Think Big Blog

As avid Internet users we are all accustomed to the practice of logging on to a site, looking around, and logging off in a matter of minutes. Perhaps the site in question wasn’t exactly what we were looking for; perhaps it was too slow to load; perhaps we had to jump through too many hoops in order to find the specific products, services, or information we required; or maybe it was just plain boring. Whatever the reason that people logon and log off sites, it is this very action that web sites must address when it comes to garnering long term relationships with customers. Web sites don’t want visitors; they want customers and find a way to convert those who logon to their site into long term customers is what every web site ultimately wants to achieve.

So how do web sites do their due diligence to increase web traffic but do so in such a way that is likely to appeal to those visitors who will stick around over time? Through targeted marketing.

A web site is like any other business; its advertising and marketing must be razor sharp – especially in this day and age when we are so visually desensitized. And, even more importantly, a web site (just like any other business) must be very sure they are able to deliver on what they have promised. If they manage to deliver effective marketing and advertising and increase web traffic but fall short in delivery, their upfront efforts are essentially wasted. The balance, therefore, for a web site is to do the following:

1. Marketing. In the short term, web sites want to increase web site traffic. To this end, they will participate in comprehensive search engine optimization efforts to raise their page rankings with the search engines, utilize reciprocal linking, and work closely with a web site optimization firm to further these efforts.

In the next post, we’ll continue to talk about a web site finding the appropriate balance to not only increase web site traffic but turn visitors into customers.