Web Tips

Want Repeat Traffic to Your Site?

First, ask yourself, “Why wouldn’t people come back to my site?” If we’re going off the assumption that visitors have a good – or, at least not an unpleasant – experience while visiting your site, then why wouldn’t they return? Most times it’s because they have no reason to. So give them one.

A website with repeat visitors is much more likely to have longevity than is a site that gets hit with tons of one-timers. To get more from your site traffic than the look-and-leave kind, you’ll need to give your visitors a reason to come back. Here are a few suggestions:

Newsletters. A newsletter should be informative and high in (relevant) content. Make sure they are consistent and periodic (a monthly newsletter, for example).A word of caution though – limit the advertising to a minimum. The purpose of a newsletter is to inform, not overwhelm. Don’t turn them off with your newsletter, reel them in!

Online Polls. Everyone has an opinion, and even more than that, they want to share it! Visitors will come back again and again to see the results of something they were a part of. You can be as creative with this as you want; politics, Hollywood, business – people have opinions about almost anything!

Change content frequently. If your page content is the same today as it was last year, people will know that you are only offering the same thing you always have. Instead, take advantage of that new service or feature you’ve added – tell about it! People like to be in the know, and keeping your site updated with the latest information is one good way of letting them. Show your visitors that you are not stagnant – keep it up to date.

Message Boards/Forums. A forum is simple enough to create and may have the potential to bring much returning traffic to your site. Remember the online poll – how people love to share their opinions? Well, a message board is an extension of that concept. People get to put in their detailed “two cents” and receive responses. This opens it up for debate, which will heat things up and keep people coming back.

Of the above suggestions, perhaps the most important is the one on changing content. If the newsletters, polls, and forums do the job of getting someone to return to your site, then constantly changing content will be the thing that gets them to come back again…and again.

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