Have you used email to boost organic traffic? Did it work? If not, try these seven sure fire techniq

A new article on Search Engine Journal reports that email marketing can do more than help you find and engage with new customers. It can also improve your search engine rankings.



Target With Accuracy

Bounce rate is 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.

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.

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

Use Newsletters with Exclusive Content

Once you know what your target audience is looking for, you can create content to address it. Regular newsletters with exclusive content are a great way to keep your brand at the top of a consumer's mind. If you have a company blog, this is also 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.

Integrate Email and Social Media

On their own, both email and social media marketing are useful tools. But when combined, the effectiveness of both grow exponentially. Use your social media presence to invite followers to subscribe to your email list and vice versa. Include "Share" tags in your emails so recipients can cross-promote content.

Personalize Your Email Content

Which email message do you think is going to get a better response: One with a generic opening like "Dear customer," or one that says "Jeff, we have a special deal just for you!" (Assuming your name is Jeff, otherwise that would just be weird).

If you really want to maximize the impact of your emails and drive traffic, you need to be taking advantage of segmentation. By dividing your list into smaller groups based on specific criteria, you can provide relevant content that is more likely to get clicks.

Conduct A/B Testing with SEO Keywords

We touched on this briefly in number two, but it bears repeating; your email campaigns should be using A/B testing, just like your landing pages and other content. You should be trying out different versions of emails using SEO keywords to determine which get the best results.

Ask For Reviews

Every brand will claim it's the best in its field. But consumers know this and take it with a grain of salt. Reviews, on the other hand, have a much larger influence on decisions because they give legitimacy to your marketing claims. After all, 98% of consumers read reviews. People tend to trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations.