Wednesday, May 7, 2008

Today's Marketing Tip: Repeat Traffic

Repeat website traffic that comes at no cost has to be the second most important priority for any E-Commerce site. Number one being the initial generation of traffic. Take the time to get your site consumer friendly. Spend time visiting sites you frequent and write down all the items that attract you about that site and duplicate them. You don't have to re-invent the wheel to have a successful website.

10 Ways to Attract Free Repeat Traffic

1. Offer as much additional value on your website as possible without shooting yourself in the foot. For affiliates and partners you can place links to their sites and ask them to reciprocate the favor. Another great way to benefit both of you is to advertise their products and ask them to do the same. This provides free traffic and advertising for both of you. Obviously you don't want to advertise a
ny product or service that you are in competition with.

2. You can allow customers to 'opt in' and provide them with a 10% discount on their first order, and allow them to be the first to see any new promotions you are offering. This also allows you to stay in constant contact with your customers and potential customers. Coupons are another very effective way of keeping your 'opt in' list returning to your site.

3. Create a schedule to update the pages on your website on a regular basis. In time, stagnant websites are dropped by some of the search engines. I would suggest you put a date counter on the page to show when it was last updated. This also tells all your visitors very quickly how attentive and diligent you are in bringing them the latest information.


4. Make it simple for a visitor to become a customer by adding a link to your primary page with a script 'Book Mark or Add this site to your Favorites'. Most internet users are repeatedly referencing their favorite's folder, I know I do.

5. Like item 4, make it simple for your visitors to attract potential customers for you by adding a link 'Recommend this site to a Friend' so that the visitor can email your website link, with a pre-written title, "Thought you might be interested in this", that with the click of a button a visitor in recommending your site to.

6. Create an 'Our Policies' page that clearly defines your philosophy and principles in dealing with your customers. Also post your privacy policy as well so that clients know they are secure when they visit your site. This is a great opportunity to reveal to your potential customers who and what your principles and morals are all about.

7. Brand your website. This will create a presence and feel for your customers and visitors that they are at your site. Use consistent colors, page design, logos and slogans on every page and always provide a 'Contact Us' link and 'Home' link on each page. Spend some time to create a "favicon" to forever identify and brand your site. I know from my own surfing experiences that there have been sites I was visiting with no way to return to their home page without clicking the back button. Very annoying. You need your sites pages to flow.

8. Create a FAQ page which addresses most of the doubts, questions, and clarifications about your product or your company that are likely to be asked. Sit down and picture yourself arriving at your site for the very first time. Get a pen and paper and write down what you would like to know as a potential purchaser from this site. This will help to resolve most of the customers doubts in their first visit to your site.

9. Never spam a client, who has opted for newsletters, with unsolicited emails! Also if they decide they want to 'opt out' of the mailings, always be sure you honor their request and take them off the mailing list. They may still come back if they like your products. But they will certainly not come back if you continue to flood their email box with mails they no longer wish to receive.

10. Make sure each page on your website has the appropriate title and keywords so that your customer can find their way back to your site if they lose the bookmark. Remember your page title appears in the web browser. Anyone like me who has multiple tabs and pages open at the same time, the title allows for a quick return.

SUMMARY

Here are 10 ways to free repeat website traffic. Copy and post this beside your computer for the next time you update your web pages. They are the basics of great websites and will certainly pave a path to free repeat website traffic.

By Mike Davey

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