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In a previous article, I presented some tips for getting visitors to your site. Getting them there is only half the battle. Keeping them there is the second half. I have been to sites that cause me to leave before the page even loads due to very slow loading times. Before you even work on getting visitors, you have to prepare a site worth visiting.
Your visitor's intent in visiting your site is not to read a sales pitch, but to either make an immediate purchase or gain some knowledge and make a decision. How do you reconcile the two seemingly opposing purposes?
We can borrow an idea from the advertising world. Which of these would be more effective in making you buy a medical product: seeing an ad on television or having a doctor you trust recommend it? Advertisers have learned that the best spokesman for a medical product is a doctor, and sometimes not even a real doctor, just someone who plays one on TV.
It is an unfortunate problem that the Internet makes it easy for people to pretend to be experts. That is why I advised you earlier to sell items with which you are familiar, so that your expertise is genuine. If a question comes up, do not answer off the top of your head. Do the research and be accurate. You may "waste" an hour to answer a question concerning a $10 item, but the time was really not wasted since you have accomplished two things: 1) You've demonstrated reliability. The person asking the question should now be impressed with your response and will recommend you to others. 2) You have added one more piece of knowledge to your store and can answer the question if it comes up again.
In order to make visitors stay on your site and to come back, you should do the following.
1) Clearly express the purpose of your site. You have to think about what your visitor wants and state a purpose that is also important to him or her.
2) Establish your philosophy and credentials. Explain why your site is different from all of the others.
3) Link to informative articles, some written by you and even some on other sites written by others. If you are linking to other sites, you might want to ask them if they would link back to you.
4) Make some recommendations about the items that you sell. I sell digital cameras on my site. What differentiates my site from many others? Where other sites simply name the item and the price, my site offers advice and recommendations, and I answer visitors' questions. Many visitors do not make a purchase until they have come back several times and asked a number of questions. The sites that offer "instant purchase" with no other advice or human intervention are losing these customers. What's even more important is that these are not just customers. After we have emailed back and forth, we often form a relationship that is beyond that of a simple customer-vendor. These customers often come back for other items and recommend family and friends.
5) Offer good values on the items you recommend. All your good advice doesn't help if your prices are way out of line. However, it is quite possible that you often can't compete with the "big boys" on price alone.
That is where the value comes in. There are many customers looking for more than just the price. They want to know "what else." With digital cameras, the questions are often, "What else do I need? How much additional memory would you recommend? Do I need a card reader? What kind of battery do I need? What kind of charger?" I answer questions patiently and put together a package deal. If I can't compete on the price of the camera alone, by the time the entire package is put together, I am probably pretty close to the same deal at one of the "big sites."
6) Offer a newsletter and/or contest - a reason for visitors to email you and hear from you on a regular basis.
Your site will get two kinds of visitors. There are methodical guests who want to learn something and make an informed decision. They will follow your links and read the articles because they are gaining knowledge. By the time they come to the conclusion, they will appreciate your efforts and are prepared to "reward" you by placing an order. Even if they don't make the purchase immediately, having spent so much time on your site, they will remember it for next time (and offering a guest book or ezine subscription helps you remind them).
There are also folks who either know exactly what they want or are impatient and have no time to read. They just want to see the item and the price. The only way these folks will buy from you is if you have the lowest price. There is really nothing else you can do. But there is no reason to write anyone off. Offer a link that takes them directly to items and prices.
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