Remember the late 90's? Back then, there were tons of startup dot coms which seemingly spent all of their money advertising offline in the effort to bring in visitors. These usually brought in a short-lived surge of traffic, with few of these visitors returning and even fewer becoming paid customers. The whole idea was that if you kept your content fresh, repeat traffic would follow naturally.
While for certain types of websites this is absolutely true (e.g. a news portal), many people still think that fresh content is essential for ongoing website success. That ain't necessarily so
Most of the lead generation websites we build for clients are specifically for the purposes of new client acquisition. Once a prospect has found your website and becomes a client, there may not be any pressing need to keep your content "fresh" in order to drive repeat visits - your website has already done it's primary job.
I'm sure you've heard it said that it takes something like 7 visits to your website before a prospect will enquire. And that's sometimes true. As a general rule, the more complex or expensive your service, the more visits are required before an enquiry is made.
The best way to drive these initial "pre-conversion" repeat visits is to incorporate a "lead capture" mechanism into your site. This might be as simple as a newsletter signup form, or it could be an invitation to download more comprehensive materials (e.g. a free report or eGuide).
These offerings allow you to capture leads and stay in touch while educating them on what you can offer them. By following up with these prospects, you'll entice many to come back to your site for repeat visits.
This is a strategy we use often; not only on client's websites but on our own as well. Whether a lead capture strategy is needed or not depends largely on how difficult it is for your website to convert visitors to customers.
Now of course, none of those should be taken to mean that adding fresh content to your website isn't a good idea - it's just not the only thing that makes for a successful site.
New content can in fact be a great thing for your site, especially if your site is niche focused. In this case, frequently updated content can establish you as an authority; having a section of your site devoted to articles can be a good way to bring prospective clients in for a visit.
This is of course a desirable thing, but keep in mind that it won't come without effort. You'll have to write all of this content (or at least find someone to write it for you). Of course, it's also no guarantee of success.
Quite a few business owners with whom I speak seem to like the idea of having a "Latest News" section on their website as a means to drive repeat visits. I normally advise against this because
1. Unless you're a true authority, most "Latest News" tends not to be terribly newsworthy to your prospects.
2. "Latest News" requires regular updating. Most often these updates aren't made. How often have you seen a "Latest News" page that hasn't been updated for a coupla years?
The message here is to plan ahead. If you're building a website which will need weekly updates, then make sure that the resources are in place ahead of time so this will be done. If you can't make sure that this gets done, low maintenance is the way to go.
While for certain types of websites this is absolutely true (e.g. a news portal), many people still think that fresh content is essential for ongoing website success. That ain't necessarily so
Most of the lead generation websites we build for clients are specifically for the purposes of new client acquisition. Once a prospect has found your website and becomes a client, there may not be any pressing need to keep your content "fresh" in order to drive repeat visits - your website has already done it's primary job.
I'm sure you've heard it said that it takes something like 7 visits to your website before a prospect will enquire. And that's sometimes true. As a general rule, the more complex or expensive your service, the more visits are required before an enquiry is made.
The best way to drive these initial "pre-conversion" repeat visits is to incorporate a "lead capture" mechanism into your site. This might be as simple as a newsletter signup form, or it could be an invitation to download more comprehensive materials (e.g. a free report or eGuide).
These offerings allow you to capture leads and stay in touch while educating them on what you can offer them. By following up with these prospects, you'll entice many to come back to your site for repeat visits.
This is a strategy we use often; not only on client's websites but on our own as well. Whether a lead capture strategy is needed or not depends largely on how difficult it is for your website to convert visitors to customers.
Now of course, none of those should be taken to mean that adding fresh content to your website isn't a good idea - it's just not the only thing that makes for a successful site.
New content can in fact be a great thing for your site, especially if your site is niche focused. In this case, frequently updated content can establish you as an authority; having a section of your site devoted to articles can be a good way to bring prospective clients in for a visit.
This is of course a desirable thing, but keep in mind that it won't come without effort. You'll have to write all of this content (or at least find someone to write it for you). Of course, it's also no guarantee of success.
Quite a few business owners with whom I speak seem to like the idea of having a "Latest News" section on their website as a means to drive repeat visits. I normally advise against this because
1. Unless you're a true authority, most "Latest News" tends not to be terribly newsworthy to your prospects.
2. "Latest News" requires regular updating. Most often these updates aren't made. How often have you seen a "Latest News" page that hasn't been updated for a coupla years?
The message here is to plan ahead. If you're building a website which will need weekly updates, then make sure that the resources are in place ahead of time so this will be done. If you can't make sure that this gets done, low maintenance is the way to go.
About the Author:
Author: David B. Ascot's expertise is in increasing sales lead generation results and your business can benefit from his profitable methods of online lead generation.
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