Directing customers to your website can be tough. But keeping them coming back is tougher. With millions of users and a plenty of other websites offering similar services or products, it could be a challenge to make them return to your site. However, the task is much simpler than it seems.

The secret is to have something new and exciting on your website as often as possible so that customers will come back again and again. This is comparable to why a person would read or view the news daily - motivated by the fact that there will be new articles everyday. This article will provide some tips on how to achieve visitor returns to your website.

Discussions
Installing forums and blogs are a good way to make visitors coming back. Search Engine crawlers love them as they are rich in content. Contents on forum and blogs get updated frequently this give a reason to Search Engine crawlers to keep coming back. Forums and blogs increases the chances of being found by the Search Engines with more keywords or key phrases.

News and useful links
Your website should be targeted towards your audience, if there is any interesting link you feel will make your website visitors interested then provide a link for them.

Up-to-date catalogues
If you have pdf of your catalogue on your website, make sure they are current and reflects your current address,rates and services. For eg, if you have uploaded your catalogue with your old business address and now your business have shifted. Then in this scenario, it is better not to upload the catalogue with your old address. If you have to upload the catalogue to your website then change the address to your current one.

Discounts and special offers for members
If you have recently sent a mail by post with new special offers or discount sale then this should be reflected on your website too. Potential or new customers are bound to visit your website first before contacting your business. You have less than 9 sec to impress your new visitors on the Internet. So make an impression.

Free downloads or trial softwares
Providing useful downloads is always good for your visitors. This will complement your business. For eg. If you have a web development business provide free scripts for sending feedback forms, web designers may find this useful and invite them to use it. If the web designers want something more done to the scripts they will contact you for your service.

Newsletters
Newsletter by email is commonly used and cost effective way of marketing today. Send regular newsletter updates of your business, discount offers and sales. Make sure your newsletter is permission based and give your members the option of unsubscribing.

Site last updated
Content for user driven websites like www.myspace.com are updated by the users/members so probably site last updated is not necessary or for website like www.theage.com.au where it is obvious. Company website should have a statement saying when the website was last updated. You will notice recognized universities website do this. Having website updated statement give an idea to website visitors how fresh your website is. I am sure not too many people will be interested to read an article on Search Engine Techniques that was written 5 yrs ago. If the website updated is not listed then the information could be misleading and might not be relevant.

Conclusion
Updating your website and providing rich content will invite your visitors to keep coming back. The more often you update, the more often Search Engine crawlers are likely to return to your site and increase your website traffic and search Engine ranking.

Keep your website visitors happy and they will keep coming back.

Suraj Rai
NETable.

[+/-] About the Author
Suraj Rai is a web consultant with NETable with over 5 years experience in the web industry and manages projects at NETable.

The above article is an expression of author’s personal views. Any individual or organization wishing to excerpt and/or re-use article from this website, must contact the author for permission and reprint requirements. Content on this article may not be used for any commercial purpose or personal use without the express written permission of the author.