High traffic rates are critical to your website’s success. More visitors mean more people are seeing, interacting with, and considering your brand. However, knowing how to increase those numbers isn’t always obvious. Fortunately, there are some powerful strategies that can help you attract dedicated users.
In this article, we’ll give you an overview of why your brand needs its own website. Then, we’ll cover three of the most effective open-source tools that can support you as you grow your WordPress site’s user base. Let’s get started!
Why Your Brand Should Have Its Own Website
Social media has taken the world by storm. These popular platforms can serve many purposes for your business. However, having a central site to link back to is critical.
A website acts as a central hub for your content. Visitors can catch up on the latest news or review your archives all in one place. Quality design can also contribute to a professional brand image, singling your company out as a leader in your industry.
Additionally, an independent home page gives you more authority over the customer experience than what’s possible on Facebook or Twitter. This is especially true if you make use of an open-source platform such as WordPress.
With a website dedicated to your brand, you can create a semi-controlled marketing environment for your visitors. You get to decide the direction of your content’s tone and format, as well as the overall User Experience (UX) your online presence provides.
3 of the Best Open-Source Tools to Grow Your WordPress Site’s User Base
Even with a well-designed website, building an engaged audience can be tough. Fortunately, WordPress gives you the advantage of several open-source tools and plugins that can add useful functionality to your site. Try these strategies to help cultivate loyal fans.
1. Product Giveaways
Most people love receiving things for free. In fact, 61% of customers name giveaways as the most important type of brand interaction. However, these promotions aren’t just fan favorites. They offer some serious benefits to the companies running them as well.
Thanks to their popularity, giveaways are an efficient way to spread the word about your products. Previously unreached audiences in your niche can discover your site by investigating your event. Even those who don’t win will discover what you have to offer.
In addition to awareness, giveaways can also boost engagement. Entry requirements such as leaving a comment or sharing a blog post can encourage audiences to become more involved with your content. With little investment on the visitor’s end, these events are an exciting and efficient way to build up your base.
If you’re worried about the logistics of running a promotion, there are plenty of resources to help you through the process. One you might want to consider is the Simple Giveaways plugin:
Simple Giveaways is an intuitive and free option for WordPress users. It offers plenty of options for contest entry actions, making it easy for you to tailor your marketing to your exact needs.
2. Quizzes and Surveys
Quizzes can be a fun way to interact with your visitors. People tend to be curious about unique results and become involved in the process. You can also use questions to collect data, which can be a huge help if you’re trying to personalize the customer experience on your website.
You can choose what kind of survey you want to provide based on your audience. For example, if you sell hair care products, you could offer a questionnaire designed to help visitors find which shampoo will best fit their needs. This can double as a way to promote products.
Another way to use surveys is as an introduction to your mailing list. By providing the results via email, you gain a valuable opportunity to attract interested visitors. This also helps you provide personalized email content based on their answers.
Quizzes and surveys are versatile tools with impressive benefits. If you’re looking to take advantage of this strategy, consider checking out the Quiz and Survey Master plugin:
Quiz and Survey Master is easy to use and offers a variety of question format options. It also comes with a feature that requires test takers to log in to your site, which provides another avenue for building customer relationships.
3. Social Media Sharing Buttons
Your website should be the central hub for your brand. However, it’s hard to deny the reach that social media has. Consider giving your users the ability to share your content on their favorite platforms.
A major benefit of social sharing is that it can spread awareness about your company. If someone on Facebook sees a friend sharing one of your posts, for example, they might be more inclined to visit your site thanks to the personal connection. It’s free, organic publicity.
Giving your audience the ability to share your content on their own social media profiles might also make them feel more connected to your brand. Profiles are commonly a reflection of the users who create them. Sharing buttons let visitors include your business in their online identities.
Providing the opportunity to distribute content from your site doesn’t have to be complicated. Many open-source WordPress themes come with this functionality built-in.
If yours doesn’t, you can still put social sharing to work on your site with a plugin such as Social Media Share Buttons & Social Sharing Icons:
This plugin offers tons of different design options, including eye-catching animations. You can use it to add social buttons at the end of each post and increase opportunities for sharing.
Conclusion
Your site’s user base is a crucial part of your brand’s success. While increasing your number of engaged visitors can be difficult at times, you can use these simple and effective tools to encourage interaction and sharing.
How are you growing your WordPress site’s user base? Let us know in the comments section below!
Image credit: Gerd Altmann via Pixabay.