5 Ways to Keep Visitors Coming Back

A lot of successful websites depend on returning visitors to account for a major part of their traffic. Returning visitors are easier to convert into paying customers because the more often they return to a site, the more trust they have in that site. The credibility issue just melts away. Hence, keep your visitors coming back to your site with the following methods:

1) Start a forum, chatroom or shoutbox

When you start a forum, chatroom or shoutbox, you are providing your visitors a place to voice their opinions and interact with their peers -- all of them are visitors of your site. As conversations build up, a sense of community will also follow and your visitors will come back to your site almost religiously every day.

2) Start a web log (blog)

Keep an online journal, or more commonly known as a blog, on your site and keep it updated with latest news about yourself. Human beings are curious creatures and they will keep their eyes glued to the monitor if you post fresh news frequently. You will also build up your credibility as you are proving to them that there is also a real life person behind the website.

3) Carry out polls or surveys

Polls and surveys are other forms of interaction that you should definitely consider adding to your site. They provide a quick way for visitors to voice their opinions and to get involved in your website. Be sure to publish polls or surveys that are strongly relevant to the target market of your website to keep them interested to find out about the results.

4) Hold puzzles, quizzes and games

Just imagine how many office workers procrastinate at work every day, and you will be able to gauge how many people will keep visiting your site if you provide a very interesting or addicting way of entertainment. You can also hold competitions to award the high score winner to keep people trying continuously to earn the prize.

5) Update frequently with fresh content

Update your site frequently with fresh content so that every time your visitors come back, they will have something to read on your site. This is the most widely known and most effective method of attracting returning visitors, but this is also the least carried out one because of the laziness of webmasters. No one will want to browse a site that looks the same over ten years, so keep your site updated with fresh bites!

How to Add Constantly Updating Content to Your Affiliate Website

If you want visitors to return to your website, you'll need to add new content to your site. There are many ways to do this.

The two most common ways to do this are javascript and RSS. Javascript is a short code that will show dynamic content on your site by adding a short piece of code to your site. Although it is dynamic and changes, javascript is not search engine friendly.

RSS is a type of search engine friendly code that may be read by the search engines. It is a little more complicated to set up on your site, but it is well worth it. The search engines will spider your site more often if you use this type of code to update your site.

Another type of content that is rarely talked about but is available to affiliates is what is called datafeeds. This is usually a CSV or some type of text file that contains the product listings including titles, descriptions, image links, and other information that affiliates may add to their websites. Like RSS, using this type of content usually requires some type of script to process the content.

The first step in creating your content is to find content you want to use. Check with the affiliate programs that you are a member of to see what content they offer. Even articles, reviews, and other content are good content to add to your site. Rewrite as much of this content as you can to make it unique. Most site owners won't allow you to rewrite their articles, but you may rewrite the other content provided.

Next, decide what format you want to use. Some sites will have content available in a format you may want to use and others will not. You will have to decide if the format offered is acceptable for your use.

Check the terms of service for the content. Remember that if you are selling anything on your website that it is a commercial site. Many sites like Google, Yahoo, and others won't allow you to use their content on your website if you own a commercial site.

If you plan to use any type of RSS or datafeeds, find the right type of script first. RSS feeds require what is called a parser to process them so they display correctly on your website. Datafeeds will require a content management system of some type to process the information.

The easiest way to find these tools for your website is to do a search in your favorite search engine for "process datafeeds," "free RSS parser," and "affiliate datafeeds." Visit sites that offer content you want to offer on your website.

Some of the content you add to your website will please both your visitors and the search engines. Some will only please your visitors.

The important thing to remember is to offer something new for your visitors. Giving your visitors choices allows you to provide a wider array of solutions. More solutions will help you make the sale.

By: Jinger Jarrett
Jinger Jarrett is the author of the "7 Day Ebusiness," available on Amazon