Your Website is a City

How do you think people find your website? Is the experience fun and easy, or is it a struggle? Think about your website as a city, and all the ways to find out about it are different points of travel to the city. There are roads, rail, air, and sea. These access points are your marketing efforts. One alone is no better than another and none can be successful in bringing people to the city (website) individually.

Roads:

Roads are essential to a city… the backbone of travel, if you will. People who already live within proximity of the city can use roads to get around. Once within the city they can continue to explore via roads.
Roads can also be far reaching, bringing people in from great distances.
SEO, or search engine optimization, are the roads to your website.

Pathways/Pedestrian travel:

If your city allows, people love to bike and walk to get around. It’s personal and offers a very different experience of the landscape. This experience may be good or bad depending on how your city is structured.
This is your social media presence. Through well-structured social media, you can create a more personal engagement.

Passenger Rail:

This is an essential part of commuting in and out of the city. Far reaching, timely and structured. Some people prefer the train over driving, and would prefer to leave their personal vehicle at home.
Rail is your website content. Blogging or news enhances your SEO and generates interest in your website, perhaps building a following.

Air:

Much less people travel to and around your city using air. It’s more expensive but it does bring visitors from across the globe. People can fly to your city from anywhere in the world.
Air is a company’s national adWord budget. It isn’t essential, but it can help with growth outside of your local or regional market.

Sea:

Provides yet another experience of the journey to, and into, your city. If your city has a port, you can bring travelers from far away. Like air, travel by sea can be expensive and a luxury.
Sea is perhaps other online advertising and re-targeting.

Your online marketing mix should be diverse, just as options to visit a city are, to expand your website traffic. Look at your audience, your budget, and your time. Plan a strategy to include many elements, but above all make the experience enjoyable and easy.