Added Value

We assume that you already have a website. In the second decade of this century, almost anyone has some sort of web presence – all the more when having some business interest. The sheer variety of tools and possibilities the web has to offer is astounding, but we'll assume that you jumped that hurdle as well. Let's take this further – let's assume that you already have a website that serves you well by presenting your services or products to the customers who seek out such things. We will not target the fields of search engine optimization and Internet marketing, as they deal with bringing customers over. This article will revolve around the ways you should treat your customer from the moment he first enters the website, up until the moment he purchases a service or a product you offer.

Website builder – keeping the visitor interested

It doesn't matter if you sell flowers online or offer lawyer services, a website must keep the visitor interested.
It is proven that visitors tend to desert website in mere seconds after entering, in case they do not get the impression that they found what they were looking for. This is being referred to as “bounce” and search engines measure it to determine how relevant the site is. So – we only have a couple of seconds to leave a good first impression and make the visitor stay – let's make those seconds count!
We'll achieve that by placing ourselves in the shoes of the visitor and analyzing the factors that brought the visitor over to your website in the first place.
Let's say it's a brand website for a law office. It's safe to assume that the visitors are looking to get assistance with a legal issue and they reached that website because the specific solution is advertised as a specialty of this office. Therefore, if you're in the field of traffic laws, you will want to place many references claiming you're a specialist in this field. Your personal biography and practice are important, but secondary – it's your homepage that sells you. If the visitor has been convinced, then he might learn more about you in your “About” page.
In essence, the homepage must convey the message that “you've reached the right place” - so everything about it must be relevant and targeted at the people that were searching for help the DMV, for example. One piece of advice is that the categories must be named to sell - “traffic cases”, “injustice cases” and so on. The visitor that will be exposed to such categories will be impressed, while finding the field he was originally seeking help with.

Website builder – make your visitor come back

In the vast majority of cases, we would like the visitor to return. The example given above, of a law office, is not the most relevant to that point, because the website is no longer relevant after the customer contacts the lawyer and a meeting is arranged. Let's choose the other example – a virtual store that sells flowers, seeds and gardening equipment. The owner of that website will depend on returning customers, as they are his income. To reach that, the owner must provide some added value, beyond the products themselves.
An example that should be noted is the RSS link. You can see RSS feeds everywhere, and every dignified website currently offers at least one. In a nutshell, it's a link you paste in a special “reader” program, and every time the website is updated, the subscriber sees it in a single interface. It was invented following the premise that a user would like to remain updated, but doesn't want to be bothered with a daily routine of visiting dozens of websites in the process. The RSS reader allows him to see the headlines from everywhere in a single location. In our example, the RSS feed will update the subscribers with the latest gardening news, tips and products – while subliminally trying to expose the subscriber to products. A subscriber already showed his interest in remaining in the loop, so why not take advantage of this simple tool and use it to make people come back?
Another way of updating visitors is the newsletter. People are generally not interested in being bombarded with emails – that's why those who do subscribe, would expect to get something in return. You can use this fact and offer coupons within your newsletter, information that is yet to be published on the website, tips and ideas. A newsletter for the flower store may incorporate links to articles, seasonal tips, links to new products and a discount coupon to all subscribers. This content-rich email will encourage people to visit the website time after time, to purchase products and base the reputation of the owner as a leading force in the field – which is priceless.

Website builder – providing valuable and updated information

Relevance is the reigning buzzword when speaking about SEO and marketing. Relevant content is the main reason for someone to revisit a website, read a blog, get impressed and purchase a product. As a result, search engines try to mimic the human sorting mechanism and display the most relevant search results, judged by hundreds of parameters.
Building a relevant website is first and foremost affected by its update rate. Publishing a weekly article, a monthly newsletter or a daily post will make visitors come back, read and get updated, when it's up to you to expose them to your products. Imagine your impression of a website that the latest news item is two years old – it doesn't look too alive, is it? On the other hand, a lawyer blogging about his impressions on contemporary trials or a florist that is constantly sending gardening tips – can expect to find rise of interest. They both can go further and post the lawyer's impression of the “verdict of the month” or the “daily flower” section...
Other tools aimed at creating a discussion regarding your service lie within the visitors themselves. Give them the option to share content from your website, converting every visitor into an advertiser. Any “Like” someone presses in regard of an article from your website is a recommendation of that page to his friends. If it surpasses a certain interaction threshold, friends of friends will also be exposed to it. Wise forum use, regardless if the forums are internal or external to the website, will encourage people to visit your site: either to get updates regarding interesting threads in internal forums, or if they're impressed with what you've written on external forums. Every bit of text, image or video have the potential to go viral, granted they can interest a visitor enough for him to feel like sharing it to his friends.
Provide free knowledge, write a lot and aim at large audiences – try to keep them interested, they will be glad to return the favor by means of visits, ad-clicking, reputation and actual purchases.

As mentioned in the paragraphs above, there are many practical ways of creating a buzz around your business. The suggestions were intentionally generalized, but they still leave enough space for every business owner to decide what are his main attractions and how he chooses to leverage them into making his business better. Choose whatever is right for you, while emphasizing what you do best. The customers will follow!