There is only one way to maintain a successful website business and that is to have visitors that keep coming back for more. This means you need to provide them with a reason to return, if not chances are better than average that they will never come back. What you must have is content that is interesting and updated regularly.
1. Articles- While it is true that articles give your visitor something to read the important thing is that it is relevant information. At some point, you may have a customer who needs answers pertaining to your product or service. When you have a site filled with relevant information, you give the customer something of value that will keep them coming back.
Have no fear, as you do not absolutely have to write the articles yourself.
In some instances, you can take the information about the product your are promoting directly from the packaging or manufacturers website.
There are also places where you can find relevant quality content that is free to use. Many article directories provide a myriad of articles on many topics that you can copy and paste into your site, the only requirement is that you leave in a link to the authors own website.
2. Contest- Most people simply love to win something. When you offer contest, particularly ones that change often you give people a reason to come back time and again. Provide visitors a signup sheet with a link for your newsletter. All at once, you are bringing visitors back and building a mailing list.
The most important thing to remember is to change the challenge frequently, weekly, monthly, either annually or semi-annually. Remember the more often the contest or challenge is changed the more often people will come back the to the site to check it out.
3. Discounts and Coupons- Now that you have established a mailing list of previous customers you can offer these clients special discounts or coupons as an incentive to come back to the site.
There are several popular ways to use coupons, here are just a few:
-Free or reduced price shipping
-Buy 1 Get one free
-Specific percentage reduction such as 15%
If your site has a shopping cart, discounts are fairly easy to administer. Most of the time you will give your customers a code to input at checkout such as "good deal", every person with that particular code will receive the agreed upon discount.
On the other hand, you can also offer printable coupons to be redeemed at a physical place of business.
4. Forums- Everyone craves conversation and forums are a great avenue for exchanging ideas and chatter. Providing people with a forum gives them a reason to frequent your online establishment for answers to questions or just general conversation.
There are two ways you can provide a forum, you can host your own or choose to use a third party. Either is fine really, both having pros and cons, it boils down to the best choice for you and your business.
5. Blog- You may be surprised to find out that people are interested in what you think. Blogs are a great way to keep customers in the loop about your business and life to some extent. Moreover, this is the perfect opportunity to add the keywords you so desperately need to your site.
Perhaps the best part about blogging is there are more than a few free applications that make blogging a breeze.
6. Newsletter- One of the most effective manners of keeping customers returning is a newsletter. This reminds them of all you have to offer and provides a simple link to return to the site instead of having to hunt or seach.
In your newsletter, you should provide a teaser article, and then link to the remainder. Give them just enough of the information to peak their interest and then force them to return to your site to read the rest.
Remember, again, you do not have to try to come up with this content all on your own. Free article directories are there to help you and with them, you can compose a newsletter in half the time.
