The Art of Visibility: How to Keep Them Coming Back For More

Whether its a personal blog or full-fledged eCommerce setup, your website's success depends upon the interest and participation of your audience. So, knowing just who that audience is will help you attract more like-minded visitors and grow your overall traffic.

But how do you learn more about your audience?

You can start by looking at your own website. What pages do they visit? What posts do they comment on most? What products seem to be the most popular? See any trends? But don't stop there.

Take a look at some of your competitors' websites. Pick sites that are closely related to yours in topic or industry and see what areas they seem to focus on most. If you've picked really popular websites, you'll have a good feel for what your audience is looking for. And with that knowledge, you're ready to start your own web promotion campaign.

The key to building traffic, especially repeat traffic, is to stay in front of your audience as much as possible. Remind them why they enjoy your site. Give them incentive to visit again. How?

1. Stay in touch. One of the easiest ways to stay in front of your customers is to stay in touch. The most effective way to do this is to offer a free newsletter. It can be industry-specific or a more general "make the most of life" kind of publication. Regular newsletters - if done correctly - can help promote new products, new services and/or points of interest that make your audience want to learn more.

2. Encourage participation. Is your website interactive? Polls, forums, quizzes and other seemingly non-important extras encourage users to take an active role in your website. Let them leave comments on your blog or create a forum where they can discuss related issues or topics. Which product are they most likely to use? Take a poll and find out.
3. Network. If you haven't already started social bookmarking and networking, its high time you did. Sites like Digg, Technorati and yes - our beloved Hub Pages - give you a chance to establish yourself as an expert and build a following.

4. Keep it changing. There's no better way to lose an audience than to give them a website that never changes. The more you update your site, the more likely they are to come back to see what's new.
5. Offer something for free. Yes, I said FREE. It could be a short white-paper, a downloadable how-to booklet or a free sample of your newest product line. People love free stuff - always have, always will. Give them something for free and watch the loyalty grow.