Why should you care about return traffic?

The secret of a web site's success is just traffic.. and all you have to do is to attract as many new visitors as possible. Right? Wrong! A site cannot become truly popular unless it appeals the new users so much, that they decide to come back again and again, this is what I call return traffic I'm sure you have favorite places in the web where you stop by every now and then to get the information and entertainment. We all have, and we are part of their return traffic. So one of your important goals as a webmaster is to make your site such a place, that you start receiving return traffic. If you succeed in building your return traffic so, you can be sure that your advertising revenues will be higher, and more products you will sell. WHY IS RETURN TRAFFIC IMPORTANT? Everybody in business knows that it takes more than one contact to make a sale. The more times people are exposed to your message, the more they tend to believe in it. If you sell banner advertising space, the more visitors you have, the more contacts you can sell A visitor that isn't ready for you offer today, might be ready for it the next time he comes., or when the time is right. Those who regularly visit the same site (return traffic), often mention it to their friends, family and colleagues. And when people tell about you to their acquaintances, they start a traffic virus, because they will spread the word to their own acquaintances and so on. (word-of-mouth is the primary source of traffic for many larger sites). And most probably they too will become part of your return traffic. HOW CAN YOU CREATE RETURN TRAFFIC The first one is obvious: Have a great site! Fill it with high quality content! If you aren't 100% sure on how to do it, you can read: Make Yor Site Sell! http://myss.sitesell.com/ RB.html is the best book you can read about how to create return traffic to your site Update it continuously to retain the interest of your visitors. Add unique, fresh content every now and then or at the very least improve the content you already offer to temptate return traffic. (do it once or twice a month). Add a "What's new" page or somehow inform your return traffic about your recent developments. Remind people to bookmark your site. Remembering Internet addresses is difficult, being bookmarked ensures that you won't be losing return traffic Start a newsletter. Even if people bookmarks your site, they are unlikely to ever return once they leave. Editing a newsletter takes a lot of work, but gives large rewards in return. If you can subscribe and send and e-mail with your newsletter to your visitors, they won't forget you, and you won't be acused of spamming. Give something valuable for free, this is a sure-fire way to get some return traffic, specially if every month you offer something different. Open a discussion forum. A well-maintained, busy discussion forum can become a huge success and a huge source of return traffic. You will have to stop by every now and then to remove offensive content, answer questions and make sure that everything is going all right. But be carefull, your site must be very popular, when you start your forum. If your site doesn't get enough traffic, the forum won't be frequented by many users and there will be very few new messages and very few return traffic. If you want return traffic, make your address easy to remember. What's easier to remember? http://members.fortunecity.com/bestcountrymusic/ or www.best-countrymusic.com In places like AdGrafix http://www.adgrafix.c om/info/rbonomi and SiteBuild It http://buildit.sitesel l.com/RB.html you can get your own domain for a few dollars a month. If you value your site at all, go professional, get your own domain, it looks more serious and reliable, and it's easier to remember for return traffic. Written by Dr. Roberto A. Bonomi