Attract, Retain and Nurture Website Visitors

Attract, retain and nurture website visitors

Attract, Retain and Nurture Website Visitors

“I want to hear more but you’re not letting me” – it’s a real frustration when you stumble upon what is actually a pretty good website or blog but there’s a void space lurking where there really should be an online form to capture a query.

This scenario presents itself only when you land on a great website that matches your needs at the time. Let’s be honest, many wouldn’t even fall into the ‘good’ category, let alone the ‘great.’

The whole point of a website is to be found by its ideal audience. Once found, the website should provide enough information (at the right level) to answer questions and encourage the visitor to purchase, enquire and forever remember.

Each website visitor offers a new opportunity for business, for awareness, for word of mouth. Visitors should be inspired by amazing content that strikes a cord with them to want to learn more, to stay in touch, or to build a bond.

Do you want your website visitors to stick around?

I sincerely hope so.

A web visitor shouldn’t be seen as a one-off. A longterm vision to capture emails, names, company names, and the wants, needs and problems of visitors is valuable data to start a conversation.

Think of traffic to your website a bit like the traffic flow on a motorway … stick with me on this. You (generally) move quicker on the motorway, heading in the right direction with an end goal in mind.

Great website design and content will ensure traffic moves freely through the pages, as vehicles freely move from lane to lane on a motorway. Frustration can set in quickly though if you can’t exit due to hold ups or poor navigation gets you lost.

Exactly the same irritation can be felt when visiting a website. If your visitor is held up with extensive loading times, pop up boxes, clunky writing and confusion in where to find information or contact details, annoyance will set in and they’ll look to exit the site.

Include options to capture attention

A long journey on the motorway is more fun when listening to your favourite radio show or album. And the sights ahead can cause you to ponder a vertical thought – finding Pluto in the clouds perhaps.

A website with dynamic features, informative tit bits, and options to deliberate is far more intriguing to visitors than a mind-numbingly boring 3-page introduction.

Insightful information packaged as an online graphical text sandwich is attractive to your web visitors. Relevance should be maintained and answers to questions provided.

Add in a data capture form to entice people to learn more by obtaining a 20-page eBook or series of video tutorials. This is ideal content that your visitors won’t mind handing over an email and a name (maybe answer a market research question or two) for. It’ll make their life better after all. Won’t it?

Essential need?

Think back to the motorway journey. There might be a service station stop to replenish hunger (knowledge) or visit the services.

Service stops are often made because something essential is needed – food, a phone charger, cash. The journey could not continue without it. And if it did, the situation may not be pleasant. A visitor to your website has the same purpose. They are looking for something specific that will, in some way, make their journey better.

At a store you may be asked for your postcode or a loyalty card. Becoming a valuable member is encouraged or you may be embellished with a pack of ‘please come back to me’ vouchers (complete with miniscule time frame to redeem).

All these methods have a common goal – to find out who you are, gain customer loyalty and continue the relationship.

An enticing ‘nice to have’?

Perhaps the service station wasn’t out of necessity but rather because you ‘surfed’ by. This is a different situation because there’s no explicit reason that brought you here but you may now be tempted by the gimmicky stands greeting your entrance to the food court or the shiny bling shouting at you from the display counter.

A throwaway price tag disguised as a ploy to keep the kids quiet or a gadget that you will save your life can be alluring. Aren’t all impulse buys?

In the same vein, a captivating headline from a social media post or an online advert visual can take you to a website offering something you never dreamt or would be interested in … until now. Follow up the trigger of intrigue with a series of dangling carrot paragraphs and website visitors can easily be persuaded to sign up to a regular mailing, complete a survey or redeem the latest offer.

Pay heed to service station methods for they are not of dark art.

Offer a rich website experience and include simple, proactive content options that encourage visitors to connect with your company, products and services on a deeper level. Offer value.

What is ideal content for my website?

There’s no clear answer to this question but a good place to start would be to ask existing customers for feedback to see if any trends develop [add feedback form link when written]. Work from here to develop content that resonates with your customers in a form that they would be attracted to such as an:

  • eBook (my firm favourite)
  • Video tutorial
  • Webinar – live or recorded
  • Informative email series
  • Timed offer
  • Slide resource
  • Podcast
  • White paper
  • Freebie
  • Discounted event

A data capture form needs to be obvious on a website page. If visitors want to learn more or sign up to hear from you regularly, make it easy for them to do so.

Some sites use pop up boxes (which can be annoying depending on size, placement and frequency) or simple forms towards the side or bottom of each page or a specific contact page. Either can work but it’s important not to overcomplicate what you ask for. Include 3-4 fields at the most with an optional question. If people are genuinely interested they will provide more information at a later stage.

Aim for multiple-choice questions and check boxes to eliminate heavy thinking (remember that hold up on the road). If you ask for too much brainpower, visitors can get frustrated and leave.

Need help to captivate your audience

Time and lack of ideas can get in the way of making the most of a website. If you need help to determine what type of content best suits your products and services to encourage an exchange or data or if you need a GDPR compliant data capture form adding to your website, send the team an email today and we’ll get you started. Signup for hints and tips in your Inbox to grow your website here.