What do your visitors do when they
reach your website?
According to the law of averages some
of them will only stay for a few seconds before going elsewhere.
Your job as a website owner is to reduce the percentage of potential
customers you lose by as much as you can. The longer people stay
on your site the more chance there is of signing them up to your
newsletter, or even selling them something.
The secret to doing this is to make
your webpages interactive. Or more precisely your homepage, since
this is what people will see first.
You need to draw people in to your
website in order to make them stay longer, so you need to ensure
the top section of your homepage has a least one interactive feature.
The top section is the part that you can look at the read without
scrolling down. After all, what's the use of saving your best features
for the bottom of your homepage if no one actually sees it?
The best method to use is to give
away a free item in exchange for the person's email address. This
way you build a relationship with your customer and get to build
your email opt-in list at the same time.
To get the best results, make sure
the free item is instantly available. A free download or access
to a secret page loaded with information are two good examples of
this.
It's also vital to make sure the free
item has a high perceived value. It needs to be something the customer
couldn't get anywhere else - or couldn't get free anywhere else
- and will be of real use to them. If this product is currently
very popular you will stand an even better chance of getting their
attention. You need to ensure the customer cannot possibly click
away from your site until they have this information.
Once you have their email address
through the double opt-in method (they will need to confirm via
email that they have requested the information) they will be added
to your email marketing list. This will not only give you the chance
to keep in touch and possibly sell them something in the future,
it also keeps your name and your site fresh in their mind.
In the world of internet marketing
building relationships with your customers is vital to your success.
By having an interactive homepage you will be a lot closer to achieving
that success.- Allison Whitehead
