NetMedian.com

Monday, January 17, 2005

10 Ways To Keep Visitors At Your Site Longer

Have you ever watched a video tape or DVD and "fast-forwarded" a particular section? Or switched channels while watching TV? Ask yourself, why you did you do this? It's most probably because you did not like what you saw, or it was boring and did not interest you.

Welcome to the Internet's "fast-forward" button, a.k.a. the dreaded "Back" button. People will not stay at your site for a variety of reasons. Look at my previous post for some of them. Here I will try and list some ways that you can use to help visitors stay longer at your site.

The more time people spend at your web site, the more time you'll have to persuade them to buy your product or service. Here are ten powerful ways to keep visitors at your web site longer.


1. Provide your web site visitors with content they can't read anywhere else. I’ve said it many times before. The more original your content, the more likely people are going to stay at your web site to read it.

2. Remind your web site visitors they can print out your content. Many people like to print content and read offline. Making it easier for them to print (like placing a Print This button on your page) shows you care.

3. Offer your web site visitors a freebie if they take the time to fill out your online survey. Surveys are a good mechanism to ask your target audience before doing something. If your survey is of interest to your target audience, they will stay at your web site longer and might even buy something afterwards.

4. Offer your visitors free software that they can download right from your web site. Software is very popular in the Internet world. If it is free, that’s even better. Your visitors can read some of your ads while they are waiting for the download to start/finish.

5. Provide a huge online directory of information that your visitors could search. If you provide a directory of information or links, it makes it convenient for your site visitors. They will often tend to spend more time at your web site. Of course, the directory must contain information your visitors would want.

6. Make sure all your web pages load fast or your visitors will leave fast. There is nothing more frustrating than waiting for a web page to load (because it is graphics intensive). Most visitors won’t wait at your site while the entire page loads. Time is precious, after all.

7. Tell your visitors what's offered at your web site at the very beginning. Laying out a good map and placing all relevant information/links at convenient places in your site will make it easier for visitors to navigate. If people are confused about what's being offered they may leave too early.

8. Publish your web site professionally. People will get turned off and leave if they see a lot of spelling and grammar mistakes. This is also related to your web site taking too long to load.

9. Make your site text easy to read. Most people won't strain their eyes trying to read text that is too small, light or bright. Ensure your web site does not follow a strict display format. Ideally, it should learn to adapt to your visitors screen/monitor resolution. This makes your web site’s design fluid in nature and you won’t have to worry about increasing/decreasing your text. (I will speak more about this in one of my later postings)

10. Use headlines and sub headlines all over your web site that will grab visitors’ attention. Layout your headlines and sub headlines in an easy to follow pattern. Even if your visitors only read the headlines and sub headlines, they should get a fair idea of your content. Laying out your content in logical sections will attract your visitors to explore your web site longer.

Elvin Picardo
Delivering Net Results to Small Business
Author of numerous articles on web development and Internet Marketing for small business
10723 159th St, Surrey, BC V4N 3J1 Canada
NetMedian.com
Contact Elvin

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home

Thank you for visiting NetMedian.com - Please visit again.