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What Causes Traffic to Websites? – A Simple Guide for Busy Entrepreneurs

What causes traffic to websites is a crucial question for entrepreneurs.

A solid online presence is the heartbeat of any successful business in today’s digital age. Your website is your digital storefront, welcoming visitors worldwide. 

However, the true measure of your website’s success lies in attracting, engaging, and converting visitors into loyal customers. 

Website traffic is the lifeblood of your business. You can compare it to foot traffic in a brick-and-mortar store. 

The more website visitors you have, the more your chances of converting them to buyers and driving revenue. 

Business owners must understand the true purpose of traffic. What motivates folks to click your website link?

What are they searching for, and what do they want to achieve?

Each visitor lands on your site with unique needs, desires, and intentions. They may be seeking information, trying to solve a problem, or looking to make a purchase. 

Websites get visitors from several sources. Search engines, social media, online ads, and more send traffic to your website. 

Let’s find out what causes traffic and how you can drive more visitors to your digital storefront. 

What Causes Traffic: Where Online Visitors Come From

Think of your website as a bustling city. Traffic is the lifeblood that keeps your town alive and kicking. 

However, how does your digital metropolis attract visitors?

Here are a few ways:

Direct Traffic: The Local Folks

Direct website traffic comes from folks who know your business like the back of their hands. They type the URL in their browsers and land directly on your site. 

Direct traffic comes directly from individuals bypassing search engines like Google and Bing. 

You can think of these guys as locals who don’t need a map to find your store. 

Organic Traffic: Arrival via Search Engines

The internet is like a vast jungle. Your website is a hidden treasure camouflaged by trees, bushes, and shrubs (other websites).

Organic search allows users to find your treasure trove amid the deep jungle. Search engines like Google point them to your website when they type in a search phrase.

You don’t have to pay search engines to show your website in search results. However, good SEO practices are a must for your chances of being found among your competitors. 

Paid Search (PPC): Turn Heads with Signposts

Pay-per-click or PPC advertising is like putting up signposts in the jungle to direct adventurers to your treasure. These ads appear in search results at the top to attract attention and generate traffic. 

You must pay each time someone clicks your ad. 

PPC provides instant visibility to businesses. You can generate a quick influx of website visitors from search engine results. 

Social Media Traffic: The Social Gatherers

Many businesses share posts and blogs on social media like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. People can click these links and arrive at your website to generate traffic. 

Social media traffic can help you attain your business goals, like increasing sales. Engaging content is the secret to attracting the social crowd to flock to your website. 

You can also leverage social media ads with precision targeting. They can help your message resonate with those who matter the most. 

Referral Traffic: Word-of-Mouth Airlines

The online version of word-of-mouth recommendations is referral traffic. This happens when a person clicks your website link on another site. 

Reviews, links on guest posts, and partnerships can generate referral traffic. It relies on your power of online networking. 

You also get referrals from business directories and listings. 

A business website can generate traffic from additional ways like:

  • SMS: Mobile users can click links you send via text messages to your customers or target audience
  • Messaging apps: You can attract traffic by sharing website links through messages via WhatsApp, Snapchat, and more
  • Email: Links embedded in emails can bring traffic when readers click on them
  • Incoming calls: You can display your website URL while calling for people to visit your website

Each type of traffic has its charm and characteristics. Embrace the diversity and leverage each traffic source based on your goals. 

Next, let’s explore how to boost your website traffic. We will sort the techniques into two sections: short-term and long-term results. 

Short-Term Results: Create Immediate Impact

What causes traffic quickly to give your website a boost?

Short-term strategies to generate traffic are like your culinary shortcuts. They help you whip up quick dishes to deliver instant satisfaction to your hungry audience. 

Social Media Engagement: The Digital Cocktail Party

what causes  traffic

Social media is where cool kids hang out, and your target audience, too. Over 62.3% of the world’s population is now on social media. 

Creating a solid social media presence can generate immense traffic from platforms like Facebook, Instagram, or Pinterest. 

It is imperative to choose the right platform to build your social media presence. Here are a few factors to consider:

  • Audience demographics
  • Your marketing goals
  • Nature of your business

How to Create Engaging Content

Social media content is bite-sized, visually appealing, and irresistible. However, you need a pinch of relevance and credibility to get your audience hooked. 

Below are a few tips for creating engaging social media content:

  • Mix humor in your content
  • Leverage the latest trends and topics
  • Use eye-catching visuals
  • Experiment with reels and video content
  • Incorporate interactive elements in your posts
  • Share user-generated content

The Power of Social Media Advertising

Social media ads are excellent for increasing website traffic instantly. You can run highly targeted ads on platforms like Facebook or Instagram for different marketing goals. 

For example, you can create ads with your website link to generate traffic. Or, you can display ads for your ecommerce products to increase sales. 

The ads support a variety of content, like images, videos, animations, and more. 

Social media advertising is a vast area. However, social media platforms provide tools and insights to run your campaign effectively. 

You can start with a small budget, perfect for small and medium businesses. Contact us to craft and manage rewarding PPC campaigns to achieve your goals. 

PPC Advertising: The Express Lane to Clicks

website traffic

PPC ads get you to the front of the line faster. They act like a speed pass in an amusement park to outsmart your competitors. 

You can leverage several types of PPC advertising based on your needs:

  • Search ads: Ads that appear on top of search results on search engines
  • Display ads: Your ad appears on different websites in a network (like Google network)
  • Social media ads: Ads on social networks
  • Shopping ads: Advertise products on search results, ecommerce sites like Amazon, and more

Each type of PPC has more options to capitalize on your audience. For example, you can rely on Google Ads to run retargeting advertising for people who visit your site. 

Best of all, PPC provides a 200% ROI, bringing $2 for every $1 spent, according to Google. 

How to Set Up a Simple PPC Campaign

Setting up a PPC campaign is a nuanced process. Here is a glimpse of how to set up a simple PPC campaign:

  • Select keywords: Use keyword research tools to identify the right keywords for your ads. 
  • Create compelling copy: Craft enticing messages to catch attention and encourage people to click your ads. 
  • Set a budget: Decide how much you want to spend daily or monthly running your ads. 
  • Choose the right platform: Pick the correct platform and type of PPC ads for most returns. 

Budgeting and Monitoring

A budget is necessary to stay on track and measure your returns. You don’t need to set aside a huge amount of money for running PPC ads. 

Run shorter campaigns, which let you gauge your performance and refine your strategy for better returns. 

Moreover, don’t spend the whole of your budget at once. Divide it into smaller parts and run your campaigns to learn from your mistakes. 

Monitoring results is also crucial for PPC campaigns. You should track things like keywords and copies that generate the best results. 

You can replicate the strategy for other campaigns for optimum outcomes. 

  • Divide your budget strategically among campaigns, ad groups, or keywords 
  • Monitor your campaign’s spending to ensure it aligns with your budget
  • Take advantage of bid adjustments to optimize your spending 
  • Set up conversion tracking to monitor actions that matter
  • Review KPIs like click-through rate, conversion rate, cost per conversion, and ROI

We can help you generate generous ROI from your PPC campaigns. Get in touch with our ad experts today. 

Email Marketing: Traffic at Your Fingertips

email marketing

Email marketing is like hosting a party at your house. It’s about sharing stories, building relationships, and encouraging everyone to join the conversation. 

Below are a few insights to craft compelling email marketing campaigns:

Build Your Email List

Implement ways to collect email addresses of website visitors, customers, and social media followers. 

You can use forms on your website and other ways to collect email addresses. Offer incentives like ebooks, exclusive content, or freebies in exchange for sign-ups. 

Segment Your Audience

Sort your email list based on factors such as demographics, engagement, or buying history. It helps you personalize your messages with the right messages and offers. 

Your emails become super relevant and appealing. 

Personalize

Extend your personalization beyond addressing your recipients by name. Tailor each message based on preferences or past interactions with your brand. 

Make everyone feel seen and valued. 

Create Compelling Emails

Try the following to craft compelling emails:

  • Write attention-grabbing headlines to spark curiosity
  • Keep emails concise to prevent overwhelming readers
  • Select the correct tone for your audience
  • Use visuals like images and GIFs to pump up the appeal 
  • Test different variations of content to find the best fit
  • Make your CTAs relevant and stand out from the crowd
  • Provide valuable content that solves a problem, educates, or entertains

Leverage Promotions and Discounts

Everyone loves a discount now and then. Use these quick strategies to boost your traffic and drive your business goals.

Ensure your promotions align with the local preferences.

Monitor Engagement 

Track key metrics like open rate, click-through rate, and conversion rate. Test and optimize subject lines, content format, and other elements for best results. 

Long-Term Results: Sustainable Strategies for Ongoing Growth

What causes traffic in the long run?

The results from short-term strategies are going to last only a short time. You need sustainable efforts to keep visitors flocking to your website. 

Below are what most people do to generate continuous traffic:

Search Engine Optimization (SEO): Make Yourself Seen

search engine optimization

Imagine you own a store in Times Square. How do you get yourself seen and attract shoppers?

You may put up a colorful signboard, make sure your entrance is visible from the street, and adopt similar steps. 

SEO or search engine optimization does the same to your website. It optimizes your site’s structure, content, performance, and more to help you rank on search engines. 

Below are the basics of SEO:

Keyword Research

People discover your site using search phrases. SEO incorporates these search phrases in your website content to attract visitors. 

Keywords can go in several places:

  • Headers
  • Meta tags
  • Blogs
  • Website copy 
  • CTAs

You can leverage keyword research tools to discover the right keywords for your niche and business.

SEO-Friendly Content

High-quality, SEO-friendly content can drive significant traffic to your website. Here is how to create valuable content:

  • Understand the requirements and preferences of your target audience
  • Address common questions and challenges
  • Offer unique and fresh perspectives on current topics
  • Prioritize quality and value over quantity
  • Leave actionable takeaways
  • Experiment with different formats and visuals

Read our detailed blog on SEO to understand how it can help your business grow. 

Get in touch with us for a free consultation for a website audit to know where you stand.  

Content Marketing: Your Strategy for Success

Content Marketing

Content marketing is like planting the seeds for your growth. Instead of shouting about your offerings, you provide valuable information, insights, and solutions. 

It’s about building a relationship with your audience over time to gain their trust. You share tips, stories, videos, and more to connect and resonate with your potential customers. 

Crafting a Content Strategy

A content strategy lays the roadmap for your content marketing efforts. It outlines your goals, channels, distribution plan, content themes, and more. 

  • Make your content strategy align with your business goals (brand awareness, lead generation)
  • Research the pain points and preferences of your audience
  • Choose the most effective content formats and channels

Create a Variety of Content

Embrace diversity in content to cater to different audience preferences and consumption habits. Experiment with various formats like:

  • Blogs
  • Ebooks
  • Podcasts
  • Videos
  • Social media posts
  • Infographics
  • Webinars
  • Case studies

Keep your content strategy engaging and dynamic by mixing and matching content formats. Repurpose existing content into different formats to gain more exposure and traffic. 

Blogging is a Must

Blogging is a crucial part of content marketing. You can establish yourself as a thought leader, drive organic traffic, and build engagement and loyalty. 

As a result, 59% of marketers vouch for the value of blogging

Blogs also contribute to your SEO efforts. They can improve visibility, boost rankings, and generate organic traffic. 

Create Shareable and Valuable Content 

You can create shareable content by providing value to your audience. Create content that educates, entertains, solves problems, or inspires your audience. 

  • Use storytelling, real-life examples, and share-worthy content
  • Incorporate CTAs and social sharing buttons
  • Provide insights that users can put into action

Lodus offers professional blogging services for businesses. Contact us to learn how we can help you build and drive your content strategy.

Website Optimization: Make Your Website a Delight

Optimize website

Long-term strategies pay off only when your website is a pleasure to use. You must take steps to offer an excellent user experience to attract and make visitors stay.

Here are a few tips to help you out:

  • Optimize your website to make it fast, user-friendly, and SEO-friendly. It helps you offer a seamless and enjoyable browsing experience. 
  • Implement responsive design principles. Empower your website to display and work flawlessly across devices and screens. 
  • Perform regular audits to fix technical problems and broken links. Address other issues like usability to create positive user experiences. 
  • Invest in professional web development to reflect your brand identity. It is also a must for any medium or big business.
  • Monitor website performance metrics like bounce rate, conversion rate, and average session duration. Identify and address areas of improvement. 

Rome wasn’t built in a day, nor is a thriving digital presence. It takes time, planning, and constant effort to attain sustainable results. 

We can help you develop an aesthetic website and drive sustainable traffic. Schedule a free consultation to learn how we can help. 

Read more: Performance challenges of a WordPress website.  

Analytics, Measurement, and Continuous Improvement

Analytics helps you understand how visitors interact with your site to optimize your online presence. It also allows you to understand how your website performs and provides insights into:

  • Website traffic
  • User behavior
  • Page views
  • Performance metrics

These insights help you make data-driven decisions. You can identify patterns and trends to leverage the right growth opportunities. 

Tools like Google Analytics and Search Console can help you generate meaningful insights into:

  • Search performance
  • Click-through rates
  • Indexing issues

Competitor Analysis

Competitor analysis tools help you benchmark your performance against competitors. Tools like SEMrush, Ahrefs, and SimilarWeb can help you perform competitor analysis.

You can generate insights into:

  • Competitor traffic
  • Backlinks 
  • Keywords
  • Strategies

Competitor analysis helps you identify your strengths and weaknesses to drive better results. 

Security, Trust, and User Engagement

The last task on the list is to ensure foolproof security for your website. You must take steps to protect user information and build credibility. 

Implement security measures such as TLS (earlier SSL) encryption. It protects your website and visitor’s browser. 

You can display TLS certificates on your site to build trust. Adopt other security measures like regular software updates and security plugins to boost website security. 

How to Boost Engagement

Boost engagement on your website through ways like:

  • Allow users to post comments on your blogs
  • Implement a forum for your visitors to start discussions
  • Encourage users to share their stories and experiences
  • Leverage interactive elements like surveys, quizzes, and contests

You can also implement an AI chatbot to greet and engage visitors. Read how a chatbot can help you boost engagement and build loyalty. 

Use every opportunity to nudge users to interact with your brand. It will keep producing continuous traffic to your website. 

Are You Ready to Boost Your Website Traffic?

Traffic refers to visitors who come to your website from several sources. You can generate traffic from search engines, social media, referrals, and PPC ads. 

Digital marketers can help you grow your online presence, build credibility, and drive more traffic. From SEO to precise PPC campaigns, you can leverage short-term and long-term strategies to achieve your business goals. 

Contact us today if you want to grow your website traffic. We create tailored strategies for SEO, PPC, and social media campaigns to boost your leads and conversions. 

Our team can address unique business needs and challenges for optimal ROI. Get in touch with us today to schedule a free consultation. 

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How Websites Make Money: Revenue Secrets for Less Tech-Savvy Entrepreneurs

How do websites make money?

A website can make money in several ways. A blogger can generate revenue by displaying ads or offering paid subscriptions. 

The situation is a bit nuanced for a business. It is not possible to implement an income stream without consideration. Every decision must align with your business objectives and brand values. 

This blog will explore how to make money with a website for business owners and entrepreneurs. We have divided the ways into two sections for you to put into immediate use. 

First, let’s share a few words on preparing your website to generate revenues. 

How Websites Make Money: Building Blocks of Success

Your website must tick all the boxes to make money. We know some of you are more comfortable with spreadsheets than HTML, but we are here to help. 

Below are the essential components of a money-making website. 

Design that Dazzles

Your website is like a storefront in the bustling internet. Do you want a dirty and dim shop to greet your customers?

Of course not! You want to make your store inviting and welcoming to shoppers. 

A good design makes your website stand out and attract visitors. You are able to create an enticing online presence and engage users. 

Most importantly, your visitors keep coming back for more while you grab the opportunity to generate more revenues. 

UX that Wows

Clicks and scrolling is an intricate dance between your website and its visitors. User experience (UX) is all about ensuring the dance is downright delightful. 

An excellent UX makes the experience of using your website intuitive and smooth. Seamless navigation, quick loading- every interaction adds up to build a pleasant experience. 

A good UX is like dining in a fine restaurant. A warm smile greets you at the door, a friendly staff leads you promptly to a cozy table, and presents you with a tantalizing menu. 

That’s the kind of experience your website should aim to deliver. 

SEO Sorcery

Search engine optimization (SEO) is a mystical art. It involves several ingredients, such as:

  • Sprinkling keywords
  • Optimizing meta descriptions
  • Crafting captivating content
  • Ensuring seamless performance

The right mix of ingredients and efforts can help you rise up the ranks of search engine result pages (SERPs). You bask in the glorious spotlight of online visibility and keep attracting and engaging guests. 

Read more about SEO and its benefits for your website

Security Shield

The digital frontier is the wild west. Every website is a target for cyber bandits with nefarious intentions. 

Protecting your website and digital assets with robust security measures is non-negotiable. Keep your website secure by fortifying your defenses with measures like TLS and regular software updates. 

Lock your virtual doors and shut your digital windows tight. Never compromise on security, and always work with reliable partners. 

Get a free website assessment from us to find out how your website ranks. Our insights will help you optimize your online presence to attract and engage visitors optimally.

Read more: Common security challenges of a WordPress website.

Short-Term Revenue Streams: Earning Quick Profits

A solid foundation prepares your site for earning cash. Here are a few proven methods to turn your website into a money-making machine:

Ecommerce and Online Sales

How do websites make money

Online selling is your golden ticket to quick profits. You can sell your products and digital services online to grow your revenues. 

Additionally, you can promote your services online, for example, plumbing or car rental. Clients can book your services directly from your website. 

The total global sales from retail ecommerce in 2023 amounted to $5.8 trillion. It is projected to grow by 39% in the coming years. 

Most brands sell online to earn additional profits. For example, Adidas earned over $1.4 million from online sales in 2022, apart from offline revenues. 

Don’t you want to grab a share of the pie?

Setting Up an Online Store

An online store is a prerequisite to selling online. You can develop an ecommerce site or add ecommerce functionality to your existing infrastructure. 

Platforms like Shopify and WooCommerce make the process of setting up an ecommerce store simple. You don’t need a Ph.D. in development to build your digital storefront. 

  • You register and pay for a plan
  • Next, you customize your store theme, design, fonts, and more
  • Followed by uploading your products 
  • Last, you set up payments and shipping

Entrepreneurs serious about ecommerce should consider custom development. It establishes your brand and lets you offer a unique experience. 

Showcasing Products – Lights, Camera, Action

Now comes the time to put your products under the spotlight. Here are a few insights:

  • Invest in eye-catching product photography
  • Write snappy product descriptions
  • Ensure seamless navigation
  • Add product videos for more appeal

Make it absolutely easy for your customers to find what they are looking for. They are more likely to buy from you and keep coming back. 

Secure Payment Gateways: Fort Knox for Your Digital Dough

Securing your customer’s information is essential. Platforms like PayPal and Stripe can help you obtain trust and facilitate seamless payments. 

Additionally, you can proudly display your trust badges like TLS and payment portals to boost buyer confidence. It also goes a long way to lower cart abandonment. 

Make sure your payment process is as secure as Fort Knox. 

Schedule a 30-minute consultation with us if you want to develop an ecommerce site. We can also integrate an online store into your site to start selling right away. 

Affiliate Marketing

affiliate marketing

Affiliate marketing is a sure way to grow your sales. It’s like having a team of salespersons spreading the word about your offerings. 

Best of all, you don’t pay any salary. An affiliate marketer gets paid a small commission only when they are able to help you land a sale. 

The affiliate marketing industry is set to reach $40 billion by 2030. That tells you about the potential it has to add more income to your business. 

Secret Weapon to Boost Sales

Affiliate marketing is a strategy that entails signing up partners. It can be anyone, from influencers to bloggers to an ordinary person. 

They promote your products in exchange for a commission. 

Most ecommerce platforms allow you to create affiliate programs. Anyone can sign up and get a unique link to promote in their blogs and videos. 

The system automatically tracks sales from each unique link. You have the freedom to determine the commission and how much you want to pay. 

The Art of Strategic Alliance

The tips below will help you find partners who align with your niche. You can send them an email and invite them to join your affiliate program. 

  • Identify influencers or businesses in your niche
  • They should align with your brand values and have a loyal following
  • Reach out to them and pitch your rates and benefits

Many brands partner with influencers on Instagram or other social media sites. It can be a great way to boost brand awareness and grow sales. 

Companies like Amazon, Shopify, and Bluehost pay people to promote their products. Even small businesses and startups rely on affiliate marketing to earn revenues. 

Sponsored Content and Partnerships

make money with website

Sponsored content is a quick way to add to your incoming cash flow. Brands pay platforms to feature their content, whether a blog, video, podcast, or social media post. 

It is like a guest appearance on your favorite TV show. However, brands vie for the spotlight instead of celebrities. 

You can even form partnerships with brands you promote. It becomes a strategic alliance to ensure continued income and visibility. 

How to Attract Sponsors

Work with brands that are in a niche relevant to your brand. Let’s say you run a travel booking website that allows people to book flight tickets, hotels, and activities. 

Your site can feature sponsored content from airlines, hotels, and car rentals. The content aligns with your audience and provides value. 

They can plan a whole trip through your website without going anywhere else. It lets you build credibility and create loyal customers. 

A partnership or sponsored content is about building a mutually beneficial relationship that drives results. 

LinkedIn Sponsored Content is an excellent example of a platform that allows brands to promote paid content. Several brands, like Genesys and Philips, have used it to capture leads and gain visibility. 

Balancing Sponsored Content with Brand Integrity 

Maintaining brand integrity is like walking a tightrope. You must strike the right balance between promoting sponsors and staying true to your brand. 

  • Be selective about the sponsors and partnerships you make
  • Ensure their offerings align with your audience’s needs and interests

Transparency is crucial when promoting sponsors. Disclose any paid content and maintain honest communication at all times. 

Trust is the cornerstone of any successful business. So, protect your brand integrity at all costs. 

Tips to Attract Sponsors

  • Understand your audience’s interests, preferences, and demographics
  • Develop a clear and compelling brand identity that attracts sponsors
  • Grow your audience and engagement to appeal to brands
  • Offer innovative sponsorship opportunities and packages
  • Network and outreach in industry events, online communities, and webinars
  • Provide data on ROI to brands like traffic, brand awareness, and sales

Long-Term Revenue Streams: Building Sustainable Income

We move on to the long-term phase of monetizing your website. It’s time to focus on building sustainable income streams that keep the cash flowing for years. 

Subscription Models and Memberships

online income businesses

Subscription-based services provide guaranteed income month after month. It is the primary reason the software industry charges you monthly instead of selling one-time licenses. 

Additionally, you generate a predictable income that grows over time. Subscriptions can be for:

  • Premium content
  • Exclusive perks
  • Monthly box of goodies with your products

It can be anything that provides value to your customers and keeps your bank account happy. 

Sites like Medium and Entrepreneur offer several tiers of subscriptions for premium content. You can adopt the same approach to earn additional revenues. 

Creating Attractive Subscription Models

Variety is the spice of life when it comes to subscription models. Below are a few insights to create appealing revenue streams:

  • Start with a basic tier that offers essential features or content for a low monthly fee.
  • Sweeten the deal with premium tiers to unlock exclusive benefits or VIP content. 
  • Try to include something for every taste and budget. 

Varied subscription models attract more subscribers and maximize your revenue. 

Creating Premium Content for Members

Premium content is the secret ingredient of subscription-based services. It can be in-depth tutorials, exclusive interviews, or access to behind-the-scenes. 

Such content boosts value and encourages your subscribers to upgrade to higher tiers. Here are a few tips to create the VIP experience for your members:

  • Understand your audience’s needs and pain points
  • Provide access to content not available to non-members
  • Premium content must meet the highest quality standards
  • Provide value-added benefits like discounts or priority support
  • Update and publish new content regularly
  • Foster a sense of community and promote exclusivity

We can write impeccable blog posts and articles on a wide range of topics. Get in touch to discuss your content needs today. 

Leveraging Video Content – Lights, Camera, Subscriptions

Video content is a powerful tool to drive subscriptions. People now watch more digital videos compared to traditional TV. 

Around 53% of US adults watch videos daily. Therefore, video content is a fantastic opportunity to attract subscribers and earn more money. 

You can make videos on:

  • Behind-the-scene stories
  • Panel interviews
  • Interactive QA sessions
  • Topics related to your niche

Contact us for professional video production to delight your audience. We can help you attract more subscribers and earn higher subscriptions. 

Offering Exclusive Perks to Subscribers

Roll out the red carpet with exclusive perks and benefits for your esteemed members. You can provide subscribers with things like early access to products and services. 

Member-only discounts, invites to company events, and anything that makes your customers happy will work. 

Give your subscribers a reason to stick around for the long haul. 

Digital Products and Courses

website money

Digital products and courses do more than help you earn money. They are an excellent way to share knowledge and expertise to establish yourself as a thought leader. 

Let’s explore how a website can make money using these valuable assets. 

Developing Digital Products

Below are a few insights to create digital products relevant to your business:

  • Research market needs to develop practical solutions. Research the pain points of your target audience and customers. 
  • Leverage expertise and utilize your unique skills, experience, and knowledge. Create digital products that prove your expertise and add value. 
  • Develop high-quality content like written materials, interactive elements, and videos. Communicate your message clearly to the learners. 
  • Diversify offerings and explore a variety of digital products. Create ebooks, templates, software tools, and multimedia resources. 
  • Select the right platform for your products. Consider factors such as ease of use, payments, and customization options. 
  • Test your products with a selected group and collect feedback. Use the insights to refine your products for improved acceptance. 

Designing Online Courses and Webinars

The following tips will help you develop engaging courses and webinars:

  • Define learning objectives and clearly outline goals. It allows you to offer tangible benefits to learners. 
  • Organize the course content into logical modules. Clear explanations and progression guide participants through the learning journey smoothly. 
  • Provide additional resources like learning materials and discussion forums. They address queries and enhance the learning experience. 

Marketing and Selling Knowledge-Based Products

How do you market your digital products and courses?

Here are a few insights:

  • Establish a solid online presence and build a loyal following. Use ways like content marketing, social media, and emails to attract followers.
  • Develop enticing offers like limited-period discounts, bonus materials, and bundled packages. Try to incentivize sales and encourage conversions. 
  • Utilize multiple channels to promote your offerings. Use your website, social media platforms, and email marketing campaigns. 
  • Adopt value-driven marketing for your products and courses. Focus on their value and benefits and how they can resolve customer pain points. 

Advertising Revenue

online ads

Advertising is an excellent way to monetize your website. You can leverage display ads from various networks to boost your earnings. 

Display ads are like digital billboards you rent out for advertising. They can appear in various formats like banners, videos, or images. 

You get a fee from advertisers to display their ads on your site. The payment is based on factors such as impressions, clicks, or conversions. 

Displaying ads is a simple and passive way to generate income. You can earn $1,000 – $5,000 monthly from ads if your site gets 500K page views. 

There is no upper limit to how much you can earn. 

Read more: What Causes Website Traffic. (interlink)

Ad Networks and Platforms

Ad networks act as intermediaries between advertisers and website owners who want to display ads. They help you access a vast pool of advertisers willing to pay to pitch to your audience. 

Google Adsense and Media.net are two popular ad networks. Google offers advertisers several ways to target audiences with different ad formats. 

Media.net specializes in contextual advertising based on your site’s content. Choose platforms that align with your preferences and run ads on your website to earn more. 

Implementing Display Ads

It is pretty straightforward to display ads on your website. Here are the steps:

  • Sign up for an ad network 
  • Copy the ad code you get
  • Paste it into your site’s HTML code

The code displays different ads to visitors based on their location, browsing history, and interests. 

Optimizing Ad Placements for Visibility

The placement of display ads on your website impacts their performance. You can maximize revenues by placing ads for visibility and engagement. 

Several strategic locations on your web pages can attract more clicks:

  • The top portion of pages visible without scrolling
  • Between sections in content and blogs
  • End of articles
  • Sidebars

Measuring Success: KPI and Analytics

It is essential to measure and track your progress. Research and monitor each revenue stream’s key performance indicators (KPIs).

Ecommerce

  • Conversion rate
  • Average order value
  • Customer lifetime value

Paid Memberships

  • Churn rates
  • Subscriber growth rate
  • Retention rate

Display Ads

  • Click-through rate
  • Impression share
  • Revenue per thousand impressions (RPM)

Continued Evolution for Sustainable Growth

The digital world is an ever-changing landscape. Your website must continue to evolve to stay relevant and generate revenue post-launch.

This involves revisiting the phases of development:

  • Discover
  • Design
  • Development
  • Launch
  • Post-launch

Ongoing competitor analysis and market research will provide you with new monetization opportunities. You must also iterate your site’s design and user experience based on user feedback and analytics. 

Such steps allow you to optimize conversion rates and maximize revenues. Continuous improvement and adaptation are the way to a profitable website to earn money in the long run. 

Turn Your Website into a Money-Making Machine

Here is a recap of how websites make money for you to put into action. 

Build a solid foundation to monetize your website. Invest in security, SEO, and user experience to attract and retain more visitors. 

Leverage short-term strategies like online sales and affiliate marketing to earn quick bucks. You can also consider featuring sponsored content from brands. 

Long-term strategies such as paid memberships and digital products boost income and build credibility. Advertising is another straightforward and passive way to generate revenue. 

Diversify your income streams to prevent depending on one source. Additionally, adapt your website to changing trends to remain relevant and keep generating traffic. 

Ultimately, measure your success and work on areas of improvement. 

Get in touch with us for a website inspection. We will let you know whether your website is ready for monetization. You can also work with us to make your site a well-oiled money-churning machine. 

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WordPress Performance Challenges: What Makes Your Website Perform Under Par

Does your website take too long to load? Do your website pages become unresponsive from time to time? Are you worried about your WordPress website’s performance?

WordPress websites can suffer from several performance issues. For example, it can take too long to load, stop responding, or even crash without explanation.

Sadly, there is no one cause that takes a toll on your WordPress performance. Rather, you have endless reasons that make your website a poor performer.

In this blog, we will explore the top performance challenges in WordPress. We will also reveal the secrets to overcoming the challenges and providing the best user experience.

In the end, we will explore a few WordPress performance optimization plugins to keep your site performing well.

Let’s start with one of the most common WordPress performance issues of all time.

You Have a Slow Loading WordPress Website.

Have you ever felt frustrated waiting for a website to load?

We all have experienced a few websites that take ages to load. Your website visitors and potential customers can feel the same way if your WordPress site is slow.

According to Google, 32% of visitors are likely to leave if your website takes more than 1-second to load. The slower it loads, the more customers leave you for your competitors.

Today, your website needs to be fast and nimble to woo customers. As a result, you can’t afford a website that takes more than 2-seconds to load. Unfortunately, many WordPress websites are awfully slow, and it is a common problem across hosting providers.

A range of causes can make WordPress websites slow. Your website can get slow for uncountable reasons, from simple configuration errors to cumbersome media. Still, we have made an attempt to capture the most common issues below:

1. Your hosting can make your WordPress website slow.

wordpress hosting
Is your WordPress hosting fast enough?

Hosting is the foundation for delivering excellent user experiences. As a result, going with the wrong hosting provider or plan can make your WordPress website slow.

At Lodus, we always recommend the best hosting for our clients. You should stay away from those $3 per month hosting plans if you want your website to be fast. 

Cheap hosting providers throttle your resources to the bare minimum, just enough to run your website. Therefore, you are bound to experience difficulties when you try to scale.

As a result, your website may slow down as it doesn’t have enough resources to handle increased workloads.  

Using shared hosting can also make your website take more time to load its content. This is because your website will be sharing resources with other clients that take a toll on the loading speed.

What to do:

If your website earns you direct revenues, like eCommerce, go for a private server. Else, go with a hosting provider that has a reputation and good reviews in the market. Additionally, choose a plan according to your expected traffic.

A better option can be to go for multi-tenant hosting where several geographically-spread servers share the workload. Therefore, you always have enough resources, even if your site has to process a thousand orders every minute. 

Lodus provides some of the best multi-tenant WordPress hosting plans for solid WordPress performance. Additionally, you get more than adequate resources to scale seamlessly.  

You can get in touch with us to learn about the features of world-class hosting and help you choose the right plan. 

2. Too many or too big WordPress themes and plugins can ruin WordPress performance.

Multi-purpose themes may make your website look beautiful, but they may also hamper your performance. Many themes don’t have good code quality and aren’t optimized for speed. Plus, they have a ton of features you really don’t need that increase code complexity.

As a result, they can add to your loading time by several seconds.

The same is true for WordPress plugins. They help you extend the functionality of your site, but some can end up affecting your speed. Again, it is mainly applicable to user-level plugins, like widgets, caching plugins, or additional security plugins.

The issue is also common when you have too many plugins on your website. Additionally, outdated or slow-loading plugins can also be performance hampers.

What to do:

Always choose a theme optimized for speed. Do not go for themes that have a lot of bloated features and add-on functionalities. You can always add them with plugins or with a bit of coding.

If you suspect your theme to be the cause of loading delay, try switching to another theme. Then check if your loading speed has improved.

For plugins, you need to find the actual plugin that is causing trouble and uninstall it. Then, you can use tools like GTMetrix to run performance tests. 

You can also try all-in-one plugins to optimize your website speed. However, make sure they do not add to the complexity and dent your performance. Additionally, remember to update your themes and plugins regularly.

We can provide expert advice on how different plugins can impact your website performance. Just get in touch with us.

3. Big images, videos, and media files can make WordPress websites longer to load.

Wordpress file size
Be wary of big file sizes

Do you keep a tab on the sizes of the images you upload?

Images and media files that are too big can end up increasing loading time. You may think a 3,000 x 5,000 pixels image looks great, but it’s bad news for your website. Having too many videos or pictures of large sizes will surely make your website visitors wait for a long time.

Moreover, it makes no sense to use such high-resolution images. Desktop monitors are generally 1,920 pixels wide or less, so the extra resolution will not make a difference. In the case of phones, the maximum width of the screen is around 700 pixels.

As a result, it doesn’t make sense to mess up your loading speed using unnecessary high resolutions or big file sizes.

What to do:

Keep your target audience and the devices they use in mind while adding media files to WordPress websites. For example, you can upload images with a maximum of 1,920 pixels width if you aim for desktops.

Additionally, use an image editor to resize and compress your pictures. You can even use a simple tool like Windows Picture Manager to serve your needs and improve WordPress performance.

At Lodus, we use responsive images or multiple versions of your pictures in different resolutions. When someone visits your website, it loads the correct version based on the user’s screen size for the best performance.

Pro tip: You can use a content delivery network (CDN) to distribute your traffic and cut down the load on your infrastructure. A plugin like Jetpack can also help you leverage a free CDN for your media files.

Do not host unnecessary media files on your WordPress website. Instead, upload them on image hosting and video hosting platforms to keep your website light. This will help you improve your WordPress loading speed as you are not hosting the files on your servers.

4. The location of your WordPress server can increase your website loading time.

The geographical location of your server is vital to ensure your website loads quickly. If your server is far away from your target audience, your website visitors may end up getting frustrated.

The problem is, choosing a hosting provider from your country doesn’t mean your server will be located in the country. For all you know, your hosting provider based in Los Angeles may be using a server in Australia. As a result, the data from Australia will take time to reach your website user in the USA.

The delay in loading will increase with the distance between your users and your servers. Additionally, your data center location impacts your SEO. So, the location of your server is very important.

What to do:

Choose a server location that is closer to your target audience. If you’re a business in the US, go for a server located within the country. It will make your website faster for your customers situated here.

Businesses targeting an international audience can choose a server location closer to their target market.

Pro tip: You can also host your website on multiple servers. The process helps you balance your website traffic and meet unexpected spikes in visitors. If your website is on multiple servers, then all the servers share the increased flow of traffic. Therefore, your website performance will be much more consistent despite the increased traffic.

Additionally, multi-server hosting can help your website stay online even if one server or data center shuts down.

5. Your WordPress Website is Mobile-Unfriendly.

responsive website
Responsiveness is a must

Do you use a smartphone to go online? So do 90% of the global population that uses the Internet, according to Statista.

Today, more people are using phones rather than desktops or laptops to go online. Search engines like Google have also kept up with the trend and show mobile websites on search results. As a result, you will lose out on customers if your website doesn’t work on phones.

Being mobile-friendly is more important for businesses that depend on their website to generate revenue. Your eCommerce store should be operational on mobiles to attract all the mobile shoppers these days. Their number is quite huge and will make up 44% of all eCommerce revenues by 2024.

That’s almost half of the total people who shop online!

What to do:

Your website may not work as expected on phones for many reasons. Many are related to the limitations of mobile devices like low internet speeds and high latency. Additionally, the hardware is not as capable as desktop or laptops and takes more time to process website code. 

Therefore, your website takes longer to load as it is developed for desktop computers. 

You need to consider all the above factors to make your website mobile-friendly. Then you have to address each area and optimize your website to accommodate the limitations of smartphones.

Additionally, you can try:

  • Making all text legible and visible
  • Adopting mobile-first design practices
  • Implementing clean coding practices
  • Cutting down on long CSS and JavaScript
  • Using fewer plugins

Your web developer should be able to help you create a mobile-friendly website. If not, you can always contact us to let our experts take over and deliver the best mobile experience.

6. Server Overload Can Hamper WordPress Performance.

Every server has a capacity it can handle comfortably. If your server somehow becomes overloaded, your website can experience serious performance issues. Some examples are:

  • Strange HTTP error codes
  • A delay in response times
  • WordPress server doesn’t entertain TCP connections
  • The website loads partial content

No business will want their server to be overloaded. However, the issue is more common than you think!

What to do:

You don’t have much to do unless you manage your servers. If you don’t, call your hosting provider at the earliest and provide as much information as possible about the issue. The more details you give, the better diagnosis your provider will be able to perform.

The first step to resolve server load is to find out the cause. Some standard causes of server overload are:

  • A sudden increase in website traffic overloads your servers beyond their capacity. As a result, your website experiences hiccups and jolts.
  • Though unlikely, one or many of your servers may go down and make the remaining servers work hard. The reduced traffic balancing can take a toll on your website performance.
  • Your website gets infected with viruses or malware that purposefully slow down the site.
  • A hacker initiates denial-or-service (DoS) or distributed-denial-of-service attacks (DDoS) on your website. The attack floods your servers with fake requests and overloads your servers.

Based on the trigger, you can take measures to contain the damage or prevent it from repeating.

For example, you can host your website on multiple servers to meet sudden spikes in traffic. However, it can be expensive and require technical knowledge of site reliability engineering.

You can also contact us to choose our hosting for a better experience.

Robust Security can Improve WordPress Performance

Your existing security protocols can go a long way to help you manage your server load. You can use several methods to prevent and resolve server overload and malicious attempts to attack your systems.

For example:

  • A circuit breaker can stop too many requests from flooding your servers
  • Rate limiting can protect your server and stop the traffic overflow
  • IP blacklisting to block known and suspected malicious connections
  • Web application firewall (WAF) to protect your web apps
  • DDoS mitigation (Sometimes offered by provider)

Good security practices and the above can help you stop such attacks and server overload.

7. Hotlinking Can Put Your WordPress Website in Jeopardy.

wordpress hotlinking
Take steps to prevent hotlinking

Hotlinking is comparable to stealing the resources of your WordPress server. Let’s say you have a few images on your website. Someone copies the URL of the photos and uses them on their website. As a result, when the pictures show up on the other website, your server has to do the job of supplying them.

The issue can become serious if the website that stole your image URL attracts high traffic. In such cases, the high traffic can drain your server’s resources and make your website slow. Your web pages can also become unresponsive or take too much time to respond to clicks or requests. Worst of all, hotlinking can even overload your servers beyond capacity.

What to do:

You can use a range of techniques to prevent hotlinking. Many WordPress hosting providers offer hotlinking protection so that no one can steal your resources. Another trick is to disable right-click on your websites to prevent anyone from copying URLs or text.

HTTP security headers can also prevent clickjacking and some cyber-attacks. They implement rules for how browsers communicate with your website to offer more protection.  

Moreover, you can even use WordPress security plugins that disallow the hotlinking of images and videos.

8. WordPress Coding and Configuration Issues Can Affect Your Website.

Many WordPress performance challenges are due to errors in website coding or configuration. Your developer may have made some mistakes that are causing your website to act weird or malfunction.

Maybe, your website has too many individual scripts and timesheets that increase the loading time. Or, maybe you have not cached your website pages, making the server work harder to generate fresh pages for every visit.

Sometimes, the coding in your WordPress themes is also responsible for your website’s drawbacks. For example, poorly-coded themes can make too many database calls and make your site slow. You can have the same problem for well-coded themes, too.

You can have endless coding or configuration errors that make your website visitors ready to leave.

What to do:

You have to inspect your website’s configurations and coding to find out what’s wrong. The process will need technical expertise to discover the causes and adopt a solution.

For example, you can use a WordPress caching plugin to make your website serve cached pages. It will make your website faster by many times and help you attract more customers. You can also use a child theme to lower database calls and provide a better user experience.

However, don’t use multiple caching plugins for the same purpose. You should use only one plugin for caching your database, one for page caching, and so on. 

Never mix identical caching solutions and stay lean on your usage.

For coding errors, you need to find out the errors in your code to fix the problem. Similarly, you will need to configure your WordPress the right way to get the desired performance.

Additionally, you can combine your stylesheets and scripts into fewer files using plugins like Autoptimize. Or, if you’re a plugin/theme developer, you may want to use tools like Webpack.

We can arrange an audit of your website to find out what’s making it slow or crash. Our team will also be glad to provide the solutions and help your WordPress website perform like a champ.

9. WordPress Performance May Suffer Due to Database Problems.

The database of your WordPress website can become heavy with a range of unnecessary information. The information may include deleted posts, unused tags, post revisions, and more. Having too much information in your database will naturally make your website slow to respond.

What to do:

The solution to this problem is really simple. You need to clean your database and remove unnecessary data to keep it fast and lightweight. Of course, you need to know which information is necessary and which isn’t. Otherwise, you can delete something important and make your website unresponsive.

You can also use WordPress plugins (like WP-Sweep) to optimize your database if you aren’t sure what to delete.

10. Outdated Core Software, Themes, and Plugins Are Responsible Too.

Wordpress plugins
Always update your plugins and software

Some performance issues you experience on WordPress may be due to outdated resources. Your WordPress core software can create a range of issues if you don’t update it when necessary. The same applies to your themes and plugins.

Outdated software and plugins can slow down your website. They can make your website unreliable and filled with bugs. Additionally, not updating your software or themes can even lead to security risks like hacking.

The issue is more common when your themes and plugins have more dependencies and are more complex. For example, your WooCommerce plugins need to be compatible with both your WordPress core version and WooCommerce version. 

What to do:

It is essential to understand your dependencies and sources of complexity to update your resources properly. If you have that expertise, then updates are not a big challenge.

WordPress releases frequent updates, and you should implement all of them. Do the same for your themes and plugins to lower your risks and fix bugs. Also, ensure your other elements like the PHP version are up to date.

Get in touch with us if you don’t know how to update your website.

WordPress Performance Optimization Plugins

WordPress has a large ecosystem of plugins that extend the functionality of your website. You can also use a range of performance optimization plugins to boost your site’s performance. 

Below are a few plugins you may want to try:

WP Super Cache 

WP Super Cache is a powerful tool to boost website performance. It creates static HTML files from dynamic WordPress pages.

These static files are served to users to reduce server load and enhance page load times. Key features include:

Cached HTML files to minimize the need to generate pages dynamically 

  • Simple toggle switches and recommended settings make configuration easier
  • Seamlessly integrates with CDNs to speed up content delivery
  • Preloads cached files in the background to ensure fast loading times 
  • Experienced users can access options to fine-tune cache settings
  • GZIP compression reduces the size of cached files for even faster loading
  • Separate caching for mobile devices for an optimized mobile experience 

W3 Total Cache

W3 Total Cache is another suitable plugin to leverage various caching techniques. It boosts your site performance, user experience, and SEO efforts. 

Here are the main features of the tool:

  • Page caching to lower server load and quicken page loading times
  • Browser caching of CSS, JavaScript, and images to prevent re-downloading on each visit
  • Database caching to minimize server load when fetching data
  • Object caching to reduce the need to query the database repeatedly
  • Minification of CSS, JavaScript, and HTML files to reduce size and improve load times
  • Integrates with CDNs like Cloudflare and Amazon CloudFront
  • Fragment caching to cache specific parts of a page
  • Mobile optimization for excellent mobile experiences

Autoptimize

Autoptimize is a performance optimization plugin for WordPress. It streamlines website loading by optimizing and aggregating web assets. 

Some helpful features include:

  • Reduction of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript file sizes by removing unnecessary whitespace and comments
  • Combines multiple JavaScript files into one to reduce server requests and speed up loading
  • Aggregates CSS files to minimize HTTP requests
  • lazy loading of images to reduce server load and boost loading speed
  • Generates critical CSS, the minimal CSS required for rendering the above-the-fold content of a page
  • Hosts Google Fonts locally to reduce external requests
  • JavaScript deferred execution to quicken loading times
  • Supports async and defer attributes for JavaScript files to prevent render-blocking scripts

WP-Optimize

Wp-Optimize is ideal to enhance your web and database performance. You can clean up your database by removing post revisions, auto-drafts, spam, and more. 

Additionally, you can:

  • Optimize database tables to improve their efficiency and allow faster data retrieval
  • Schedule regular automatic cleanups to keep the database lean and efficient
  • Image compression features to reduce the file size of images for faster loading
  • Manage and clear cache generated by caching plugins
  • Provides insights into your database’s health and optimization progress
  • Limit login attempts and protect your website from brute-force attacks
  • Manage multiple WordPress websites
  • Database backups to avoid any disruptions

Smush

Smush is a popular WordPress image optimization plugin. It focuses on reducing image file sizes to enhance website performance.

The main functions of the tool are:

  • Automatically compresses images without compromising their quality
  • Optimize existing images in bulk for entire media library to save time
  • Lazy loading of images
  • Resize images on the fly to fit the dimensions specified in your theme
  • Lossless compression options to optimize images without any loss of quality
  • Identifies and alerts you about incorrect image dimensions that may slow down your site
  • Automatic optimization while images are uploaded
  • Optimize images in specific directories or folders for more control
  • Smush integrates with WPMU DEV’s API to optimize images on their servers

Query Monitor

Query Monitor is designed primarily for developers and site administrators. It provides in-depth insights into website performance by monitoring various aspects of its functionality. 

Some features include:

  • Identifies slow or problematic queries by monitoring all database queries during page loading
  • Records HTTP requests and shows information about each request, response, and issues
  • Monitor and analyze the hooks and actions being executed on a page for debugging
  • Provides insights into how each plugin impacts your site’s performance
  • View data on the current user’s role, capabilities, and permissions
  • Tracks REST API requests and displays information about each call, response, and endpoint
  • Provides a snapshot of your server environment, including PHP version, server memory usage, and more

WP Rocket

WP Rocket is a comprehensive and user-friendly performance optimization plugin. It is intuitive and comes with powerful features. 

Some of them are:

  • Page caching to improve load times dramatically
  • Browser caching of files like images, CSS, and JavaScript
  • GZIP compression to ensure your website visitors can enjoy speed
  • Minifies and combines CSS and JavaScript files to reduce the number of HTTP requests 
  • Supports lazy loading for images and iframes
  • Cleans up and optimizes your WordPress database by removing unnecessary data
  • Easily integrates with CDNs to enhance content distribution 
  • Automatic mobile optimization upon detection of mobile devices
  • Preloads your cache automatically
  • Provides control over WordPress’ heartbeat API

Go for Managed WordPress Hosting for Top Performance

wordpress managed hosting
Managed hosting can be a savior

WordPress performance issues can creep up when you are managing your own website without the required expertise. You do not have a clear idea of what you need to do to make your website fast and reliable. As a result, you run into problems frequently and end up losing your customers and revenues.

Entrepreneurs like you need managed WordPress hosting to never worry about performance issues again.

WordPress managed hosting from Lodus puts us in charge of maintaining your website. We employ the top experts to keep an eye on your website for any bugs or performance problems. Our team even uses advanced tools to monitor your website 24/7 for errors or security risks.

Additionally, we get to know instantly if your website performance metrics take a downturn. Therefore, we can take action without wasting time and resolve performance issues quickly.

Lodus will also take the responsibility of caching your pages, using best practices like a content delivery network, and updating your software. Our team will help your website keep performing like a star all the while without any exception.

Get in touch with us to know how we can improve your website performance right away.