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Keep 'Em Coming Back for More
Keltic SeafaringMany academics are unable to handle the possibility of ships that travelled the oceans as long ago as the Franchithi Caves dig that showed 13,000 B ..... Maybe you've already got good search engine placement. Maybe lots of sites
have linked to you, and people are able to find your little piece of
cyberspace without much trouble. However, once they've been there, do they
ever come back?
There are two keys to earning repeat visitors: fresh content and interactive
features.
If you can offer your visitors new articles, columns, interviews,
information, jokes, cartoons, pictures, etc. every few days, great. But if
you can't, you have another option: let the visitors work for you. Here's
how.
MESSAGE BOARDS
The simplest way to keep people coming back for more is to put up a message
board. There are several free ones ( http://www.bravenet.com offers a good
one) that you can link to your site with very little effort. It's not enough
just to put it up there, though. You must also be the ringleader-start
several interesting threads yourself. Give your vistors a reason to respond
to your threads. How?
· Ask questions related to your content
· Ask people to introduce themselves
· Discuss a controversial topic
· Comment on something in the news that relates to your content
· Tell a funny story or joke, and ask visitors to post their own
· Encourage visitors to post feedback about what they'd like to see on your
site
· Ask people to vote for their favorite [blank]. Movie, band, magazine,
celebrity, etc.
· Offer simple tips in your field of expertise, and ask visitors to add their
own
Want to make your board look more active? Post responses to your own
messages under different names. Or ask friends to post, just to get the
discussions flowing. Whenever someone posts, at least in the beginning, drop
him or her an e-mail to say, "Thanks for visiting my forum."
Be sure you have the ability to delete offensive messages and spam from your
board, or you may scare people away from posting.
CONTESTS
People love contests. Not just the ones in which you can win a million
dollars or a trip to the Bahamas, but little giveaways. Free t-shirts or
books or gift certificates. Think you can't afford it? Think again.
If you run a monthly contest, and offer a prize worth $10, your total cost
per month shouldn't be over $13 (including postage.)
What kind of contest should you run?
Forget the simple "enter your e-mail address here and get a chance to win"
A Miraculous MovieIt was originally called The Big Heart. Daryl Zanuck the shrewd head of Twentieth Century Fox couldn't buy the image of Santa Claus in a court room. But ..... kind, unless you have an e-mail newsletter and want to build your
subscription base. Instead, call upon your visitors' creativity and
challenge them to write a winning response to an interesting question.
This can be as simple as "come up with a slogan for my site" or "write a
caption for this photo." It can also be more in-depth, like, "write a poem
about [your topic]," "write a top ten list of why you should win this
contest," or "tell the funniest/most embar
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