10 tips to attract return visitors

Any internet marketer knows how hard it is to get people to visit his or her website. Some companies are willing to pay up to $10 or $20 for each visitor to their site through pay-per-click marketing campaigns.

What we sometimes overlook is that keeping a visitor is just as valuable as getting a new one. In fact, return visitors are even more valuable because they are more likely to take action, to purchase whatever you have to sell to them.

Here are a few tips on keeping your visitors. Feel free to add to the list.

1. Make sure your site gives your visitors what they want. Internet surfers have very short attention span, and there are millions of site competing for their attention. Your message should jump out at them and grab their interest from the get-go. It should be clear and specific. If your main business is selling Korean DVD's, make certain that they get the message within the first few seconds. If they have to dig through your site to find Korean DVDs, chances are, they'd already left your site.

2. Keep your site up-to-date. When people return to a site they want to see fresh content. If you're selling Korean movies, you'll want to frequently update your site with new releases, special discounts, sales, etc. Updating your site on a regular basis lets your customers know you're on the ball, that you're diligent about your business.

3. Send out regular newsletters. Build an opt-in email list from visitors to your site. Place newsletter sign-up forms on as many pages on your site as possible. Send out regular newsletters informing your recipients about the latest updates, specials, offers, etc. Be courteous to your prospects by not sending them too much junk mail and by providing a means for them to have the mailings stopped at any time.

4. Incorporate forums and news feeds on your site. Forums and news feeds update themselves with minimal effort and maintenance on your part, so it's a no-brainer to incorporate them into your site whenever appropriate.

5. Maintain a blog on your site. A professional blog can be a part of your domain, or you can link to an external blog from your site. The link should be displayed prominently. If your site offers professional services and products, keep your blog entries professional and relevant to the content. Keep miscellaneous personal rants away from your site as they can turn your customers off.

6. Incorporate third-party widgets to your site. Widgets can add special functionality your site without your having to write and implement the codes yourself. There widgets for chat, polls, newsletter signups, weather forecasts, and so on and so forth. Widgets are a good way to add bells and whistles to your site without the expenses of software development and extra bandwidth (since they're hosted on external sites). However, use them sparingly as they could slow down your site and steal away your visitors (through the outgoing links that they display).

7. Make yourself unique. Chances are, there are hundreds or thousands of other sites in your niche competing for your target visitors. How do you stand out? How do you set yourself apart from others? Check out your competitors' websites and assess their strengths and weaknesses. Are there certain features that are lacking on their sites that you would be able to provide on yours? Being unique is not so much about coming up with something totally new and revolutionary-- although this would do the trick, too-- it's about filling certain voids and needs that are not being filled elsewhere.

8. Make your site fun and attractive. Your site should be easy and intuitive to navigate. The design of the site should fit its function and complement the nature of your business. Avoid flashing links, graphics, glaring colors and other elements that might annoy your visitors.

9. Collect feedbacks from your visitors. Feedbacks are a good way to engage your visitor and gather their inputs on making your site more appealing and usable. They let visitors know that you care about their needs and wishes.

10. Offer "free" things on your site. Sending out newsletters to people in your opt-in list offering them "free" this and "free" that is a good way to attract return traffic. In truth, nothing in life is really free. This probably explains why no matter how much the word "free" is overused, it remains a very powerful marketing technique. Although few people are foolish enough to think they'd actually get something absolutely free, with no strings attached, they're always looking for extra perks and incentives to give them more for their money.

 

yes its a good tips. i am learning much for this tips.

but for no. 2, i have been not ready for that. sometimes, i give update in 2-3 days, but in other time i do it in one week (. i know i am too lazy for this.

 

Regarding your suggestion no. 9: how would you get feedback from visitors? I've never got any, although I continue to request it since first going online with my webpage.

Rgds

 

you can get feedback from your visitors but placing a contact form on your site!

 

I already used that tips required because that is very advantage for more visitors. Thank you for that information. Maybe a lot of people learn about that.

 

I also try to add a form, where visitors can even request about what they want (to attract more visitors), yet i don't receive any feed back. I know there is somewhat problem in my advertisement, since i am not good at that. But i think this tip could be No. 11 or could add some value to Tip no. 9.

Any how, great tips.. & very helpful,

I am looking at someway, how can i work on tip no. 1, since this is the key tip. and then other tips can work. If tip 1, fails then other 9 tips will going to fail as well.

 

Rather easy to write these tips. But it takes too much to follow at least half of them.

 

Great tips! Something else is not to have an 'under construction' website - especially with one of those annoying 'under construction' graphics!

 

Added reputation informing tips which can prove very useful.

 

Very nice thread - full of valuable information.

In all my website attempts my visitor rate died within weeks, sometimes a month. I just sell my goods through ebay now as a result.

 

With Free ebooks flood around the net. it is not as effective as before anymore. However, with MONTHLY ebooks giveaway, i can attract more opt-in than just one-off offer.

 

Good tips, but as someone already mentioned putting them all into practice would leave you without a life

 

Sweet info thanks for sharing.

 

Yes, being hospitible is really important. It shows that you're not a robot and people come back to you

 

Thank you. It took some time and effort to organize your suggestions and share them. Just as you say "keeping" a visitor is just as important as getting one, converting a visitor into a customer is critical as well. There are many tactics, from a website usability point of view, that can help.

These include getting your critical information "above the fold", understanding your Value Proposition (why should someone do business with you instead of your competitor), etc.

Recent blog postings: http://www.diamondhazelton.com/blog/

 

Basically you can only sum it up as good content. As long as you have something great, people will want to read it. A lot of the blogs out there have the same regurgitated information, and of course they don't go anywhere. Without a hook (which is unique information) than you're not going to get anywhere.

 

I do 9/10 of those things.

 

Very good tips, I like the last one. Freebies and giveaways are very important to show that we appreciates the visitors. People like to be appreciated.

 

Thank you for the tips Weblaunch! I just want to add the following:

Update the content often :
If you want people to keep returning to your site, you need to update it with fresh text, different pictures and new options. For example, maintaining a personal interest section and adding a new update every two weeks will capture interest and encourage return hits.

Give something to your visitors :
Giving something of value away for free is a great way to attract website visitors. Thanks to the web, distributing freebies is in itself, free. You don't have to spend a dime to pass out freebies left and right. All you need are a few quality freebies.

Start A Newsletter :
Newsletters bring customers back to your site on a regular basis. Every webmaster should offer a way for surfers to sign up for a regular email notice. You can send specials, freebies or even site updates notices. The key is to keep in touch with the people you manage to get to your site. It's hard work getting traffic, don't let them leave without offering to stay in touch!

Tip of the Week; Become Professional
Free hosting is ok for personal sites but if your serious about attracting visitors or promoting your business, consider a professional approach and pay for your own domain and quality web hosting. Long url's, pop up ads and slow loading pages detract from the quality of your site. Looking successful is important.

Use relevant banners and links.
The links on your site should relate to its content. For example, children's pages should contain links to toy stores and educational material, not links for mortgages or sports equipment. Think of creative ways to blend your banners or links into the theme of a page, using proper banner placement and text

Compliments go a long way
When visiting a site that impresses you, drop a nice note to the webmaster and pay a compliment on the quality of their site.
Everyone appreciates hearing that all of their hard work has made an impression. The happy webmaster will find it hard to resist visiting your web site to see what kind of person has gone out of their way to be appreciative.
Your site then has the opportunity to impress the other webmaster which could easily result in a link back to your web site.

 

Great tips! Keepping regular customers is one of the most important aspects of IM