Right, so I have given you an idea on how to start things off, and have told you how to submit your site to google. Now comes probably the most important part - keeping your readers from only visiting once.

Getting ranked on Google at number one, or any result showing on the first page of search results is wonder and all, and will probably increase your traffic nicely, but what you don’t want is people visiting just once, and never returning again, so you need ways to hold your users.

There are many ways to try and ensure this:

1. Niche
Dictionary.com describes a niche as, “a place or position suitable or appropriate for a person or thing: to find one’s niche in the business world.” Last article I spoke about running a fishing website - And what this all basically means is that you have your website about fishing, you keep your content about fishing, and that is your niche.

2. Content
I have mentioned content before, but this is a subject which cannot be mentioned just once. If a person is looking for a website about fishing, and arrives at your website, and you keep your topic of fishing throughout the website, the chances are that the reader will find something he was looking for, and will most probably carry on looking around the website, as well as return again the next time he requires something to do with fishing.

3. Bookmark
Another useful little trick is to add a button to your website, which allows a reader to easily add your site to his bookmarks.
In order to do this, we need to use some Javascript:

<script language=”JavaScript” type=”Text/Javascript”>
<!– //

var urlAddress = “http://www.yournamehere.com/”;
var pageName = “Your page name”;

function addToFavorites() {
if (window.external) {
window.external.AddFavorite(urlAddress,pageName)
}
else
{
alert(”Sorry! Your browser doesn’t support this function.”);
}
} // –></script>

This code gets placed between your <head></head> tags in the source code of the page, which will have the link to add your site to a persons bookmark. The second part to the following code, between your <body></body> tags on your website (where you want the link to appear) :

<a href=”javascript:addToFavorites()”><font color=”#0000FF” face=”Arial”>Bookmark My Page!</font></a>

This will put a link on your website, which a reader may click, and have your site automatically added to his/her bookmarks!

4. Polls, Comments, Interaction
People are like sheep, they follow what others do. When a person arrives at your website, if he or she sees that other people have been reading your site, and completing things like polls, they will be more inclined to participate. It is important to make your website look active! Voting Polls are an easy way for users to see that your website has been active, it is also an excellent way for you to get feedback from your readers. Comments allow users to comment on your articles, this provides you with feedback, as well as giving your readers a chance to start a discussion, which will ensure readers revisiting your website. There are all sorts of interaction techniques available, and I would suggest having a look through all the Wordpres plugins for examples.

5. RSS
RSS (Rich Site Summary) solves a problem for people who regularly use the web. It allows you to easily stay informed by retrieving the latest content from the sites you are interested in. You save time by not needing to visit each site individually. I am not going to go into detail about RSS Feeds, as I will have a separate post to explain exactly how to go about setting this up. If you would like to read further, click here.

6. Newsletter
If a person has arrived at your website, and you have followed the above instructions, it is a good idea to offer your readers a newsletter. This is one of the most effective ways on ensuring reader loyalty. Your readers will be able to sign up for your newsletter, and you will be able to reach them via email. I have had great success with newsletter in the past. Here are a couple tips..

  • Do not send out newsletter continually, state on your website how often newsletters will be sent out, so the user is aware that he/she will not be receiving loads of emails from you.
  • Try and only send out a newsletter every two weeks or once a month at the most.
  • Keep your newsletter to the topic at hand.
  • Make sure you have links to various sections of your website in the newsletter.

Ok, there are six excellent steps towards securing reader loyalty. All these methods have been proven effective, there is plenty of information on the Internet to further your understanding on the topics covered here. I will post a followup article on this with some more useful methods soon.

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