Will They Come Back?
Copyright 2001 Terri Seymour

When you build a website, you of course, want people to come to your site. But not only do you want them to visit, you want them to come back, and often!

Most people will not come back unless they have a good reason. This is what you must have on your mind when you are designing and building your website.  When you visit a site, take note of what that site has that would make you come back for another visit.  Use some of these ideas on your website, but put your own unique style into it.

On your homepage introduce yourself and talk to your visitors. Explain what your site is about and what it can do for them. Put a little personality into your site. That is what will make it unique. 

Some things you can incorporate into your website to keep people coming back are:

*Quality Content - A must if you want people to come back to your site. Rather than just showing your  products, offer useful, practical information for using the products. If you have a site where you sell cleaning products, provide tips and ideas on how and where to use your products and also tips on other aspects of cleaning and maintaining your home.

*Freebies - There are many places you can get freebies such as ebooks, downloads, e-cards, webmaster resources, and more. Choose freebies that relate to your site content. For example, if you have a business resource site you want to provide freebies that will help people with their business. Sites for freebies:

http://www.freewarefiles.com/

http://www.all-4-free.com/

http://www.free-ebooks.net/

http://www.kresch.com/resources/

*Contests - You can have weekly or monthly contests for your visitors to win a free sample product. Have a trivia contest, or a weekly drawing. Be creative and make your contest interesting and fun!

*Updates - You definitely do not want your site to become old and stale. You must continuously update and add new information, products, services, etc. to your site. People will get tired of reading the same old information over and over again. Put a What's New section on your homepage to inform your visitors of new additions. This way your visitors will know exactly where to find the new content.

*Message Board - Build a community on your website for people to learn, share, network, and voice opinions, concerns or whatever is on their mind.  This is a great way to keep people coming back for more visits.

Free Message Boards
http://www.ezboard.com/

http://www.coolboard.swsites.net/

http://www.boardhost.com/

The main goals of your website are for visitor participation and benefits. Visitors are looking for things to benefit them and for interaction.  Provide an interesting, beneficial and useful website and they will come back!

Terri Seymour owns and operates MyOwnEzine.com

MyOwnEzine.com is a website, ezine and service which provides the resources, tools, guidance and more to help you start, publish and promote your own ezine. You can