Adrian Gonzales has over 11 years of experience working in the web hosting and ISP industry. In 1997, he founded The IceStorm Network (www.IceStorm.com), a leading web hosting provider specializing in shared and reseller web hosting.
It’s always exciting to see fresh, new visitors coming to your blog. Unfortunately, most blogs can’t survive just on new visitors. In order to keep things lively, and to make a sale, it is important to have return visitors.It’s always exciting to see fresh, new visitors coming to your blog. Unfortunately, most blogs can’t survive just on new visitors. In order to keep things lively, and to make a sale, it is important to have return visitors. Return traffic to your blog is the key to making your blog both profitable and captivating. Basically, you want your blog to be a place where readers are always coming back for more. Here are a few ways to make sure that happens.
- Give your readers useful content. This is probably obvious, but it is the number one goal you need to make for yourself to get those return visitors. The sites I visit the most are those that provide fresh content, on a regular basis, that is useful or interesting to me. There are many different kinds of content that are going to bring people back. A few examples are, how-to articles (or videos), product reviews, comments on relevant current events on your topic, and interviews with people who are successful in your niche. Over time, you should be able to build a solid base of information. When a visitor finds your blog, she will see a lot of great information, but not have the time to read everything in one sitting. That means she will want to come back soon.
- Keep your site organized. In order for that useful content to get people interested, it has to be easy for them to find. Link to some of your most popular articles in a prominent place and make sure people can find your article directory. Make your site easy to read and quick to load, so that it’s worth people’s time to stop by for a little more input.
- Post new content often. Many of the most successful bloggers post several times a day. This might not be necessary for you, or even possible, but putting new and interesting info on your page as often as you can – at least a few times a week – will help readers feel like it’s worthwhile to come back and visit. Since they have already read some good stuff on your site, they’ll want to come on back and see what’s new.
- Have an email newsletter. Providing an opt-in newsletter is a great idea for your blog because it is one of the most effective ways to keep your site in the minds of past visitors. Even if you can’t manage a regular newsletter, you can offer occasional site updates, and send out an email to your list whenever you have two or three new articles. When your newsletter arrives in a past reader’s mailbox, she will be reminded of your site once more. If she looks inside and finds links to new and interesting articles on your site, she’ll be excited to return. If your headlines are compelling, your old reader will be more tempted to return to your site. Reminding people to sign up for your RSS feed is another way to do this.
The most effective way to bring return visitors to your blog or website is to establish yourself as an authority in your particular niche. Make sure people know that you’ve got an inside edge on your area of expertise, and people will return to your site to get fresh insight or to compare your ideas with what other experts are saying. Keep your blog loaded with information that truly helps people and stays on the cutting edge of your niche, and you’ll have no problem getting traffic to return again and again.