The most successful websites are those that keep visitors coming back. Whether your goal is to sell products or services, or to publish your content widely, it is recurring visitors who are the most valuable to your website. Visitors who are familiar with and trust your business will buy more from you and are more likely to share your content on social media. These strategies will help you build an audience of repeat visitors.
Easy access on all platforms
Both consumers and workers at businesses use a mixture of devices to access websites. You should already be aware that a lot of traffic is coming from mobile platforms, but do you thoroughly test your website in each of the popular desktop browsers, and look at how it appears on different mobile phones and tablets? Visitors who cannot easily view your site are not likely to return, and even loyal visitors can be put off if some of their devices do not render your site correctly. Make use of a browser platform testing service to help you fix any problems.
Publish interesting content
Websites that simply push products or services often do not get return visitors, but an interesting blog or stream of images can prompt visitors to keep coming back to your site, instead of consulting a search engine and buying from a competitor. You can either generate content yourself or hire a website content creation service that understands what sort of content draws repeat visitors. Whichever type of content you opt for, make sure it is fresh, relevant to your business and interesting, while also being easy to digest.
Focus on good design
Your site should be easy to use and visually appealing. As an online platform, you are likely facing several competitors, and a site that contains broken links or other issues with functionality will deter visitors. Instead, invest in user experience testing – usage patterns can vary from person to person and the way you and your staff use your website won’t reflect the way every visitor uses it. Regularly freshening up your site is also a good idea – it signals to visitors that they might miss something if they do not check back often.
Look after security
A security breach can be a death knell for repeat visitors. It takes only one browser warning indicating that your site has been compromised to put customers off for a very long period of time. With cybercrime as prevalent as it is, trust has become a major issue with customers, so take the necessary precautions that will protect your site from intruders. This factor is even more crucial if your site processes payment details.
It is difficult and expensive winning over new visitors to your website – whether you devote time and money to print advertising or keyword advertising in search engines. You can make the most of the investment by ensuring that new visitors keep coming back to your website once they have seen it for the first time. Internet users can be fiercely loyal and you can tap into this loyalty by creating a website that draws and retains visitors.
