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WordPress Site Layout: 12 Recommendations For Repeat Visitors

By Jan Ashby

1. You want to ADD new material to your blog often – it can be a slideshow, a post, a podcast, a video presentation – but find something to share, and often.

One big thing to do is hit up sites such as Alltop, Technorati, Blog Catalog, BlogCarnival, and find fresh material (regarding your niche) to publish on your blog. I am speaking of content curation here 😉 You credit the author (and link back), and in exchange you can use an excerpt and then contribute comments about the article for your readership.

*Note: You might want to place a date counter on the page (indicating fresh content has been published)

2. Offer a high degree of value on your website. Think of ways to help your readership – for example, share with them a mistake you made and how you learned from it (i.e., what to avoid). Spend time at noteworthy blogs (and websites) within your niche, and compile a good-sized list which your loyal readers will find useful (you must have seen them, eh, in EzineArticles). When you truly put in the time to create a post, and research the keywords to use but especially your topic, it shows.

An example of a list I could put to good use in a post at my blog here: 100 Article Writing Tips

Another thing you can do – which will ultimately benefit your READERS – is to strike up a partnership (an exchange) with a well-respected marketer and place links to their HIGH-Value resources on your site, in exchange for their doing the same for you.

And when a marketer you know & trust is coming out with a new product, you may want to write up a BRIEF post highlighting what the Resource offers, in terms of benefits to your readers. Always use integrity – don’t ever hawk someone else’s wares, simply to get a commission.

3. Have Blog promos, and offer valuable freebies and Discount codes (or offers). 😛 Get creative – have several different offers, and I suggest using high-quality graphics – so that it really “pops”. People are not as LIKELY to opt in, if the picture is boring or a low-quality image.

*Note: Place links in a few places on your site – you could put “NEWSLETTER” in your list of links, and have a brief description of the BENEFIT gained when a Reader joins your list. (You can include some Bonuses and coupons inside your Newsletter) . IDEA: Place an Opt-in page at the Bottom of every blog post

4. Feature a link at your primary page with a ‘Book Mark this site‘ or ‘Share with a Friend‘, or ‘ADD to your Favorites’.

5. Add a link ‘Recommend this site to a Friend’ so any of your cherished visitors will have the ability to email your website link, with a prewritten title, “Thought you might be interested in this”, just by clicking on it.

6. Branding is Important: Brand every page on your website so that your readers always realize where they are. Use consistent colors, slogans, and LOGOS – and have a ‘Contact Us’ link on each page.

7. Have a Terms of Service page, and I also suggest a page which espouses your philosopy, and the principles by which you RUN your site. This should greatly help with customer trust 😛 Post a privacy policy, so that clients can KNOW they’re secure when they visit.

8. Create a FAQ page which addresses most of the doubts and concerns people will have regarding your product (or your company) – answer THESE before they get raised, in other words. This helps resolve most of the customers issues during their first visit, and gives a sense of confidence about your site.

9. THis rule is a biggie – please never ever spam a client who has opted in to your list (your newsletter) with unsolicited emails. Also HONOR requests you get to ‘opt out’ of future mailings – take them off the mailing list at once. They may return to you, at a later time if they like your products. 🙂

10. Provide an ‘about Me’ section or a section about your philosophy – your way of doing things. If you have privacy statements and customer satisfaction policies, this will only ENHANCE your relationship – your customer will feel more at ease, while on your site (& thus will be more likely to buy, or join your organization).

11. Just don’t focus on the home page, keywords and titles. Do MORE…

The first step to sales when customers visit your site is to easily find the products they were looking for. To this end, have Clear Navigation; also a SEARCH BOX. You should realize that SEO and better rankings can’t keep your visitor glued to your site, or force them to buy.

The customer having come to your site, now make sure that he becomes interested in your products (or services) and remains on site a while. Motivate him to join your company, get on YOUR LIST, or purchase your product by providing clear and unambiguous information; have discounts, even contests – these are ACTUALLY a great idea, & have been known to improve customer participation and loyalty.

Have a sale once in a while; you might even combine products (Buy one get one Free). Also you can give discount codes out. 🙂 And if you happen to offer more than one product or service, provide all necessary information on this, by having a separate page that lists this information. By providing easily accessible, visible links the customer can EASILY navigate to these pages and get the details.

So your customer will feel a greater degree of comfort, has “TRUST” seals at your site (and other Seals of Endorsement). Look around on the web. There are a lot of ways to garner recommendations and endorsements.

12. Ensure that each page on your website has appropriate titles and keywords so that your customer can find their way back to your site, if they lose the bookmark.

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