Growing your userbase
I think all too often people focus on building "traffic", but fail to interact with that traffic in a way that leads to increased user participation and growth of the site. We get caught up in exchanging links, submitting to directories and blogs, and checking our stats. Those things ARE important, but what is more important is what happens when the traffic does arrive.
I have actually had some profitable sites that did not get a lot of traffic, but when people arrived, I showed them something that led to a sale or other goal that was profitable in some way.
It is very important to think about what people are likely to do upon arriving to your site, and how you can encourage them to become a participant or buyer. It is important to remember that buyers often start as "lurkers" or casual surfers, and it is not uncommon for them to return to your site a few times before actually committing to a purchase.
This is where having goals comes into focus (analytics can help with this). Just getting people registered on a regular basis is almost a sure bet that some will want to do business with you in the future. Is there a reason someone would want to register on your site? What would the benefit of doing that?
After they are registered, maybe they have not bought anything yet, but what can we do that will lead them to return to the site. Might there be something exciting happening in a few days they should know about? Would they mind if you sent them a message?
Often people are more likely to do business with someone they trust. How can you help them get to know you, as well as other people on your site? Why would they want to get to know you?
I've asked a number of questions here, and did not always give the answer, as these are things that we all must consider when building a site that will grow. After all, a user base is the #1 variable in site growth, so I hope you will think about how to work with this variable more, and we can discuss what it means to do that, and even talk about some success stories.
I have actually had some profitable sites that did not get a lot of traffic, but when people arrived, I showed them something that led to a sale or other goal that was profitable in some way.
It is very important to think about what people are likely to do upon arriving to your site, and how you can encourage them to become a participant or buyer. It is important to remember that buyers often start as "lurkers" or casual surfers, and it is not uncommon for them to return to your site a few times before actually committing to a purchase.
This is where having goals comes into focus (analytics can help with this). Just getting people registered on a regular basis is almost a sure bet that some will want to do business with you in the future. Is there a reason someone would want to register on your site? What would the benefit of doing that?
After they are registered, maybe they have not bought anything yet, but what can we do that will lead them to return to the site. Might there be something exciting happening in a few days they should know about? Would they mind if you sent them a message?
Often people are more likely to do business with someone they trust. How can you help them get to know you, as well as other people on your site? Why would they want to get to know you?
I've asked a number of questions here, and did not always give the answer, as these are things that we all must consider when building a site that will grow. After all, a user base is the #1 variable in site growth, so I hope you will think about how to work with this variable more, and we can discuss what it means to do that, and even talk about some success stories.