Recommendations

* Make sure a professional writer, or at least someone who can tell good writing from bad, is creating your site's content, particularly in case of a search-engine optimization campaign. If you are an SEO, make sure you get a pro to do content. A shocking number of SEOs write incredibly badly. I've even had clients whose websites got fewer conversions or page views after their SEOs got through with them, even when they got a sharp uptick in unique visitors. Most visitors simply hit "back" button when confronted with unpalatable text, so increased traffic is just wasted bandwidth. * If you write your own content, make sure that it passes through hands of a skilled copyeditor or writer before going online. * Update your content often. It's important both to add new pages and update existing pages. If you can't afford original content, use free-reprint content. * Distribute your content to other websites on a free-reprint basis. This will help your website get links in exchange for right to publish content. It will also help spread your message and enhance your visibility. Fears of a "duplicate content penalty" for free-reprint content (as opposed to duplication of content within a single website) are unjustified. * In short, make sure bulk of your investment in your website is devoted to its content, rather than graphic design, old-school search-engine optimization, or linking campaigns.

OK, so let’s say you have successfully wooed your first-time visitor date. He’s here and he has decided to stick around. You’re going steady, getting to know each other a little more. That’s all you want, isn’t it?

No, it isn’t! You want to pop question, of course!

Getting hitched

You’ve made all this effort and spent money on getting your “date” this far, so you want to get most out of your investment, right? You want to hear those sweet words, “I do”:

I do… want to click your Adsense ads. I do… want to become a forum member. I do… want to buy that cool digital thingy.

So how do you turn a whirlwind romance into a successful proposal? Try these ideas for size:

Have clear navigation

You want to make your date dizzy with excitement, not frustration! Make sure you have clear, consistent, well-labeled navigation and make your visitor-date’s time with you a pleasure, and not a reason to reach for Advil.

Have a clear proposition

What do you want your visitor to do? Buy something? Sign up for something? Join something? Whatever point of your site is, it does have a point, right? So don’t beat about bush, and don’t hold back waiting for right moment: Make your “proposal”, and make it clear and direct.

Happily Ever After…

You thought that was end of story? Wait a minute, it’s not over yet! I thought you were in this for a long-term relationship, not a one night stand?

I know, you were thinking that having made all that effort while you were dating, you could ease off now that you’re “married”. But don’t you know that real rewards start here?

So what are secrets of a long, blissful relationship with your visitors?

1. Feed them!

You convinced him to come visit once. But how often will he come back if all you give him are same old leftovers? Cook him up something juicy and delicious, and have him salivating for more:

Enliven your content with new, relevant pages and, not only will you set search engine robots drooling, but you will also find you have a hoard of visitors coming back for seconds. And in this age of fast-(visitor)-food creation tools called blogs, there’s really no excuse anymore.

2. Shower them with gifts

Everyone likes a gift - and not just on birthdays, anniversaries and at Christmas:

Money talks, and if you are selling anything through your site, then discounts and other offers to previous visitors and customers will draw them back like magnets. Throw in tempting freebies as well and you will have a potent marketing mix.

3. Send them “love” letters

Anyone who has been in a long-distance relationship (like my wife and I were for a year and a half), knows that if you can’t be together, next best thing is a letter or email. For your website, this means an interesting ezine that is light on sales pitch and rich in information.

4. Start a family!

Not literally! But you can create a “family” atmosphere by adding a forum where your visitors can interact with each other – not just with you and your site. People are social animals, so use a forum to keep them coming back.

OK, so perhaps I overstated it a little in my title. SEO is not dead, so don’t forget about it quite yet. Just remember that it will only get you so far: If you want to actually achieve anything with your site, then you need to focus on conversion like a laser. Stephen Munday lives in Japan and is creator of http://www.japanese-name-translation.com/ where you can download images of over 2,200 names in kanji or get a romantic calligraphy gift. This article is © Stephen Munday 2005. Permission is given to reproduce this article in whole with URLs correctly hyperlinked.

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