Every visitor to your web site is a precious potential client. It was hard work to get that site visitor there in the first place, so you should make every effort to encourage the potential client back.
The bottom line is that if the visitor found what they were looking for quickly and easily, they are much more likely to come back to your site. Here are six additional techniques you can use to help bring visitors back to your site. They are:
1. Email Newsletters
2. Bookmark Buttons
3. Periodic Updates
4. Games
5. Contests
6. Message Boards
A newsletter is perhaps the best tool for bringing people back to your web site. To have a newsletter all you need is a simple form on your web site to collect user’s email addresses and an email client. That’s it! It you want to go even more low tech, just have a bit of text that says, “Email us at youremail@yourdomain.com to Join our Newsletter.”
Once you have a few people to send a newsletter too, try to think of ways that you could provide useful information to potential clients. Maybe you will offer discounts to newsletter members, or perhaps send them articles on topics related to your site. Always have a link for subscribers to opt-out. And don’t forget to request newsletter readers to visit your web site in every newsletter you send out.
A bookmark button reminds people visiting your site that they may want to visit your site again. When people bookmark your site, they are of course more likely to come back. Bookmark buttons can be easily created in javascript.
Periodic Updates could be a quote of the day or an image of the day or perhaps new articles every month or week. Anything that will make visitors want to come back for the next update will suffice. Once you have determined what your periodic update is, remind your visitors to come back for the update. It won’t do much good if your visitors don’t know about your updates.
Games in Flash or javascript can be quite simple, yet quite entertaining. Perfect examples are those Orbitz ads. If you don’t know what I am talking about, Orbitz has Flash game ads that include golfing, pitching, piloting blimps and other fun things. They are really simple and are designed to get clicks more than repeat business, as the games are ads, but on a web site, similar games would get visitors come back.
Contests are great for web promotion and brining people back to web sites. People who enter the contest you may sponsor will want to come back to see if they won. Also, if it is a user submittal contest, people will want to come back to see the winning entries – especially if they have won! You may even get people sending word of your contest to their friends. Viral marketing, where friends tell friends and so on, is extremely effective.
Message boards can become a second home for some people. If you have an active board, people will come to your web site just to see what people have posted.
Regardless of your choice, just make sure you give them a reason to come back.