Drive People to Your Site to Buy Your Products

Bring those visitors back for more, applauding you and saying
BRAVO! They will create a buzz about your great site, and send
you many more visitors through word of mouth. These visitors
are your personal marketing force.

If you are a non-techie like me, you may not have heard of what
a "sticky" Web site is (it is the stuff that lures visitors back again
and again). But we do know we want that!

Forget getting to the top of the search engines. Let your
Webmaster do that. Instead, try out some of these low-
maintenance ways to bring 'em back to your Web site for more.

1. Upload new, original, and useful content often. Do not think
of your Web site as a virtual brochure. Avoid blatant ads such
as banners, which turn visitors off. Give them information only
they can't find anywhere else and give it free. People want
and need how to's, especially.

Always think benefits when you post some new article. Helping
your visitors get what they want will bring their trust and respect
as an expert, and eventually, bring you profit from your book,
other products, or service.

2. Update your Web site content regularly and often, perhaps
daily or weekly. If someone visits your site and finds nothing
new, they will disappear into cyberspace and spend their time
on other sites.

If you don't want to write articles, copy and paste other people's
articles or tips from their ezines or Web sites with their
permission, of course. Keep the pieces under 1200 words.
Common lengths are anywhere from 75-1000 words. You can
include a tip list, past feature articles from your ezine, an excerpt
from your book, poetry, a heart-felt story, or a character sketch
from your fiction book.

3. Publish your own ezine. Make it short and sweet. Start with
a monthly, then see if you can do it bi-weekly. If you don't stay
in regular touch with your possible buyers, they will forget you
and your book's message.

People want to know you better, so they can trust you and think
of you as an expert in your field. Your free information, tips and
resources will keep them as subscribers. If they like your eMag,
they will recommend it to others. The opt-in eNewsletter tops all
other ways to drive traffic to your site, and it can be mass mailed
free, too. Check out www.topica.com.

4. Include a recommending service on your site. Your repeat
visitors create new traffic. Check out www.Recommend-
It.com. It's free, fast, and versatile. Each time someone
recommends your site, they are entered in a contest to win a
Palm V reading device and a chance to win $10,000.

5. Host a forum on your site where people can interact fully and
you can share your knowledge and offer suggestions. It's a
great way to help others and get these people visiting your site
often because they want to know you as a real person. Without
a chance to interact with you people lose interest.

Allow your visitors to post a message or reply to other
messages. They will check back every few days for new
messages or replies. To find these services, do a search on "free
webmaster resources." Two specific ones:
http://www.delphi.com and http://www.evryone.net. Check out
this discussion group http://www.ablake.net/forum/

6. Remind your visitors to bookmark your site. Tell them you
update material every day or week. If you omit this, you pass
up a great opportunity to lure repeat, loyal visitors. You want
more visitors, and you want them to spend a lot of time on your
site. The more time they spend on your site, the more likely
they will check out your products or services pages.

The biggest complaint from clients is that they get hits, but not
enough sales. When you follow the above tips, you'll be much
more likely to succeed at increased sales.

7. Serialize some of your content. If visitors get it all in one visit,
what's to keep them coming back?Put one part of an article,
special report, or excerpt from your book on your site each
week or so. Let people know this through your eMagazine.

8. Post a monthly special only for your Web visitors. Call it
"Discount of the month," or"Freebie of the month." Without
incentives your audience will go elsewhere. Go to your files
now, and see what you can use. This fabulous technique has
worked well for the author.

9. Enjoy the journey. Each day, you can learn something that
will make your Web site more real, more YOU. Let your
passion show! Add some personal information such as the
personal column. 'The Coach's Corner" is a new column in the
ezine, "The Book Coach Says." It mentions personal writing
and marketing set backs, boo boos, along with a tip or so. Put
personal messages on your site too.

10. Allow everything you do on the Net to be easy and fun. If
you don't love to create ad copy, or if you don't like the technical
side, delegate it to someone who loves it. Do what you do best
and hire the rest. It's far smarter to eliminate all struggle from
your adventure, so you will shine at what you do.

The biggest complaint from clients is that they get hits, but not
enough sales. When you follow the above tips, you'll be much
more likely to succeed at increased sales.