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While commonly dismissed as a platform for absurd viral trends and teenagers dancing, the truth is TikTok can be a VERY powerful traffic source if you play your cards right.
This is especially true thanks to the innate discoverability of TikTok content, which can easily get your content in front of thousands, even millions of new eyes, with a single viral video.
But where should you even begin?! Well, if you’re curious about how to gain traffic from TikTok, then keep reading. Below, we’ll be summarizing our top TikTok traffic generation methods, with top tips on how to make it rain traffic!
A Brief Overview of Getting More Traffic on TikTok
Using TikTok for pageviews and traffic is a confusing topic for many, especially when you compare it to other platforms like Instagram or Pinterest which are way more optimized for traffic generation.
Honestly, we often see that content creators aren’t sure how to adapt their website content for TikTok, which results in either boring TikToks that nobody watches or sometimes (even worse) TikToks that perform well but don’t bring you any actual benefit in the form of traffic.
While vanity metrics are nice, views and follows on TikTok don’t mean much if they don’t help you reach your goals… and if your goal is traffic, then there are certain steps you need to ensure you take.
Broken down simply, getting more traffic from TikTok involves the following:
- 1) Creating content on your website that is valuable for your TikTok audience
- 2) Creating TikToks that tease and promote these website posts you’re directing traffic to
- 3) Make it as easy as possible for your TikTok followers to realize this content exists
That’s a very broad overview, but below, we’ll walk you through the actual steps you need to take to ensure you’re maximizing the traffic potential of TikTok.
1) Set up a great “link in bio”
With a business account enabled on TikTok, you’re able to add one website link that appears in your bio.
And while having just your regular homepage URL in your TikTok bio is fine, we wouldn’t necessarily recommend that if your main goal is traffic generation.
That’s because the majority of your TikTok followers have probably never even been on your website before, and those who have probably don’t know it well enough to easily navigate to whatever piece of content you’re hyping up.
SO, to make things as simple as possible for your TikTok followers, you should consider setting up a landing page that has multiple links with clickable descriptions so followers can find exactly what they’re looking for.
For example, if you hype up a recipe in a viral TikTok, think about the traffic potential of putting a button that says “Leftover Salmon Rice Bowl” on your bio link, vs. just a generic homepage link where people aren’t 100% sure where to find the recipe. Having multiple links in a landing page can help you put key pages in that followers are most likely looking for.
Not sure how to create a landing page with multiple links? Here are a few options:
Build a landing page of your own from scratch: This is the most hands-on method, but isn’t too difficult if you have experience working on your own site. Creating a separate page on your site e.g. “yourwebsite.com/hello-tiktok” will allow you to keep all the traffic you generate 100% on your own website, and give you a lot more flexibility in terms of the layout.
Use a special “link in bio” service: These are services that make it easy to build a special landing page without any coding or tech skills. There are a lot of them these days offering more or less the same service – some popular ones include LinkTree and Lnk.bio.
Regardless of which method you choose, your goal should be to create a landing page designed specifically for your TikTok audience. So, put yourself in their shoes. If they’ve landed on your profile, what are they looking for? What posts might be relevant to them?
In the future, you can also start strategically planning for which pages to link to based on whatever you’re promoting in your TikTok content, but more on this later.
2) Create TikTok videos that tease your site content
Whenever you’re creating TikToks for the purpose of sending traffic to your site, you should look at your content as a teaser (or trailer, even!) for the specific page you’re trying to drive traffic to.
Creating a meaningful link between your TikTok and site content is important for convincing people to click off of TikTok and onto your site.
If you’re trying to promote a trip itinerary for example, you could maybe make a TikTok showcasing all the epic things you got up to in 24h, then mention that you a full itinerary up on your site that people can steal.
On a similar note, another important tactic for getting traffic on TikTok is to…
3) Create videos that require further reading/checking
This TikTok traffic generation technique is definitely better suited to some niches vs. others, but beyond teasing your site content in your TikToks, an even more powerful tactic would be to deliberately create content that actually requires more in-depth details/instructions beyond what can fit in an ordinary TikTok.
A great example of this would be a recipe. A recipe TikTok can of course show (with a quick pace) how a dish is made, but for the full list of ingredients and measurements, it’s always better to have a blog post or article to refer to.
Another similar example would be a DIY video that requires longer explanations than what is shown on TikTok.
For this method to be effective for generating more traffic, you should ensure that you are adding a Call to Action within your content that lets people know that they can find the longer form version on your website. Even a quick text box saying “Full Recipe available on my Website www.donutsaresupermegarad.com, or Full Recipe Link in Bio” will suffice.
To kick things up notch, you can also ensure your top pinned comment/caption references this too! Actually, let’s make this its own point because it’s important.
4) Add frequent calls to actions that point to your website
Okay, so you’ve crafted the perfect website content that your TikTok followers will love, you’ve created some relevant TikToks that promote that post… now what?
Well, you need to remind your followers wherever possible that they can find more info through your website!
Remember, your followers are constantly being bombarded with content from several creators, so you can’t expect them to remember that your site exists. Without a proper CTA, they’re very unlikely to go to your website on their own to see if there’s any additional info for them.
A few places to add a CTA like “Check my website for a full recipe” or “Link in bio for the full list of instructions” might be:
- In the caption
- In a pinned comment
- In a reply to other comments asking questions
This might seem like way too much spam, but sometimes it really does take that gentle nudge and reminder to jog their memory. Don’t worry – everyone on TikTok is too busy trying to master the latest dance trend. We promise you they won’t notice.
5) Lastly, create a freebie to direct traffic to
Another amazing way to get lots of traffic through TikTok is by offering a freebie that can only be accessed on your website.
Step by step, this is what you do:
- 1) Craft a super enticing freebie and make it available on your website
- 2) Link to this freebie somewhere in your bio
- 3) Create a video that hypes up/mentions this freebie, and direct people to your link to access it
A freebie can be anything from an eBook or special coupon code to a curated “done for you” list of prompts/ideas relevant to your niche. The key to figuring out a great freebie is to think specifically about your audience’s needs/wants.
NOTE: For this TikTok traffic generation tactic to work, you need to create a freebie that is:
- In line with the overall value your account/website aims to provide
- Keeps users eager for future content from you
- Enticing and juicy enough to get people wanting it
BONUS: If your freebie is good enough, you can also potentially make it so that they need to enter their email to receive it. This will allow you to feed two birds with one scone and grow your email list at the same time. It’s worth noting that your freebie needs to be REALLY good if you want this to work… otherwise you may just be alienating potential new fans, who may be annoyed by the additional step.
Did we miss any of your favorite methods for gaining traffic on TikTok?
Let us know in the comments!