#8: Start the conversation
With visitors zipping about all over the Internet, it’s hard to get anyone to slow down and chat. From webpage to webpage they surf, instantly forgetting what they’ve just seen.
So if you want a visitor to return, you need to help them out a little. You need to get a visitor to commit to staying in touch with you, whichever way they want.
Why
If you don’t capture a visitor’s attention long enough to get their contact details, you’ve lost them forever. Sure, some might return on their own steam, but the percentages rank against it. How many times have you tried to remember some great website you found information on…but the name escapes you.
Internet Marketers have all sorts of tricks to capture email addresses and then sell, sell, sell to that list. But that’s not we’re about. If you’re lucky enough to be entrusted with a visitor’s email address, you should treat it like your own. Always offer the visitor value, never try to sell them to death!
How
The obvious one is an email capture box for a newsletter but there are other ways to stay in touch with your visitors. For example, they can subscribe to your RSS feed of your blog. This way the always get the latest information you’re publishing through your website.
[Note For those of you who don't know what a RSS feed is, click on the orange square in the top right, then use Google Feedreader to subscribe to this blog for free. Have a play around and save yourself hours visiting your favourite blogs each day.]
And don’t forget the power of social media to stay in touch with visitors. Have them sign up to your Facebook Profile and Pages, Twitter, and other profiles around the web.
Homework
Think about how you communicate with visitors and capture their information. What other ways could you do it? Remember to give your visitors as many options as possible.
