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Get Return Visitors through Engagement

Written by: Pete Brand

Article Overview: How many times have you found yourself looking at your website statistics and noticed that 90% + of your visitors were brand new? You may have looked at that statistic and found yourself getting excited that so many new people were finding you each month. Well I am not trying to make you feel bad but…. That’s not a good thing. What it should be telling you is that visitors are arriving to your site, possibly clicking into it a bit, and not finding anything memorable enough to make them want to return. Hang on a second … I am not slamming your current site or trying to make you feel as if your company is the only company in this position. It’s actually quite normal. It doesn’t have to be though.

Get Return Visitors through Engagement

Get Return Visitors through Engagement

How many times have you found yourself looking at your website statistics and noticed that 90% + of your visitors were brand new? You may have looked at that statistic and found yourself getting excited that so many new people were finding you each month.

Well I am not trying to make you feel bad but….

That’s not a good thing. What it should be telling you is that visitors are arriving to your site, possibly clicking into it a bit, and not finding anything memorable enough to make them want to return. Hang on a second … I am not slamming your current site or trying to make you feel as if your company is the only company in this position. It’s actually quite normal. It doesn’t have to be though.

Think about the sites you frequent the most. Heck, let’s look beyond you and take a look at the top ten websites on a global level and see what all these sites have in common. The following is a list of the top ten global websites based on the amount of traffic they receive. I am proud to report that there is not one single porn site on this list. Looks like the Internet is beginning to mature.

1. Google

2. Yahoo

3. You Tube

4. Live

5. FaceBook

6. MSN

7. Wikipedia

8. Blogger

9. MySpace

10. Yahoo.co.jp (Yahoo Japan)

Alright, now that you know what the top ten sites are, what do they all have in common? Well I am sure you can see each of these sites ENGAGE their visitors. Whether they provide the ability for the visitors to search for an answer to that elusive question they’ve been seeking the answer to, or whether they provide the ability for them to socialize with people they graduated with over 20 years ago and have completely lost touch, or giving them the ability to learn how to tie a tie on a video that someone from half way around the globe posted to You Tube.

You may be saying, “Well that’s great for those websites since their entire purpose of their existence is to provide these options to their visitors. That simply wouldn’t work for my site.” Well, I am here to tell you that is NOT correct. The people who are visiting your site are doing so because they have an interest in the products, services, or the cause you are promoting online. With web 2.0 you are provided several options to easily create pieces of functionality that will allow you to make a connection with your visitors and provide them with the ability to tell you what is important to them.

You could add a blog to your site to keep your visitors up to date on new developments within your industry or examples of how your product was used in unique ways to help another company experience significant growth. You could add a discussion forum so your visitors could get their questions answered or review the answer to a question that was asked by someone else. You could have “how to” videos on your website that help your visitor figure out how to accomplish that task that’s been driving them crazy for the last month.

The bottom line is if you put yourself in the shoes of your potential visitor, and create mechanisms on your site that engage your visitors once they arrive, you will give them a reason to return to your site time and time again. If you take the time to do this you’ll see that “new visitor” percentage drop, and your actual visitor number will begin to rise because you’ll be adding return clients every single month. I promise you if you add these mechanisms and focus on providing compelling information for your visitors you can double your traffic in no time.

I’d love to hear any stories of how you added this type of functionality to your site and what the results were. Leave a comment. If you are having a difficult time figuring out how you can engage your visitors, leave a comment as well or visit our Ask the Web Marketing Expert page and post your question. We’ll answer it as quickly as we can. Every day you are not taking action, you are losing potential return visitors and not maximizing your online revenue potential. DO SOMETHING NOW!

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Article Tags: client engagement, website engagement, website statistics



Related Forum Posts
Evan's Engaged! Congrats! - CONGRATS! on the Engagement!
Re: Has anyone bought targetted visitors? - Most "Targeted Visitors" do not look for your site or intend on going to it. Most of the vsisits are generated through popups and popunders. Some of the targeted visitor sites allow you to create an online add that people can click and go to your site but I have never heard of anyone getting so much as a newsletter signup from them. I think it would be more productive to take the money you would spend on guaranteed visitors, guaranteed signups, buying leads etc. and use it to advertise on some of the higher page rank websites related to your industry.
Re: Trade Shows - Are They Worth It? - Hi, Tradeshows are attracting different types of people. First, the visitor, which is the main reason of putting it on. Visitors come from all types of background: Buyers, prospective buyers, people who had a business and failed, directors, shopkeepers and even the public. Secondly there are people who just like to meet new people, that is the best place to be. Exchange of business cards, make new contacts for future use. Thirdly, the exhibitors are mixing with one another either help one another or just want to fine out the newest trend. It is also a good place to meet with competitors and learn from their strategies. Finally, there are numerous seminars with excellent speakers, covering a wide range of information. Taking these points in consideration, they are beneficial. Of course, not every exhibitor has the same success.
Re: When do you process online orders? - [quote="OmnivoreInk":21q56s98] If I may speak as a customer, I expect anything I order to be sent out the next day! Of course, all I ever order are books from used books dealers on Amazon.com.... I've also ordered a few things from Ebay and again, as soon as I pay - and I pay immediately, I expect that item to be winging its way toward me... I hate to speak ill of my sex, but the only problems online retailers have are, *I* think, with women who buy clothes and then send them back! I think 90% of women who buy stuff from catalogs do that! (I used to work at a catalog phone center and half my calls were from women wanting to get a Return Authorization Number so they could send stuff back...).[/quote:21q56s98] Hi OmnivoreInk, While I agree with you, I don't think that woman are the problem, the big problem is buy clothes out of a catalog without trying them first. Women just buy more.
Re: When do you process online orders? - [quote="BuzzAroundBooks":2aypnt64]I'd like to ask when do you process an online order? The reason I ask is because I'm sure there are many customers who change their minds and request refunds, exchanges, address/payment changes or wish to make additions/subtractions to their invoices. So if you're an online retailer of any sort, what is the best amount of time to wait before processing an order and shipping it out (to avoid future hassles/customer adjustments)?[/quote:2aypnt64] If I may speak as a customer, I expect anything I order to be sent out the next day! Of course, all I ever order are books from used books dealers on Amazon.com.... I've also ordered a few things from Ebay and again, as soon as I pay - and I pay immediately, I expect that item to be winging its way toward me... I hate to speak ill of my sex, but the only problems online retailers have are, *I* think, with women who buy clothes and then send them back! I think 90% of women who buy stuff from catalogs do that! (I used to work at a catalog phone center and half my calls were from women wanting to get a Return Authorization Number so they could send stuff back...).


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