HOW TO BRING REPEAT VISITORS BACK TO YOUR WEBSITE
India today has over 81 million1 Internet users and is expected to have one of the world's biggest Internet user base in the next 3-4 years2.
Any business can be a part of the Internet by registering its own domain name and building a website. While this is a first step to participating in the opportunities that the Internet may have to offer, it requires careful planning to make your website a successful one. One of the measures of a successful website is the ability to bring repeat customers back to your website. This has its advantages, for one, a visitor who has previously viewed your website offerings may be more likely to become your customer than a first time visitor. Besides, it is more cost-effective than trying to get a new visitor to your website.
Here are a few suggestions you could use to help get repeat visitors back to your website.
A .com domain name helps spell success online. An important first step to doing business on the Internet is to select and register a domain name that helps boost your company’s visibility on the Web. A .com domain name offers helps provide instant recognition and visibility for your brand online. A .com domain name is appropriate for businesses of all sizes and it is one of the most widely used domain name extensions around the world.3
Keep your website up to date and refresh its content often. Updating your website often provides a visitor with something new each time he/she visits your website and may be more likely to keep him/her interested in what you have to offer. A website that has the same information month-after-month may become stagnant as compared to a site that is dynamic and whose content is updated regularly.
To keep your website ‘fresh’, you could consider having a ‘What's new’ page for your repeat customers. You could try offering a tip of the day, add the latest news about your company or replace the graphics used on Web pages from time to time.
Offer additional value to your customers on your website. Identify companies with websites that sell products that may complement products sold by you and contact the owner to ask if they will link to your website in exchange for you linking to theirs. For example, if you sell accessories on your website, you may want to set up a link exchange with another website that sells apparel or shoes.
Provide visitors to your website the option of ‘book marking’ or the possibility to add it to their favorite links. Place a ‘Book Mark’ or ‘Add This Site to Your Favorites’ link on your home page to encourage visitors to return to your website. Incorporating a feature titled ‘Recommend this site to a friend’ on your website enables a visitor to email your website link easily to his/her network of contacts. These simple tools make it easier for visitors to return to your website and to invite their friends to visit your website.
Keep it consistent. Using consistent colors, logos and slogans throughout your website makes it easy for visitors to recognize that they are on your site. Additionally, by creating a ‘Frequently Asked Questions” (FAQ) page, you are more likely to help resolve many of a potential customer’s concerns in his/her first visit to your website. This can help provide more reasons for the visitor to revisit your website.
Keep in touch with your website visitors by operating an opt-in email newsletter. Enabling visitors to opt-in to receiving an in-house well developed newsletter may motivate visitors to revisit your website. To receive the e-newsletter, visitors will need to put their email address in a form and this can serve as one of the effective ways to bring repeat visitors back to your website.
Create discounts to lure visitors back to your website. It you sell products on your website, you could look at giving away free samples and/or discounts on products which can be an attractive incentive for website visitors to bookmark your website and visit it more often.
You could also have your website visitors take surveys. Post a different survey at regular intervals. You can publish the survey results at various forums or post them to relevant news groups. This would help generate buzz around your website helping to bring repeat visitors back to the website.
The key to bringing repeat visitors back to your website is to offer them some ‘value’ that they may not find elsewhere. By focusing on this aspect, you can maximize the return on the investment you may have made to build a website.
Welcome to the Internet world!
1 www.internetstats.com, June 30, 2010
2 From a Times of India news report that quotes data from research firm Forrester, dated July 26, 2009. Available on the link -http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Biz/India-Business/India-to-have-3rd-largest-number-of-Internet-users-by-2013/articleshow/4821630.cms
3 During the fourth quarter of 2010, the overall base of .com and .net domain names grew to reach a combined total of 105.2 million names, according to the Verisign Domain Name Industry Brief (Volume 8, Issue 1, February 2011)