If you've been following this column for awhile, you already
know how important it is to drive qualified prospects to your Web
site. What's even more important, though, is finding ways to
keep them there once they've arrived.
After all, what's the use of spending all that time and
money on securing top rankings on search engines, setting up a
network of affiliates and building a 200-page site if nobody stays
once they arrive? That's the hard way to learn the value of
"sticky" content. The easy way is to keep reading. The
information I'm about to share with you will show you how to
use content to turn visitors into shoppers...and shoppers into
repeat buyers!
We've boiled it down to seven simple ways to keep your
visitors coming back for more. Put these tips into practice, and
watch your sales start climbing almost immediately.
Content Continues Below
1. Take charge of your content. It's important to
spend a few minutes thinking about how often you really need to
update your content. If your site sells reports on housing trends,
your visitors may expect new content about the housing market on a
fairly regular basis. If you're selling nails and screws, your
content probably won't need updating nearly as often.
If your site isn't going to need content changes on a
regular basis, think about writing the content yourself. Nobody
knows your product as well as you do, so who better to write about
it? Of course, you'll want the content to have a strong focus
on the features and benefits of your product or service, so here
are a few ideas for articles you could post on your site:
- Three ways your product can save your customers time
- Five ways your product has saved your customers money
- Interesting or unique applications for your product
Ok, ok... I can already hear some of you saying "I'm an
entrepreneur--I'm not a writer!" My answer? Why not give
it a try? You'll probably surprise yourself. Even if your
writing isn't as clear and flowing as something crafted by a
professional copywriter, your enthusiasm for your product will go a
really long way.
There are a few situations where I would recommend hiring the
services of a professional writer. If you simply aren't
comfortable writing your own content, then this is definitely the
way to go. You'll also probably want to look into the services
of a professional if your site is going to require frequent content
updates. Writing can be very time-consuming, and as a business
owner, you'll need to decide on the most profitable way to
spend your time.
Here are a few of the better resources I've found for
tracking down copywriters:
Also note: Top-notch copywriters can charge up to $250 per hour,
so you won't want to hire one just to proofread your site. A
writer, editor or proofreader can be hired for between $17 and $75
per hour. Just be sure to check references and establish
deadlines!
2. Tell your visitors "What's New."
Let's face it . . . nobody spends even close to as much time
hanging around your web site as you do. In fact, your visitors may
spend just a few minutes a month at your site, so you'd better
be sure their attention is immediately drawn to where you want
it.
If you're introducing a new product or service, it's
important to make sure your visitors know it's new. Remember,
people scan Web pages, they don't read them. They're
more likely to pay attention to an item with a "NEW" icon
beside it, or something labeled with the current date.
Unless you label new content as being special or important, your
customers have no way of knowing they should bother paying
attention to it. But keep in mind that it's just as important
to remove those "NEW" labels every so often. Your
customers won't be very impressed by a flashing "NEW"
banner next to an item about last year's Super Bowl.
Want a great way to tell your customers what's new while
building your opt-in e-mail list and customer base at the same
time? Offer to e-mail your customers new content on a monthly basis
in the form of a newsletter. (You'll want to include
information about new products, upcoming specials and current
sale-priced items.) Place a box somewhere on your front page with a
small blurb explaining that, by entering their e-mail address in
the space provided, they'll be e-mailed exciting new content on
a monthly basis, along with exclusive offers available only to
subscribers.
The best part is, it's much easier than you might
think to set up this kind of monthly newsletter. You've already
got the content, since it's up on web site, so it's just a
matter of making a few formatting changes and then mailing it out
to your customers.
3. Get your visitors involved. It's a proven fact
that the more your visitors interact with your site, the more
comfortable they become. And the more comfortable they become, the
more likely they are to make purchases. Here are three
tried-and-true ways to get your visitors to interact with your
site:
- Set up an online suggestion box. This is a great way to
get your customers involved with your products or services. Let
them suggest products they'd like to see featured, recommend
ways to improve your product, or tell you know what they think of
your merchandise.
- Run a contest. Ask your customers to submit a short
blurb about why they love your product, and offer a cash or
merchandise prize to the weekly or monthly winners. Not only will
you be getting your customers involved, you'll be collecting
testimonials to post on your site.
- Conduct an online survey. They'll be able to voice
their opinions about your business, and you'll learn a lot
about what they like (and don't like) about your products or
service. (More about this later.)
4. Check all of your content. Remember, when we
talk about content, we're not just talking about the text on
your site. We're talking about every single word, image, link,
logo and e-mail address.
One of the most important things you can do to keep your site
current (and drive sales) is to rotate your features and specials.
Is your best-selling product featured prominently on your site? If
not, visitors won't find what they came for... and that's
costing you profits!
Always keep your catalog up-to-date. Nothing will drive
customers away faster than receiving an e-mail from your company
saying that the product they ordered yesterday is no longer
available. It never ceases to amaze me how often I come across
sites with outdated, unavailable products still posted online.
Check all of your links, every last one of them--even that one
at the very bottom that links to your privacy policy. If the link
through to your "Satisfied Customers" page isn't
working, how comfortable is a customer going to be entering their
credit card number?
And while you're at it, make sure that anything labeled
"Coming Soon" will be actually coming soon. If it's
not going to be ready within a week, take it down.
I'd also highly recommend that you go through your site on a
computer other than your own. It's amazing what you'll
learn. That image that looks so great on your computer may actually
be broken when viewed on someone else's! Make sure you take
note of how long content and images are taking to come up. If it
takes more than 10 seconds for the image of your product to appear,
you're probably losing customers by the truckload!
The idea here is to make your visitors comfortable enough to
make a purchase from you. There is a direct correlation between how
comfortable people are and how likely they are to make a purchase.
And a site where everything works is a comfortable place to be.
5. Check out free content providers. Believe it or not,
there are actually a number of places to find content on just about
every topic imaginable that you can post on your site at no cost.
Of course, the quality of this content varies tremendously, so be
sure to choose carefully.
You should be aware that some free content providers will try to
take visitors away from your site. You may find, for example, that
the news headlines you've posted on your site whisk visitors
away as soon as they click on them. Obviously, this is not what you
want.
If you want to look into free content for your site, here are a
few good places to start:
6. Never throw anything away. Want to know an almost
effortless way to make your site 50 percent more useful to
visitors? Archive your content. A study by online usability guru
Jakob Nielsen showed that an archive of past content increases a
site's usefulness by about 50 percent. And since you've
already produced the content, it's no hassle to simply index
all those articles in an archive. And, believe me, your customers
will be glad you did.
As your archive grows, you'll add credibility to your
business, because your customers will be able to see how long
you've been around. With all those extra pages, your customers
should be hanging out at your site a little longer--making them
more comfortable and more likely to buy.
7. Look, listen and learn. So now that you've spent
all this time getting your site as current as it should be, you
need to find out what kind of impact you've made. Of course, if
you've done everything right, you'll start seeing results
right where it counts--in your bankbook!
There are, however, a few other great ways to judge the success
of all your hard work. Invest some time in going through your
server logs (provided by your Web host), and see how much time
people are actually spending looking at your content. If, for
whatever reason, people aren't using your "Weekly
Updates" page, you probably shouldn't waste too much time
writing content for it.
The online suggestion box that you set up is also a great way to
measure the usefulness of your content. If nobody EVER comments on
your "Monthly News" section, it's probably not worth
your while to slave over it at the beginning of every month.
Having fresh content isn't about having today's news
headlines scrolling across the top of your homepage. As always,
keep your eye on the bottom line and ask yourself, "Is this
content helping my sales"? If the answer is yes, you know
you're on the right track.
Remember: Marketing a product online means that your site is
probably the only way your customers will ever interact with you.
What you have posted on your site will speak volumes about the kind
of company you're running: A site with relevant and current
information will deliver instant credibility to you and your
products.
Keep your site current and your content relevant, and I
guarantee your visitors will start spending more time there. And
the longer they stay, the more dramatic the impact will be on your
profits!
Internet marketing expert Corey Rudl has gained popularity
because what he teaches are not theoretical approaches to
online marketing but real examples of what works when it comes to
having a successful business on the Internet. He's also the
author of the bestselling how-to guide, Insider
Secrets to Marketing Your Business on the Internet. For free
tips and resources, please contact questions@marketingtips.com.