Proven Ways to Skyrocket Traffic to Your Website

websites

In today’s digital-first marketplace, your website is the foundation of your marketing, sales, and customer engagement strategy. Pickett & Associates often reminds clients that while social media platforms, advertising networks, and third-party directories are useful tools, they’re only extensions of your marketing. Your website is the one piece of digital real estate you truly own and control. 

Your website isn’t just about looking good. It’s also your lead magnet and reputation manager. The trouble is that too many businesses settle for cookie-cutter sites that look like they were designed during the dial-up era. The hidden costs of a weak or clunky website? Think of them as the silent profit killers: lost sales, shaky trust, and constant maintenance headaches. It’s like trying to win a race with flat tires, you’ll spend more time fixing problems than moving forward. 

Our P&A resident website guru, Wes Weber, has been a pioneer in the digital realm for three decades, transforming the online presence for companies of all sizes. In addition to P&A clients, Wes has worked with Indianapolis Motor Speedway™, Chicagoland Speedway®, Route 66 Raceway®, Martha Stewart, Rachel Ray Every Day, and the 2002 Winter Olympic Committee. Here, he weighs in on a big question for many of our clients: How can businesses drive more traffic to their websites? 

What are some of the top ways we help our clients’ websites drive more traffic? 

Building a beautiful website is only the beginning. Driving the right traffic to it requires a blend of technical expertise, content strategy, and ongoing marketing support. Some of the most effective ways we help clients grow include the following (see below); when your site isn’t built to support these tactics, you end up leaking traffic and opportunities. 

  1. SEO-First Development
      • Clean architecture, fast page speeds, and mobile-first design.
      • Keyword-driven content and ongoing optimization.
      • Technical audits to eliminate indexing or crawlability barriers.
      
  2. Content Strategy & Marketing
      • Publishing thought leadership, blog content, and resources that match what prospects search for.
      • Evergreen content that continues to bring in traffic over time.
      • Content mapped to different stages of the buyer’s journey.
      
  3. Conversion-Focused Design
      • Intentional layouts, visual hierarchy, and clear calls-to-action.
      • A/B testing landing pages to constantly refine what works best.
      • Minimizing friction (e.g. reducing form fields, clear next steps).
      
  4. Campaign Integration
      • Ensuring your paid ads, social posts, and email campaigns send users to optimized landing pages (on your site).
      • Consistent messaging and tracking across channels so you know exactly what’s working. 

What are the benefits of having a pro help out instead of doing it yourself? 

Many small business owners are tempted to use DIY website builders or piece together their online presence on their own. While this can work temporarily, it often comes with hidden pitfalls: lost time, poor SEO performance, weak security, and designs that don’t convert. By partnering with Pickett & Associates, businesses benefit from: 

  • Strategic Expertise: We don’t just design websites, we align them with your broader business goals. Every color, call to action, and page layout is chosen with results in mind. 
  • Time & Cost Efficiency: While DIY might seem cheaper, it often requires dozens (or hundreds) of hours learning technical skills, fixing errors, and troubleshooting. With our team, you can stay focused on running your business while we handle the heavy lifting. 
  • Professional Quality: From coding standards to mobile optimization, our websites are built to last. A DIY site might “look okay,” but may be missing the technical foundations that affect SEO, accessibility, and security. 
  • Ongoing Support: Businesses evolve. Having a professional partner means your website can evolve with you by adding new features, updating content, and staying secure over time. 

Are you ready to drive more traffic to your website? Contact us today to learn more about how we help our clients build and maintain gorgeous, functional websites that gain them customers and keep them on track for the growth they desire.  

 

How a Strong Website Supercharges Your Marketing Results

websites

Your website is more than just an online brochure. It’s the hub of your entire marketing strategy. Buying decisions start with an online search; most consumers say they won’t return after a bad website experience, so the quality of your site directly impacts your bottom line. P&A designs and markets websites that not only look great but also build trust, drive traffic, and convert visitors into customers. 

To help business owners understand why their website matters and how it can be a powerful marketing tool, we asked our team website expert, Wes Weber, who has over three decades of experience with clients such as Rachel Ray Every Day, the Winter Olympics Committee and more, for some answers to the most common questions we hear from clients: 

Why is it important for businesses to have a central hub like a website? 

WW: Think of your website as your company’s digital headquarters. Every other marketing activity, whether it’s a social media campaign, a Google ad, or an email newsletter, should lead people back to your site. Why? Because it’s the one place where you set the rules. Consider these: 

  • Ownership & Control: Social platforms can change algorithms anytime, but your website lets you control content, lead capture, and customer experience.  With a custom website, you’re building a long-term asset you fully own, unlike DIY builders, where you’re essentially renting space with limited control and no lasting equity. 
  • Lead Generation: Conversions happen on your site. Optimized landing pages can generate even more leads. 
  • Analytics & Insights: Track visitor behavior, interests, and drop-off points to improve marketing strategy. 

What are some of the benefits of having a simple website design? 

WW: Less is often more when it comes to design. A clear, minimalist approach gives you advantages in usability, performance, and trust. A cluttered site might feel impressive to its owner, but to a first-time visitor, it often signals confusion or lack of professionalism. 

  • Instant Clarity: Users decide in milliseconds whether a page is worth staying on. A clean design helps them understand your offer immediately. 
  • Speed & Performance: Complex layouts, heavy scripts, or excessive graphics slow things down. A simple design loads faster, which both Google and users reward. 
  • Better Mobile Experience: With over half of all web traffic coming from mobile devices, simple designs adapt easier and avoid awkward scaling or misplaced elements. 
  • Emphasis on Essentials: When you reduce distractions, your brand message, value proposition, and calls-to-action get center stage—not buried under excess content or decoration. 

Why is security important for a business website? 

WW: Security is often overlooked, but it’s one of the most important aspects of your website’s credibility and performance. An unsecured site doesn’t just put your data at risk, it damages customer trust. 

  • Having an SSL certificate signals trust to Google and to users 
  • Without proper safeguards, your site could be compromised, leading to lost revenue and reputation damage. 
  • Implementing security practices like encryption, firewalls, and regular updates help you stay compliant and reduce liability. 

 ***Pickett & Associates implements SSL certificates, routine security updates, malware scanning, and backup systems to keep our clients’ sites safe, fast, and reliable. 

How can a custom website that’s unique to my business pay for itself?

We’ve already talked about how a clunky website can quietly drain your wallet.  Now let’s flip the script and look at why investing in a high-quality site is one of the smartest moves you can make for your business or organization. A professionally built website: 

  • Improves search rankings by following the latest best practices 
  • Builds trust and credibility by looking sharp, staying secure & avoid looking outdated 
  • Drives more conversions with effective navigation and calls-to-action 
  • Keeps visitors engaged with smooth user experiences 
  • Shines on mobile devices 
  • Cuts down on ongoing maintenance headaches 

Your website isn’t just a marketing tool; it’s your brand’s digital handshake. And let’s be honest, nobody trusts a sweaty, flimsy handshake. A secure, well-designed site builds confidence, draws people in, and convinces them to stick around and contact you. The digital professionals at Pickett & Associates blend smart design, sharp marketing, and rock-solid security so your website works hard while you sleep. Ready to give your brand a firm, confident handshake? Reach out to us today! 

 

Own Your Algorithm: How to Support Business Growth Without Social Media

social media

This month, we saw a lot of changes happening in the landscape of social media. And it wasn’t, as you know, all about the algorithm. This time, it had to do with social media companies changing the rules, a temporary shut down and a lot of uncertainty as to whether we would have certain platforms to use.  

Also consider the number of times in the last six months you’ve heard health and wellness experts encourage people to rethink social media usage. There seems to be a general theme that it’s become an UNSOCIAL place that can negatively impact both productivity and mental health. We don’t think that’s going away. And in that vein, we are going back to basics here at P&A.  

Social media’s reliability is waning. What does this mean for your business? 

It’s safe to say that dumping marketing dollars solely into social media this year is not a great idea. (Honestly, it’s NEVER been a great idea, and we’ve always cautioned our clients about that.) When you consider algorithms as well as the changing economy, business owners as users have too little control to hand over a chunk of their budget.  

Yes, social media is an excellent tool. Yes, it gets you in front of a whole bunch of people who normally may not see your brand. Yes, we will continue to use it well. But let’s also gives some props to more traditional (and less easily influenced) methods of marketing such as direct mail, email campaigns, print advertising, PR, TV, radio and more.  

What should you do instead? 

Let’s pivot. Own your algorithm. Your website is a vital tool for your business, so make sure you are giving it some love this year. Check on your SEO and make sure to create plenty of original content. Blogs, case studies, white papers! News releases and earned media maximize your organization’s reach as well as add a level of credibility. These can, then, be shared as content on your site as well. Repurposing content is something we will talk about in the upcoming months, and it is a great way to save your team time and money! 

Building your email database will become a vital component of your brand’s longevity in the coming years. We never know which social media platforms will maintain popularity and users will come and go (and may get off social all together, as we are seeing now). But you know what people DON’T plan to stop checking? EMAIL. An email list will have you in their inbox with relevant content no matter what is happening elsewhere. 

Customer relations will also become even more important than ever before. If you have not invested in a CRM system, now is the time. CRM software stores all customer information in one place, which can help you analyze interactions with clients and potential customers. You can improve existing relationships, track sales activities and ultimately drive revenue using quality leads. CRM, and all of these functions, are vital to any strategic marketing plan. 

Feeling worried about what all of this means for your 2025 business marketing plan? 

We get it! Curve balls aren’t fun, even for pro baseball players. And no business owner wants to watch revenue decline because marketing strategies that used to work are no longer reliable. The good news? We are here to help you. We have been creating effective, strategic marketing plans for clients since before social media became a thing. Since launching in 2010, we have always been a “communications agency”; we put value on the written word for ALL channels. We make it our business (literally) to clearly communicate your organization’s unique value whether that be in a 240-word social media post or a 2400-word magazine article.  

Just because the world of social media algorithms has become uncertain, that doesn’t mean you won’t reach even more people this year. We can help you create original content that will not only get you in front of your target market but will help you gain their trust and loyalty. How about that for a great 2025? 

Two Words: User Experience

When your customers land on your website’s home page, what awaits them? With any luck (and a whole bunch of research and design expertise), they will be pleasantly surprised to find something both visually pleasing and easy to navigate. User experience is everything when it comes to building a website … but many times we forget the who, what, why and how of website design.  

Design your website for a supremely satisfying user experience 

Not every single company who claims website design and development expertise actually understands designing something specific to your target market. It may be up to you to keep everyone moving in the same direction. Whether you use someone in-house or outsource your website building and design, there are a few things you need to keep in mind in order to offer a great user experience: 

Avoid clutter 

Who doesn’t love the old K.I.S.S. (Keep It Simple, Stupid) strategy? It is good for everything from website design to vacationing with children. Clutter and complexity are not what your target market wants to stumble upon when they head to your website. Instead, make sure the visual presentation looks balanced and clear. This doesn’t mean everyone needs to adopt a minimalistic approach, but keeping things simple and straightforward will make customers more likely to peruse your site.  

Design for mobile first 

Some web designers get the heady idea that their beautiful site will be viewed on a large desktop screen. However, more than 50 percent  of web visits occur on mobile devices, with that number steadily rising. Make sure your website is optimized for viewing (and USING) on those handy computers we carry in our pockets. Your customers are much more likely to purchase your product or service if they can do it easily from their phone instead of waiting until they reach their desktop or laptop.  

Encourage scrolling 

As your site becomes a reality, it is important to make sure you offer the chance for consumers to scroll. Needing to click from page to page and product to product is difficult for users and increases loading times. That doesn’t mean you should give everything up on the landing page and forget about the rest of the site, though. Just give them tidbits of information in a format that is easier to scroll through (especially on mobile) so they can spend more leisurely time exploring your brand. Check out the site we built for our client, Martin Overhead Doors, for a great example of offering enough info on the first page that consumers will only need to click through a few times before knowing what they want. 

Be intentional with your visuals

As a strategic marketing firm, it is painful to see websites that do NOT align with the brand’s vision and voice. Make sure you have a solid understanding of the image you want to portray to your customers. That means being intentional about all visuals and images (even stock photos) that you stick onto your site. The more consistent everything is, the better the user experience and the more trustworthy your brand will be.  

Building a website is complicated. We could write many more blogs about the trimmings and trappings of getting it up and running. If you feel overwhelmed even thinking about it, check out our Entrepreneurial Pathway Program for more information on website development options we offer. Whether you just need someone to help with finishing touches or you need it built from the ground up, we are here to ensure your customers get that great user experience that will bring them back time and time again.