The difference between a new website visitor and a returning visitor is that, a returning visitor finds value in what you offer.
As bloggers and marketers we all strive to win the hearts and minds of our first time visitors and get them to visit our website regularly.
Some bloggers offer RSS based subscription options, some use an email list – mostly built with AWeber (aff link) and some use social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter to keep their readers updated.
It does not matter what system you use, what matters is that you get people to come back to your blog for more.
In order to achieve this goal we all need to understand the basics of what makes a reader tick. Why the reader visited your blog and what can you do to keep them on your blog.
While most of the aspects are out of your control, there are quite a few that you can control and make a positive impact on your new website visitors.
Make A Good First Impression
I cannot say this more often. Get a premium quality theme for your blog as its 99% of the time well coded and well designed. I tried hundreds of themes over the last 8 years of my blogging career, before I moved to Thesis Themes (aff link) which powers this blog.
It might not be a very unique design but at the least I can say its well coded and well designed than most of the themes I’ve used in the past.
The point here is to make a good first impression. If a new visitor comes to your blog and does not find it user friendly they would immediately leave and never come back again.
Its important for a new visitor to remember your blog just because they remembered what impression it created and the user experience it offered them.
Set & Meet Visitor Expectations
Its important that you clearly define your goals and what you are trying to achieve with your blog. Its important that your readers know and understand this because the moment they feel that you are misguiding them they would never bother to trust you again.
And this game, trust is a huge factor.
Take my blog for example, its description clearly tells you that I blog to make $1000 cash money monthly. In an effort to achieve the said goal, I share my experience and expertise in the field of digital marketing.
This way both my readers and I are happy as I they know what they can get from me.
There are different ways in which you can set visitors expectations. The type of content you create – educational, products you build, or a type of service you offer. These things will draw your readers in and how you deliver is what will make them stay.
You will know you have set and met visitor expectations when you are able to create customer satisfaction and build customer delight over a period of time.
Always Add Value
Adding value to your visitors, readers and subscribers is your way of saying thank you for visiting. But sometimes you can even say thank you as a value add.
Most marketers often ignore the fact that gratitude and appreciation can go a long way in terms of building meaningful customer relationships.
Some of the most simple ways to add value to your visitor are as follows:
- Offer something of Value for Free
- Help out someone who is in need
- Find a way to thank your visitors
- Discount coupons only available via your site
If you can do this, your readers will be overwhelmed and will want to come back to your site because you have accomplished the third step of the process in winning customers hearts and converting them into regular readers of your blog. You have set and met expectations, you have made a good first impression and now you have shown gratitude.
Be A Customer Centric Brand
Customer loyalty is achieved over a prolonged period of time, it can be achieved in a short duration if you are able to disrupt and hack your way to win your readers hearts.
By building a brand that thrives on the reaction of its readers, visitors and subscribers you will be able to grow quickly. There is a possibility that it might not work out as well, that is why you need to ensure you take both precautionary measures as well as plan your brand strategy well.
When your readers and website visitors become loyal you will start to see a surge in returning visitors, social share will skyrocket. This will happen because you are on the top of their list.
Most of them even put you on auto updates so that they are sure to promote your work. The simplest way to build customer loyalty is to treat your visitors well and appreciate the contribution they make to you and your blog.
Listen To Your Readers
It’s often important to listen to what your readers and what their needs are. Some readers use the comments section to convey a message to the blogger, some prefer the age old email.
With the advancement of new and creative ideas, there are better ways for readers to share and website owners to gather customer information. With tools like WebEngage (aff link) we are able to optimize conversion rate, measure voice of the customer and increase user engagement via real time push messaging.
Its things that this that allows us marketers, bloggers and business owners to thrive and be successful.
Alternatively, based on the visitor engagement on your blog, be it social share your blog posts get, the comments are all indicators of what your readers like more from you. Use this to understand your visitor better.
If you ignore your readers wants and needs they will go away and never return again. Its easier to retain old customers than win new ones.
Understand Your Target Market
The biggest mistake you can make in not being able to convert new visitors to returning visitors is to target the wrong audience and wrong market segment.
Users might be visiting your blog expecting something else but when they realize its not what they wanted or expected they leave immediately. There is nothing you can do to keep them on your blog and as a matter of fact you don’t want the wrong audience as well.
Take your time and do your study well and constantly monitor and track the changes that are happening in your industry. Its important that you stay ahead of the game by being an early adopters and pioneer in the changes that unfold.
By doing so you will be able to give updated information to your readers and they will being to look upto you for future updates as well. After all you need to build a certain level of expertise if you want to be successful in any market condition.
Keep yourself constantly educated and be the first to offer advice and solution to readers. For example: I’ve started following blogs simply because of their understanding of Google Algo updates and the solutions they offer to their readers. Imaging what you can do if you build the understanding in your industry.
Improve Competitive Advantages
This can be a challenge if you are in a competitive market. It can be quite a challenge to build competitive advantage over bloggers who are already experts in the field.
They are going to have loyal readers who might not be willing to drift away and join your network. But then again there are always ways you can accomplish competitive advantage.
You can do guest publications on popular domains to showcase to the community that you have the knowledge and the skill to offer value.
In addition you can also showcase yourself as someone who has perspective to what you do and not just curn what is already out there.
To be able to achieve competitive advantage you also need to understand your competitors well and know what they are doing that you are not. You need to keep close watch and try to better them.
Competitive analysis coupled with guest blogging can be a huge factor in establishing as an authority in the market.
This brings us to the end of the article. I hope that you find value in what I’ve had to offer. Implement these strategies if you don’t already and let me know how it all goes for you. I would love to help you and hear from you. The comment section is all yours.
Author: Broke Bloke
Courtesy: www.brokeblokeblogs.com
One Response
Excellent post. I see your other post about curation but it seems as if it is getting more and more difficult to stand out from the crowd. Everybody is doing the same things. Do you offer any training? Maybe a way to incorporate RSS into an overall strategy of “giving the visitor what he or she wants?