There are many little things that will spice up your Web site to “keep ’em
coming back.” Learn the tips, tools, and techniques to get visitors to return to
your site again and again.
• Attractive Web site content
• How to have your own What’s New page, Tip of the Day, and Awards page
• Ensuring that you are bookmarked
• Trivia
• Contests
• Calendar of events and reminder services
• Blogs, podcasts, and RSS feeds
• Special guests or celebrity appearances
• Giveaways and awards
• Offline tactics for promotion.
Rationale for Encouraging Repeat Visits
Just as you would want customers to visit your business frequently, so too in
cyberspace you want present and potential customers to visit often. The more
often people visit your site, the more likely they are to purchase something. You
want to ensure that the techniques you use to get repeat traffic are appropriate
for your target market. For example, if you were having a contest on your site
targeted toward children, you would not want to give away a bread-maker as
the prize. That would be fine, however, if your target market was families or
homemakers. You want to offer something of interest to the market you are
targeting. If your target market is gardeners, then a free half-hour landscaping
session or free flower bulbs might work.
I am a big proponent of leveraging everything you do for maximum marketing
results. Almost every repeat-traffic generator provides an opportunity for
permission marketing and also for viral marketing. Make sure you review the
repeat-traffic generators you use on your site and incorporate the appropriate
permission and viral marketing elements.
The more often a person visits your site:
• The more your brand is reinforced
• The more your target market feels a part of your community, and people
do business with people they know and trust
• The more likely they are to give you permission to stay in touch
• The more likely they are to tell others about you, your products, and
your services
• The more likely you will be first in mind when they decide to buy.
Use a What’s New Page for Repeat Visits
A What’s New page can mean different things to different sites. For some, this page
updates users with summaries of the most recent specials or promotions. Of course,
your What’s New page could also include any awards you or your company may
have received and new additions to your Web site, such as a new article, or news
and events. Your What’s New page should be accessible from your home page so
that when people visit your site they do not have to search through your entire site
to find out what is new. If visitors repeatedly find interesting additions in the
What’s New section, they will come back to your site on a regular basis to check
out what’s new. Here you can leverage this repeat-traffic generator with permission
marketing by asking if visitors would like to be notified via e-mail when you’ve
added something to the What’s New section. It’s all about getting their permission
to send them e-mail and therefore include them in your community.
Other approaches for the What’s New page could be What’s New on your
site, What’s New in your company, or What’s New in your location. Whatever
it is, you should always make sure that it is of interest to your target market.
Again, you can ask your visitors if they would like to be notified when updates
are made to this section of your Web site. This, once again, gives you permission
to e-mail them and present them with new information that might make
them want to come back to your site again.
Free Stuff—Everyone Loves It
Offering free things is a great way to increase traffic—everybody likes a freebie.
If you provide something for free that is valuable to your target market, you are
sure to have a steady stream of repeat traffic. When you have freebies or giveaways
on your site, your pages can also be listed and linked from the many sites
on the Internet that list places where people can receive free stuff. To find these
listings of free stuff, simply go to a search engine and do a search on “Free Stuff
Index” or “Free Stuff Links.” You will be amazed at how many people are
giving things away online.
You don’t have to give something away to everyone. You could simply have
a drawing every week. You could then ask entrants if they would like you to
notify them of the winner, which again gives you permission to e-mail them.
To get people into your restaurant, you could offer a free dessert with an
entrée coupon. To get a number of people to visit your mechanic shop, you
might have a buy-three-oil-changes, get-one-free coupon. You might also have
a free gift upon joining for a fitness facility or a gym.
You should change your freebie often and let your site visitors know how
often you do this. Something like “We change our free offer every single week!
Keep checking back” or “Click here to be notified by e-mail when we update”
also works well.
Freebies provide ideal viral marketing opportunities as well. Have a “Tell a
friend about this site” button near the freebie so site visitors can quickly and
easily tell their friends.
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