"Build it and they will come" worked for Kevin Costner in "Field of Dreams," but that approach leads to bankruptcy and a failed business when it comes to your website.

Any savvy website owner knows that it takes a lot of work, time, and money to bring a visitor to your site for first time.

Smart marketers also know that it rates a lot easier and cheaper to get people to come back for a return visit than to attract them for first time.

The following tips will help any website owner convert more one-time "lookers" into repeat visitors and customers.

** Surveys **

Hold an interactive poll or survey on your web site.

Ask your website visitors questions about a topic of intense interest to them.

Not only do people enjoy giving their opinion, but they'll also want to read results as you compile them and update them on your website over next day or week.

One way to get their email address is to tell them you'll email final numbers once results are compiled.

My favorite survey tool is www.oneminutepoll.com.

** Free Prizes **

If appropriate, hold an ongoing prize drawing on your web site.

The prizes you give should fit with interests of your target audience and enable you to showcase what you offer for sale from your website.

For example, if you sell computer cables, give away something like Velcro cord ties with your web address on them and avoid things like teddy bears or bumper stickers.

** Original / Hard-to-find Content **

People go online first and foremost to get specific, relevant, timely information in areas that interest them.

For a long time, I have been noticing --sometimes appalling-- way that people write emails. Too many do not bother to check their writing before sending out their emails. We see that in personal emails, business emails and on internet forums. The worst offenders being sales letters that are full of errors!

And, more and more, we see this sloppiness in correspondence of tech support groups who are front end customer service representatives!

Too common in virtual office:

Ok, small typos are understandable. We all make them. But BIG typos, one after another, along whole string of e-conversations can be very unpleasant to say least, and do not express a demonstration of customer appreciation nor professionalism.

Imagine standing in a real time face-to-face discussion and person you're conversing with stumbles at every other word, stringing together a couple of words at regular intervals, skipping pronouns and endings, and leaving off whole consonants and prepositions...

... and you had to put up with several of these communicators in your place of business within inter-personal activities of management, customers and suppliers day after day.

How would that feel? What would it say about those people you’re communicating with?

Well, this happens all time in virtual office!

Hard to take in Customer Service:

And it covers all spectra of email correspondents. But I wrote a report that covers specifically writing of those in profession of tech support who are as I already mentioned, front-end customer service representatives.

Just recently, I've come across a whole number of these e-communications while working with several technical support groups at various e-service establishments. These are million-dollar outfits. And I'm one of their *treasured* customers.