When you build a website, you of course, want people to come to
your site. But not only do you want them to visit, you want them
to come back, and often!
Most people will not come back unless they have a good reason.
This is what you must have on your mind when you are designing
and building your website. When you visit a site, take note of
what that site has that would make you come back for another
visit. Use some of these ideas on your website, but put your own
unique style into it.
On your homepage introduce yourself and talk to your visitors.
Explain what your site is about and what it can do for them. Put
a little personality into your site. That is what will make it
unique.
Some things you can incorporate into your website to keep people
coming back are:
*Quality Content - A must if you want people to come back to
your site. Rather than just showing your products, offer useful,
practical information for using the products. If you have a site
where you sell cleaning products, provide tips and ideas on how
and where to use your products and also tips on other aspects of
cleaning and maintaining your home.
*Freebies - There are many places you can get freebies such as
ebooks, downloads, e-cards, webmaster resources, and more.
Choose freebies that relate to your site content. For example,
if you have a business resource site you want to provide
freebies that will help people with their business. Sites for
freebies:
http://www.freewarefiles.com/ http://www.all-4-free.com/
http://www.free-ebooks.net/ http://www.kresch.com/resources/
*Contests - You can have weekly or monthly contests for your
visitors to win a free sample product. Have a trivia contest, or
a weekly drawing. Be creative and make your contest interesting
and fun!
*Updates - You definitely do not want your site to become old
and stale. You must continuously update and add new information,
products, services, etc. to your site. People will get tired of
reading the same old information over and over again. Put a
What's New section on your homepage to inform your visitors of
new additions. This way your visitors will know exactly where to
find the new content.
*Message Board - Build a community on your website for people to
learn, share, network, and voice opinions, concerns or whatever
is on their mind. This is a great way to keep people coming back
for more visits.
Free Message Boards http://www.ezboard.com/
http://www.coolboard.swsites.net/ http://www.boardhost.com/
The main goals of your website are for visitor participation and
benefits. Visitors are looking for things to benefit them and
for interaction. Provide an interesting, beneficial and useful
website and they will come back!
About the author:
Terri Seymour owns and operates MyOwnEzine.com MyOwnEzine.com is
a website, ezine and service which provides the resources,
tools, guidance and more to help you start, publish and promote
your own ezine. You can contact Terri at
mailto:ter02@newnorth.net Subscribe at
mailto:subscribe@myownezine.com or visit
http://www.myownezine.com for lots more info.
