21 Reasons Why The Next Site I Visit Could Be Yours
You spend so much time PROMOTING your site, but why,
exactly, do YOU VISIT someone else's site?
One day, I re-visited all of the sites I went to in a given
week (using Internet Explorer's History option). And I asked
myself the simple question: "Why did I visit that site?"
I came up with 21, yes 21!, reasons why I visited a
particular web site.
Now if they are reasons why *I* visited a site, they could
well be reasons why I (or someone else) would visit YOUR
site!
So here are some reasons why I visit a web site, and at
least one action you can take, to make it a reason people
visit YOUR SITE!
So, in no particular order:
*01* To Win PrizesWe all like to win something, online or offline. Why not let
people? A suitable joint venture, affiliate program, or just
a product that you can offer as a prize will do it.
Action: Run an online competition
http://www.loquax.co.uk/webmaster/
*02* To Read My E-mailYou can blame Hotmail for this (but I keep on returning!).
Now you can find many ways to create your own free web-based
e-mail system, with your own web-address too.
Action: Host a web-based e-mail service
*03* To Buy SomethingI admit it, I love the convenience of shopping online (and
the savings!). Maybe you do too. So why not sell products
online. And even if you don't actually own products to sell,
you can still sell other people's products via your virtual
store (via an affiliate program or two).
Action: Join an affiliate program
http://AnyoneCanSellOnline.com/right-affiliate-pr ogram.shtml
Action: Learn how to sell your products online
*04* Because Of Free StuffWe all like freebies, and even visit sites that only contain
LINKS to freebie-sites. Well, now it's possible to put free
downloads etc. on your site.
Action: Create a download resource
http://subportal.iboost.com/subportals.html
*05* I Found Your Site On GoogleYou must promote your site via search engines, to get free
and cheap traffic to your site. Rather than going on
about meta tags, keywords, pay per click search engines,
etc., I'll just point you to my favourite resource (ahem!)
Action: Submit site to search engines (and more!)
http://www.HowIPromoteMyWebsite.com
*06* I Clicked A Link On Someone's SiteLinks to your site get you noticed; links to your site build
trust; AND links to your site improve your ranking on search
engines. So swap links with similar sites, and create a
"Links" page.
Action: Swap links with other sites
http://www.howipromotemywebsite.com/bin/ap.pl?lin k-swaps
*07* I Read About The Site In An E-mailI could also have said: 'because I saw the site address in a
magazine or a newspaper'.
How did my site get mentioned in an email newsletter or via
a newspaper or magazine? Two words: press release. Most
'news' is 'created' via a well-written press release.
Action: Learn how to get your news release published here
http://www.howipromotemywebsite.com/bin/ap.pl?pre ss-release
*08* Because Your Site Is Already Book-Marked"Bookmark my site!" Does your site exclaim this? Do you ask
visitors to "Add this site to your favorites!" You should
do. You can get a simple bit of JavaScript that will do both
for you dependent on your visitor's browser.
Action: Ask visitors to 'Add Your Site To Favorites'
http://javascript.internet.com/
*09* As My Friend Recommended Your Site To MeYou see those links on a site that say: "Like our site? Tell
a friend!" Well, it works. People like to recommend a great
site to their friends - they gain kudos, respect. So why not
make it easy for them to recommend YOUR site to THEIR
friends! (Note: I'm now doing this on my sites. So, if you
live in UK - http://wise-buys.info/recommend-and-win.shtml )
Action: Recommend site
*10* To Meet OthersWhat a reason to visit a website - to meet others, to share
your interests, and swap information! People meet via online
message boards, forums, online communities - and doing so
generates a great deal of site traffic. (These visitors
often return again and again!).
Many community-building tools are free, but you will need to
promote heavily to get your community started, and you will
need to consider just how you go about moderating the
discussions too
Action: Build a community
*11* I Read A Site's NewsletterI subscribe to many newsletters to find out about free
offers, competitions, price updates; or just to act as a
reminder to visit that site. A newsletter provides you with
an excellent opportunity to stay in touch with your site
visitors; a great newsletter even encourages new visitors.
(If you're wary of spam, then sign-up using a freebie e-mail
address at first.)
Action: Create a newsletter, e-zine
==Aside==Note: to keep this article brief, the remaining 10 reasons
are available in the online version of this article, at
http://www.anyonecansellonline.com/21-reasons.sht ml
Here's what they include:
*12* I Saw the URL Somewhere
*14* I Read A Good Article
*15* To Play A Game
*18* To Find A File Or Other Resource
*21* Because The Site Promises To Be *UNIQUE*
==Aside==So, you want to get repeat visitors to your site? Just make
sure that some of the reasons to visit a site, discussed in
this article, are reasons to visit YOUR site! And if you can
come up with your own, even better, reasons, do so...
Take action, be imaginative, and visit at least one of the
action links above.
Then maybe one day, I'll be visiting your website.
:-)
Good luck in making your web site a 'Wow!'
About the author: STEVE M NASH is the author of the ebook: "3 Super-Tips To Build, Promote And Profit More From Your Website." Download your free copy now! http://www.wise-buys.info/bonus.shtml
HIS BEST TIP? To get repeat visitors, make your site a Wow! or get more traffic to an existing site, use Site Build It! Learn more, here => http://www.site-buildit.com