Keep Em Coming (Back)

Do you know the most important factor in making money from your web site? It's not selling products or services, and it's not setting up good advertising partnerships. The most important factor in making money on the web is also the most important factor in making money with a movie--repeat viewers.

"But my web site is just to sell my products." That's fine, and you will undoubtedly make sales to people who've gotten on the web just to look for products like yours and intend to buy right now. But what about people who are just looking for information on products like yours? Or people who would like to buy, but aren't sure who they'd like to buy from? What about people who don't even know they NEED what you're offering? How can you sell to those people? By giving them a reason to come back, until they realize they want to make a purchase.

The very best way to keep people coming back to your site is to provide interesting content and update it regularly. If you sell widgets, you should provide all the information you can find or create about widgets--what they are, how they're made, what they
do, where to find them, how to take care of them, and where to get them fixed. This information should be current and relevant, and should be updated at least once a month. Twice a month is good, once a week is ideal. But the main thing is that you should keep the content fresh, and make your visitors feel that you really care about keeping them informed--and not just about selling them widgets.

"Content" encompasses a lot of territory. Articles make great content. Put up all the articles you can write or find (with permission, of course) about widgets, and create a page called "Widget Articles." Place each article on a separate page, and submit each page to the search engines separately. This gives existing visitors more content, and also pulls in people who are looking for an article on the care and feeding of widgets.

You can also use these articles to create an email newsletter. There are many companies offering mailing list services and "listserv" capabilities. Topica and Onelist, among others, offer free mailing list services. When people visit your site, make sure the "Subscribe to Widget News" button is right up front, and encourage them by offering a contest every month or offering something free--such as classified ads or a free link on your site. Put out your newsletter every week or two, with articles on widgets and a plug for your site.

Articles and a newsletter will quickly make your site a valuable information source in the widget area. Another way to become a popular widget site is to set up a section where you provide links to widget resources. Find as many widget-related links as you can, in all the various widget areas--production, maintenance, etc. Start with search engines, then go to all of the sites you find there, and make a list of all the links from those sites, then get the links from THOSE sites, and so on. Just get the links, not the descriptions. Then visit each site and write your own brief description--a sentence or two is enough. Divide your links section into categories, and start out with at least 10 or 15 links in each category. Then add links to your site each week, or at least every two weeks. Eventually people will begin coming to your site for widget information, because they know you've researched the widget sites and know what you're talking about.

Once you've become known as a good widget resource site, consider setting up some interactive features on your site. Chat rooms are very popular, and there are several companies offering chat rooms
for web sites. Once your chat room is up and running, schedule a
regular moderated chat on widgets, with you as the moderator. Invite widget experts for special chats and promote these special events heavily. Make your site THE place to chat about widgets.

Another way to get people talking about--and on--your site is to
set up a bulletin board system. "Seed" the boards with messages
to get people talking, and then drop by frequently to keep the
conversation going. Become known as a "hands-on" bulletin board
operator, and make sure that people with widget questions get
answers from you.

The final thing I find really important in providing content is
to provide a list of trouble-shooting tips, known problems, and
frequently asked questions. What? Let people know your widgets
don't work 100% correctly 100% of the time? Sure. They already
know that. Nothing is perfect. But if you provide a list of common issues and questions, potential customers will know that you, as a widget producer, care about their widget-related problems and are interested in providing information on how to solve those
problems--and if they still have problems, they can email your widget support staff and get personal attention. This attention to potential problems will sell a lot of widgets.

The key to getting people to come back to your web site is to give them a reason to come back. Fresh articles, updated links, chat rooms and bulletin boards, and a robust support area will all serve to make your widget site a "must-bookmark" site for many people interested in widgets--even if they're not interested in buying a widget right now.

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About the author

Angie is a freelance copy writer and Internet business consultant.

This article provided by the InfoZone Archives at: http://www.MakingProfit.com


angie@internetcopydoctor.com
http://www.internetcopydoctor.com