Big shots are only little shots who kept shooting
-- Christopher Morely (1880-1957)
Time to activate the last of the Big 3 strategies for building traffic...
#1) Free Traffic (DAY 7)
#2) Paid Traffic (DAY 8)
#3) Traffic Through Relationship-Building (DAY 9)
You are building a solid traffic base. Now keep those visitors coming back for
more. How?...
The same old answer... relevant, quality content. This time the content is in
your e-zine and other special publications.
Goal-of-the-DAY... Identify a way to communicate with your visitors on a regular basis and build a relationship based on trust and credibility. Become a friend rather than a stranger. Or just use the advice of experts on job search sites.
While you are waiting for the traffic to your site to build, look ahead and
prepare...
Even when you do have good first-time traffic, most people don't come back over
and over again to most sites. It's nothing personal. It's simply a big Web out
there... and visitors figure that they might as well see something new! So, unless
the very nature of your site naturally tends to generate frequent, repeat visits,
realize that your customer is in "now or never" mode.
So the question is... how do you reach her again and again, after she leaves?
You need a Backup Response, an alternative reason to visit. A good Backup
Response must...
- deliver a benefit to your visitor at a "no-brainer" price (free is best), and...
- provide you with an ongoing opportunity to remind your customer about you and
your product/service or the merchant-partners that you represent.
Sooner or later, a healthy percentage of those who trigger your Backup
Response will deliver your MWR -- a sale or a contract, depending on your
situation. Why? Because you're building a quality, long term, repeated
exposure, one-to-one relationship with your visitor/customer.
9.1. Build Relationships With An E-Zine
The most common Backup Response on the Web is the e-zine (an e-mailed
newsletter). Once you have some decent numbers, it takes only a day to get an
e-zine up and running.
A good e-zine tells its readers to revisit you...
- to click on something missed during the first visit
- to respond to an announcement you make
- to see new content you've added
The e-zine builds a relationship of trust between you and your visitors. Put
yourself in the visitor's mind. A new e-mail arrives from you. Full of excellent
content that meets her needs, the e-mail prompts her either...
- to click on the link back to your site to take you up on your great offer
- to click on a link to one of your affiliate partners
- to file in her memory that you are the person with the answers to her questions.
You will use the content in your e-zine to get your MWR. It's fine to give lots of
information. But use that information to PREsell. Give your visitor a reason to
click on a link back to your site or directly to one of your affiliates.
The WIN-WIN provides information for your visitor and income for you.
9.1.1. Build a Sales Page For Your E-Zine
How good of you to provide a free e-zine! But will your visitors subscribe?...
It's free but... you still need to sell the idea that another piece of e-mail is a good
idea. After all, your visitor is going to give up her e-mail address and the time it
takes to read what you send.
While she's on your site, she needs to feel that continued contact with you will be
worth her while. So you will...
- stress the benefits of your particular newsletter
- add a clear "call to action"
- finish with a subscription form
Make sure the benefits are clear. Add a testimonial. Link to back issues. (Some
Web masters write an issue or two no one else receives so they will have back
issues. Visitors can see what they will get.)
Stress that your e-zine is free.
Add a professional look with a great cover like those at
Killer Covers·com
http://www·killercovers·com/
Then tell her exactly what to do... Subscribe!