7 Ways To Use Email To Boost Organic Traffic

Email marketing can do more than help you find and engage with new customers. It can also improve your search engine rankings.

It’s the bread and butter of your career, but possibly also the bane of your existence.

Calling to targets like a siren’s song, whether they’re in the office down the hall or on a beach vacation across the world, it’s nearly inescapable. And, the modern world couldn’t function without it.

Of course, we’re talking about email marketing.

Typically a softer sell than other types of marketing, it offers incredible ROI, returning on average $36 for every dollar spent.

But, what is it exactly?

According to Wikipedia, email marketing is “the act of sending a commercial message, typically to a group of people, using email.

In its broadest sense, every email sent to a potential or current customer could be considered email marketing. It involves using email to send advertisements, request business, or solicit sales or donations.”

For digital marketers, this means primarily one thing: directing recipients to a website, either for more information, to make a purchase, or to perform some other action.

In other words, traffic is the name of the game.

But, can you really use email marketing to boost your organic traffic? Of course!

A key part of search engine optimization (SEO) is off-page factors, including social media shares and backlinks.

High-quality traffic will also affect how your site is ranked by Google and other search engines.

And, one way to encourage all of these is through effective email marketing.

So, let’s look at the $10,000 question: HOW do you use email marketing to drive traffic?

Here are seven ways you can increase visits to your website:

1. Target With Accuracy

Bounce rate – it’s a dirty word in online marketing.

And while there is such a thing as email bounce rate (that is, emails that were returned by the recipient’s server), what really matters to digital marketers is website bounce rate, i.e., the percentage of visitors who leave your site without taking action.

This is where email marketing can really shine. Whether you’ve bought your list or compiled it on your own, you should be equipped with some basic information about your audience, which will allow you to run highly targeted campaigns.

To improve traffic, your email campaign should go to people who are genuinely interested in your content, whether because they’ve expressed some interest in the past or your content can help solve a current pain point.

These types of visitors are likely to spend a longer time on your website, which signals to search engines that your website is a good resource. Google will recognize your site’s authority and increase your ranking accordingly.

2. Understand User Intent

Why are your email targets opening your messages? Because you’re offering them something of value and they see some relevancy in what you’ve sent them. (Or maybe you just write the world’s best subject lines.)

There are three main types of user intent and email marketing can be used for all of them:

Navigational – in which a user is trying to get to a certain site, in which case, congratulations, job done.
Informational – where a user is looking for information.
Transactional – when a user is prepared to buy or take another online action.

The Fastest Way to Check Your Core Web Vitals
Are you optimizing for user experience? Enhancing site speed, content stability, and interactivity can boost organic rankings, brand awareness, and sales.

If you’re also running your organization’s SEO, you’re probably familiar with this concept.

If not, get with whoever is and ask them for the long-tail keywords or descriptive searches that are driving people to your site.

Then, use these to craft email messaging that will connect with your audience.

By providing content that addresses user needs, you’re weeding out low-quality visitors, enhancing your SEO via an improvement in quality visits.

3. Use Newsletters With Exclusive Content

Once you know what your target audience is looking for, you can create content to address it.

And, regular newsletters with exclusive content are a great way to keep your brand at the top of a consumer’s mind.

Show your audience your brand’s value and establish a reputation as a thought leader in the field by sending out a weekly or monthly email with relevant information.

If you have a company blog, this is a great source you can mine for content that your audience won’t get anywhere else. And by clicking on the “read more” in your newsletter, they’re doing exactly what you want – visiting your website.