So you're a fairly new website owner who is scratching his/her
head wondering why you're only getting 50 to 100 web visitors per
day to your site. You've tried what all the "web gurus" out there
told you to do: Link up with like-minded sites! Put an ad for your
site on another similar site and you will get hundreds of
click-throughs every day!
Somehow it's just not working. Let's say you are getting 75
visitors per day for your site, but only about 10% of those visitors
come back for another visit. Having those seven or eight returning
visitors finding new content that is refreshed on a regular basis
with dramatic and relevant content would go a long way in making
sure they bookmark your site permanently. Putting in content that
returns real humanistic value to the web surfer to your site would
ensure that he/she would tell all their friends about your site,
thus starting a huge word-of-mouth buzz around the Internet. Let's
examine ALL the ways to bring this more human element to your site.
1. Write content for your site that appeals to all web visitors,
not just the ones you are targeting. Try bringing in content to your
blog writings or site content that focuses on solving problems for
everybody, not just people who love video games, if that's what your
site is all about. Even video game lovers go outside once in a
while, so why not have content that appeals to their need to find
bargains on used cars, computer equipment, bedroom furniture, or
anything else that people always seem to have a need for. Also,
general news updates about topics such as entertainment and politics
always keeps people coming back. You will see a dramatic increase in
web clicks after you expand your content parameters to cover the
entire "mainstream public", not just the ones you designed your site
to attract.
2. Treat your visitors like they are your best friend. Everybody
likes to feel special, and the people that just happen to stumble
onto your site are no different. Even though they had no real
interest in your site before, if you have content that caters to
everybody's basic human needs, they will come back for more. As the
site owner, you need to open up to your visitors and tell them about
who you are and why you started the site. Give them a personal
mission statement about how your site will help fulfill their needs
in specific, but personal terms.
3. Don't focus on getting every nickel and dime out of your
customers. I know you're not in the website business for your
health, but there are other ways to generate income without hitting
your visitors over the head with every cheap marketing trick out
there. Keep your pop-up ads to a minimum so the pages don't have
loading time problems, and make sure any ads you do have on your
site are legitimate and relevant to your site content. In other
words, if your site content is focused on Japanese anime, don't have
an adlink for Starbucks Coffee directly by a nice animated clip from
Osamu Tezuka. That only distracts viewers from the beauty of the
Tezuka clip.
4. Create content that you love to write about. This has been
said many times before, but it cannot ever be over-estimated in
relevance to your own site content. If you don't have any passion
for the products/content on your own website, how will anybody else?
Even if you happen to have a passion for left wing politics in the
Netherlands, and you don't think anybody else does, write about it
and find out! You would be surprised at the number of visitors who
will return to your site after they find a like-minded person who
feels pot should be legalized in America just like it is in
Amsterdam. They will be curious as to other opinions your website
will espouse based on your political leanings. Before you know it,
you'll have hit 1000 hits per hour just because of the passion and
substance included in your blog. Don't be afraid to share your true
views of anything at anytime. Owners of political sites have seen
their visitors skyrocket after taking controversial stances on
topics like religion, abortion and gun control. As long as you are
honest about your stance, visitors will respect that and keep coming
back for more even if they don't share your beliefs on every topic.
5. If you've had traumatic personal experiences in your life,
tell us about it! It boggles my mind how many website owners keep
the bad experiences in their life all to themselves. There is
absolutely nobody reading this right now that doesn't gobble up
somebody else's horrific experiences with lawsuits, bad
mothers-in-law, car breakdowns, victimization by violent crime, etc.
Just because a subject can be morbid, or a complete downer, does not
mean that somebody who has had a similar experience never wants to
hear about it again. On the contrary, it's the exact opposite! The
expression "Misery loves company" means exactly that. People like to
hear that other human beings are suffering right along with them, so
pull out that bad experience you had dealing with a death of a loved
one, or write about that time you heard a burglar in your house, and
had to fight him off at gun point. No matter what kind of bad
experience you've had in your background, reading about your
real-life trauma will really interest all your web visitors, even
the lucky ones who never have seen the troubles you've seen.
6. People are not cyborgs, so write for the human element. The
web gurus have always put a high amount of value on optimizing your
keywords for search engines like "Google" and "Yahoo". But that
takes the human condition out of the equation. Don't ever write just
for search engine keywords optimization. It's always good to
dedicate a certain portion of your blog with pertinent keywords
based on what products/services your site provides, but if you don't
have anything truly meaningful to say to your customers, then all is
lost. The best way to have a long successful career with your
website is to promote visitors to bookmark your site and keep them
coming back on a daily or weekly basis. The only way to do that is
to provide content that describes in detail the services/products
you are bringing to them. So don't listen to people who tell you to
write short blogs with a 500 word limit and just change them up on a
daily basis to increase traffic. While that will work in the short
term, what works in the long haul is being very descriptive with
blogs that average 1800-2200 words. Some viewers to your site will
find that too long to read, but the ones that take the time to read
it will be very receptive to staying with your site for years to
come. Most blogs average 400-600 words per blog. You don't want to
be average!
7. Make fresh content about timeless issues, not just the "torn
from today's headlines" topics. When you have finished writing your
blog for the day, step back and ask yourself, "Will anybody care
about this topic in the year 2150?" If the answer is no, revise your
blog and put in something for the ages, not just for the year you're
writing about. To hit people on a more deeper personal level, the
topics and subject have to be about issues that have been around
since man started to read and write. Content that describes how to
get over the death of a relative, how to increase your intellect,
dealing with emotional traumas brought on by being in a car wreck
are perfect choices for more personal and detailed bloggings. If you
feel strongly about a topic such as the ones described, there are
millions of others that will too. Ignore most fads and current
events in your content writing. Celebrities like Paris Hilton are
getting huge hits right now for some sites, but in the long run she
will fade into obscurity and so will those sites along with her.
8. Originality is still the king. Most people's websites are
filled with links to other sites that have relevant articles that
the site owner never even reads on a regular basis. Don't make that
same lazy mistake. Always have every article on your site be
original. Even if you have to pick quotes and article listings from
other websites to form new articles on your site, make sure you
distinguish your re-writes with your own style. When a viewer to
your site really connects with your own original style, they tend to
stick around for a much longer time and will bookmark it for sure.
After you build up your original content, you should have hundreds
of smaller and bigger articles for your readers to enjoy.
9. Your site must be of great value to the website viewer. This
is one of the most important reasons most website will fail within a
year. Websites come and go now with the frequency of a cheap ham
radio. The reason is because there are so many sites saying the same
useless things. Your visitors will only come back to your site if
they do see inherent value in it. Whether your site is selling "How
to" books, or horror dvds, if your visitor is gaining either new
knowledge about something they can't get anywhere else, or if you
are giving them a bargain on a book they can't find anywhere else,
you are generating great value in their minds. It always pays in the
long run to be more philosophical about your site. Would you go to
your site and be able to find the value there if you could distance
yourself from it? Be honest and really critical with your response,
because then you'll be able to make all the proper corrections
yourself, or with a consultant's help if necessary.
10. Turn your blogs into articles that you then submit to
directories. There are so many websites now devoted to articles that
you would be foolish not to try to promote your blog through article
submissions. Take your best blogs/content for the past month and
format them into 400-700 word article submissions. Make the title
really grab potential readers, for instance, "How to generate a
passive income in 1 hour", or any other attention grabber that is
pertinent to your site. You have to have a web link generated at the
bottom of your article so people that like the article can directly
jump to your website. Make sure that the topic is relevant to your
site to ensure the visitor stays long enough to buy your
service/product. You can use Google to find the myriad article
websites out there by typing in "article submission sites".
If you follow these instructions and think about your website in
a more thoughtful manner, I am sure you can turn your website
business into a very successful one.
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