How to Get Repeat Visitors to your Website

We all have a few favourite places on the internet where we stop by every so often to get the information and entertainment we need. Wouldn't you love it if your website is one of those for web browsers out there?

While there is no magic formula, there are many things you can do that will increase the possibility of your unique visitors turning into returning visitors.

Here are some ideas -

Make Your Content Relevant

Give your visitors information they can't find anywhere else - and give it free. Tools, calculators, free downloads, informative articles and industry news are all sources of valuable content to site visitors.

Update Your Website Content Regularly

If you want visitors to keep returning to your site, you need to update it with fresh content, different images and new options. If someone visits your website and finds nothing new, they will disappear off to spend their time on other sites.

Send out an email newsletter

Subscribers who want to find out more information about your product or services are great prospects for sales, so keeping them returning to your site should be a priority. It's hard work getting traffic, don't let them leave without offering to stay in touch! When sending a newsletter, keep it short and informative. Promotions are expected, but don't overdo it.

Remind your visitors to bookmark your website

Most of you will have seen these links or buttons on websites. Prompting your visitors to bookmark your website in their browser increases the chances that they will return to your site at a later date.

Tell a Friend

Another way to encourage new visitors is to add a "Tell a Friend" button to your website so that visitors can inform their friends or colleagues of pages on your site that might be of interest to them.

Make your Domain name easy to remember

Don’t choose a domain name that has nothing to do with your websites topic or that is too long. It will be harder for people to remember and will result in less returning visitors to your website.

Make your website easy to navigate

Making your site so people can easily navigate it is very important. If your visitors can easily find things on your site then they are more likely to return, as people don’t want to be searching for something on the Web for hours. They want to go to a site and find what they are looking for in a few seconds. The quicker they can find something on your site the better.

Offer a monthly special only for your web visitors

Run short-term specials. Internet users love a bargain, and sales are a sure way to capture attention. Use short sales periods to motivate people to act - giving them three months to make a decision will just help them avoid making the decision to buy. Let users know that the items on offer are always changing to encourage them to visit your site regularly. And get creative with your specials. For example, consider giving away a free gift rather than just cutting the price.

Start a Blog, Forum or Message Board

Adding a forum or a place where people can hang out on your website is another good way of giving people a reason to come back to your site. People like to meet other people and have a place online to chat and share things with new people and existing friends, together with learning new things.

Create a Page of useful links

People like the convenience of shopping for products and services all on one website. If you have business alliances set up, create links for them as a recommendation. You can also add links to practical information about your business industry or links that will assist people deal more easily with your business. It will encourage people to use your site as a gateway.

Add a monthly competition

Giving something of value away for free is a great way to get some extra hits. Guaranteed to see an increase in traffic and also get more return visitors as people come back to enter next month's competition. e.g. if your business sells gardening tools, the prize on offer could be some gardening equipment or a subscription to a gardening magazine. You could also ask their permission to be added to your newsletter at the time of entering to increase your prospects list.
Prizes don't need to be extravagant, but should be fun and appropriate for your target market.

Fast page loads

We’re all busy people and don’t want to wait while a website page loads. So the quicker you can make your sites pages load up, the more chance your visitor will stay on your site and also return.