10 ways to get better traffic to your creative business website

Do you want to get more but especially BETTER people (AKA potential clients!) to visit your website or Etsy shop? Visitors who will actually buy your creative products or commission your design services?

If you want to get more online sales then the first step is to get the right traffic to your creative business website!

The Design Trust’s website gets thousands of visitors each month and is a key marketing tool for our business. In this practical article, Patricia van den Akker, director of The Design Trust shares her own experience of how you can drive more and better traffic to your creative business website.

Tip 1: Use the right keywords to attract your ideal clients

If you want to get more and better traffic to your creative business website then the number one tool to use is SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) and use the right key words for your creative products or brand.

Think about what your ideal clients are looking for, not just in terms of product type (e.g. a scarf, earrings), colour and materials, but also WHY they are buying. Use keywords such as Halloween, stocking filler, wedding gift, or housewarming gift. Then think WHO they are buying for. Go beyond the obvious ‘gift for women’ and use more specific keywords and tags such as ‘present for dogs’, ‘gift for bakers’, ‘jewellery for teenagers’, or ‘gift for bridesmaids’.

If you are running a local business (e.g. a venue, a gallery, craft workshops) that attract local people or from a specific area then don’t forget to include your location e.g. ‘print workshops in York’, or ‘ceramic gallery in Shoreditch’.

Once you have identified your keywords, use them in the product title and the first 50 words of your product descriptions to increase your ranking. Use Answer The Public, a brilliant key word tool to show you what people are searching for around a particular topic or product.

Find out here why SEO and keywords matter more when selling on Etsy and Not On the High Street.

Tip 2: Categorise your product pages properly

Giving the categories on your website the right name can really help you to rank higher on Google, but also on Etsy and other online creative market places. Make sure that the category also appears in the URL of your web page so that it will score higher than random words on your product pages.

So for example, use category names such as ‘silver necklaces’ or ‘ceramic tableware’ rather than ‘collections’ or ‘portfolio’ because they will show up higher in online searches. The URL of that product page then becomes… www.mywonderfulbiz.com/silver_necklaces/

Tip 3: Post in-depth case studies regularly

Blogging is a very useful marketing tool for increasing the profile of your website and brand, and can also really help to get more quality traffic.

One of the best secret marketing tools for creative businesses is case studies – especially if you offer design services or commissions. A missed opportunity as very few creatives use them!

The secret to writing an effective case study is to really explain the entire process that’s involved in working with you on a design project or commission. Start with setting the scene of who your clients were, what the brief was or what they were looking for, and then explain step-by-step what happens throughout the process.

Case studies can really give a good insight into how you work, your eye for detail, your creative process, your excellent customer care, the decisions you make, and the challenges you have had to overcome. Include images of your prototypes or sketches throughout your story. And then finish your case study with a picture of the end result and a quote from your happy client – not just about the final product but also about the process and their experience of working with you.

If you name and tag this blog post with appropriate key words, then future clients are much more likely to find you when they are searching for something similar. A good example of this is Pippa Ryan’s Commissions Page which is clear and concise and talks readers through what she can offer and how she works on bespoke pieces.

Our Business Club members can watch an in-depth online webinar recording here on how to write good case studies and promote them effectively.

Tip 4: Use trending & timely topics

Can you include keywords in your product pages or in blog posts around topics that are very popular right now? Think about:

• When the Pantone Colour of the Year is being announced
• Key design or craft events that your audience or clients visit e.g. write a blog post review or do an interview with a key exhibitor or speaker
• Gifting holidays such as Halloween, Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day and of course Christmas.
• Awareness days that are relevant to your business and audience. World Book Day or Small Business Saturday are great events to get involved in! You can see a full list of awareness days here. Have fun and get creative!
• What’s of interest to your clients such as key sporting events, Chelsea Flower Show or TV moments such as the Great British Bake Off and The Great Pottery Throw Down.

Your keywords can of course also become hashtags on your social media to drive traffic in that way too!

Tip 5: Pitch for a relevant guest post

The Design Trust website traffic went through the roof in 2018 when I wrote an article for The Guardian newspaper about How to Start a Craft Business (you can still read it here!).

When you get published on a big online platform then you get positive ‘back links’ to your website, which is a very powerful tool for building your Google ranking.

What are the most important online resources and blogs that your ideal clients read? Identify at least 5 specific websites that publish guest posts that your ideal clients are interested in.

Do your research and pitch some specific ideas to them. If your guest posts get published then you might get really quality website traffic, but also if it’s an important and popular site such as The Guardian newspaper then your ranking will increase very quickly as Google’s algorithms will increase the importance and relevance of your site.

If you need a bit of help identifying who your ideal clients are and what they might be interested in then, read this blog post with 10 questions to get to know your dream clients better.

Tip 6: Answer your client’s questions

What questions do your clients have about your kind of products or services?

If you can create a blog post explaining technical intricacies or answering their questions then they might come across you when they Google their questions.

Make sure that the URL name of the blog post uses the relevant key words to increase the chances of being found. The Design Trust website gets a lot of traffic because we answer many questions that creative business owners might have about business planning, marketing, costing and pricing. Many of our blog posts indeed start with ‘How do I do x’.

Use the language that your clients might use in their questions to get the best ranking results.

Or type in the question that you want to answer into Google and see other variations of that question coming up too. Or use the Google Keyword tool to get a very detailed insight into what keywords to use.

Furniture company Luke Hughes has published some very good technical blog posts about wood veneers for example to help their architectural clients.

Tip 7: Install Google analytics or something similar

Do you know how many visitors your website is currently getting? Have you got reliable details not just about numbers but also about who your visitors are, how long they stay, what your most popular pages are? Google Analytics can give you the answers to that, or check out the analytics on your Etsy, Shopify or Squarespace website. We also recommend a really handy SEO and traffic tool called Ubersuggest that was created by Neil Patel.

Check out your website traffic facts so that you know how much traffic you are getting, what they are looking for and the keywords they are looking for.

And when you see your traffic numbers steadily going up on Google Analytics that’s a mega motivation to keep driving traffic to your creative business website!

Tip 8: Do you promote your blog posts and product pages? Consistently?

When you have published a new article or product on your website then don’t just hope that your ideal clients will find you! You need to work a little harder on getting website traffic these days.

Send out an email to your subscribers and contacts about the new post or your latest product with a clickable link back to the specific page on your website. NEVER send readers to your home page in the hope that they can find the right page! They won’t have the inclination or patience to look around your website trying to find it.

Promote your blog posts on social media regularly to move your followers onto the next stage of the client relationship.

Social media is a great tool for driving more traffic to your website, but make it easy with links in stories and good links in your bio.

If your online articles are ‘evergreen’ then continue to send new followers to those blog posts so that they can get to know you more and learn more about you, your creative business and products.

Tip 9: Is your content shareable?

If you regularly add good quality content to your website then it’s much more likely that readers will share it.

Have you got an Image-Hover “Pin It Button” which will make sure that whenever someone hovers over an image on your site, the option to create a Pin using that image (with credit to you) will be available for them? It is really quick and easy to set up, just follow the instructions here.

Do you ask for comments (really good for your Google ranking!) or do you ask readers specifically to share with others (The Design Trust does – see bottom of this page!)

Do you refer to other articles and product pages and include internal links? This will make sure that your reader or client is more likely to stay longer on your site, and also remember you.

Tip 10: Do you promote your website … wherever you are?

When you do events do you promote your website too? Your visitors might not yet be ready to buy from you, so make sure that you hand out promotional material with your website details or a QR code so that they can shop online afterwards.

Do you send invites out for events? Make sure again that your website is included, as the recipient’s might not be able to attend.

Is your website details included on all your social media bios and profiles? Social media is a key way to drive traffic and if somebody likes what they see on your Instagram or TikTok feed then make sure that they can find your website easily.

Is your website address on your price list or included in your email signature?

Make sure that you promote and communicate your website address on every promotional and communication tool you use. Your website is your online home and the easiest place for your potential clients to purchase from you – whenever they want, wherever they are in the world.

Did you find this blog post with 10 ways to get better traffic to your creative business website useful? Then do let us know in the comments below. We would love to hear from you what you learnt specifically and what you did as a direct result of reading this article.