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Turn One-Time Hits Into Repeat Visitors

by Jim Edwards

Every website owner faces the same challenge: How to get more traffic to their website.

"Build it and they will come" worked for Kevin Costner in "Field of Dreams", but that approach leads to bankruptcy and a failed business when it comes to your website.

Any savvy website owner knows that it takes a lot of work, time, and money to bring a visitor to your site for the first time.

Smart marketers also know that it rates a lot easier and cheaper to get people to come back for a return visit than to attract them for the first time.

The following tips will help any website owner convert more one-time "lookers" into repeat visitors and customers.

** Surveys **

Hold an interactive poll or survey on your website.

Ask your website visitors questions about a topic of intense interest to them.

Not only do people enjoy giving their opinion, but they'll also want to read the results as you compile them and update them on your website over the next day or week.

One way to get their e-mail address is to tell them you'll e-mail the final numbers once the results are compiled.

My favorite survey tool is One Minute Poll.

** Free Prizes **

If appropriate, hold an ongoing prize drawing on your website.

The prizes you give should fit with the interests of your target audience and enable you to showcase what you offer for sale from your website.

For example, if you sell computer cables, give away something like Velcro cord ties with your web address on them and avoid things like teddy bears or bumper stickers.

** Original / Hard-to-find Content **

People go online first and foremost to get specific, relevant, timely information in areas that interest them.

For some that means news articles, for others sports scores, and for others it means current prices for things like stocks or commodities.

Whatever content they want, give it to people in a way they can't find anywhere else (or at least not very easily) and make it easy for them to see that your site rates a bookmark in their browser so they can return often.

** Brain Teasers **

People love a challenge, especially in an area that holds great professional or special interest for them.

If you can provide a quiz, trivia questions, puzzles or some other "brain teaser" for people, many will take up the challenge.

You get them to return to your website by posting the answers and making that the only way they can see if they got it right.

** Breaking News **

People crave up-to-the-minute news on subjects about which they feel very strongly.

Some investors, for example, spend hours combing the Web for nuggets of information to help them evaluate specific markets, companies, or stocks.

One way to make your site invaluable to your audience members is to simply post a news bite, tip, or current "nugget" of relevant information on your site daily (gee, kind of sounds like a BLOG doesn't it?).

If the information you give makes people jump up and holler "MORE! MORE!" then you can quickly build up a regular following.

** Resource Directories **

Few things keep people coming back to a website more than a constantly updated directory they can tap for industry-specific resources any time they need them.

This technique works especially well if it's hard to locate good resources related to your topic because people place a higher value on hard-to-find information.

Jim Edwards is a syndicated newspaper columnist, the webmaster behind TheNetReporter, eBookFire and "I Gotta Tell You", and the author/co-author of 7 best-selling e-books, 2 CD-ROM products, a video, numerous audio tapes, a software package and a newsletter with thousands of subscribers. In one nine-month stretch he sold over $201,738 worth of products online and he once sold over $39,631 worth of CDs with his partner in less than 30 days!

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