If I go into a neighborhood convenience store and discover they make homemade soup and a hand crafted sub sandwich at a good price and with great taste I am likely to go back again. They just improved their foot traffic because I plan to come back.
If I see a sign that tells me a roadside diner has the world's best cup of coffee and I get a cup that tastes a bit like motor oil I will likely refrain from visiting that location again. They have just decreased their potential foot traffic because I will stay away.
Some of the lessons for online business are as follows...
Let some things be a surprise. Allow customers to find a few pleasant surprises along the way. With Search Engine Optimization (SEO) it may be hard to keep everything a surprise, but when a visitor finds something they hadn't expected on your site they might want to come back.
Offer a product that exceeds expectations and is a fair value. It doesn't matter if your business is online or brick and mortar people still shop for value and price. Treat your customer fairly and they may come back.
Never promise more than you can deliver. That roadside diner offered something they didn't really have. They advertised something that was easily compared to every other cup of coffee the traveler has ever had and the experience came up short. If you promise big - deliver big.
Traffic building is an important part of website development. Business owners can get into trouble though when they assume everyone wants to receive information on their business. This typically happens when lists are purchases or leased and a mass email campaign is launched to recipients who may not be happy to receive your email. This rarely accomplishes as much as a smaller list that contains the names of individuals who have already expressed an interest in your company and product.
Sometimes online businesses will make bold claims and incredible promises that may result in a fast start to their business only to falter and sometimes fail when it is discovered they can't deliver on the promise.
In the Tortoise and the Hare the shelled one learned that it was slow and steady that won the race and sometimes this is true of traffic building strategies. It may seem as if the process is taking too long, but even brick and mortar stores realize it will likely take more than a year to get their new business noticed and it takes at least that long for trust to be developed. It is a process that each new business has to go through, unless there is a significant buzz about the product and business prior to the launch of the website.
As important as traffic building is it must be predicated with integrity so trust can grow in fertile soil. Short cuts often result in short-term gains and long-term losses.
Do everything you can to encourage prospects to visit your site. This is most often accomplished through marketing development with integrity and perpetual persistence. The resulting traffic is the kind of traffic you want.
About the author:
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