a helpful boost for my marketing efforts and helps extend my reach.
Try Paid Aids
I don’t personally use paid ads, but some business owners find them effective for complementing a website marketing strategy. For example, Google Ads lets you pay to appear at the top of search results for specific keywords.
There are mixed opinions on whether or not paid ads are worth the time and investment. One Reddit user said Google Ads brings in half of their revenue. Others say they’ve hired agencies with no luck or found ads too time-consuming to manage.
Paid ads usually work best after you’ve built some organic traffic and have a solid strategy in place. That way, you’re driving traffic to a site that’s already set up to convert.
How to Create a Website Marketing Plan
Having a clear plan for your website marketing strategy can make it feel more attainable. Follow these simple steps to stay focused and build momentum as you get started:
Define your target audience and marketing goals
Create or refresh your website content
Optimize your site and blog for AI and SEO
Promote through email, social, or outreach
Reach out for support with implementation
How to Do Website Marketing: FAQs
Make the most of your website marketing strategy with answers to common questions below.
How does website marketing work?
Website marketing helps you promote your business online. It combines content, SEO, and design to attract visitors and guide them toward taking action, like booking a service or making a purchase.
How long does it take for website marketing to work?
Once you begin a website marketing strategy, it can take up to a year to see the results you want. While traffic can start increasing within a few months, enough traffic for consistent leads can take longer. This time is well worth it if you plan to be in business for years to come.
One of my clients recently experienced a 301% increase in website traffic in just a few months of us improving her strategy and started getting clients shortly after. This timeline is common, but it depends on your niche, competition, and efforts — which varies business-to-business.
How do you get your website noticed?
To get your website noticed, you need to create content people can find. Use relevant keywords, publish helpful blog articles, and make sure your site offers a good user experience. Share your content via email or social to increase visibility.
How to get your website to the top of Google search?
To reach the top of Google, optimize for both AI and SEO. Focus on relevance, clarity, and creating content that genuinely helps your audience. Since many search results now include AI summaries, high-quality, well-structured content increases your chance of being included or referenced.
How to get your website seen on ChatGPT?
AI tools like ChatGPT pull information from reliable websites, so you need to consistently create helpful content through your website copy and blog articles. Over time, this increases your chances of being referenced in AI-generated answers.
How to Do Website Marketing: Conclusion
Website marketing helps small business owners and service providers like you get found online. By focusing on clear, consistent, and helpful content, your website can become an effective marketing tool for more leads and sales.
If you’re ready to create or improve your website marketing strategy, I’d love to help you. I offer DIY, DWY, and DFY support, so you can get expert guidance no matter your goals and budget.
Explore my offers, or reach out to chat about working together.
