Business Principles
Is Your Business Web Site a Rest Stop or a Destination?
In the very early days of the Internet, when it was a brand new and very exciting place to visit, most people that surfed liked to move about randomly and quite excessively.
It seems they wanted to go exploring to not only see what kinds of things were available online, but to survey niches and see all the players in them just in case they had a need to return sometime in the future.
It was kind of the same experience as you might have when exploring a new shopping mall or an amusement park for the first time.
You dash from store to store or ride to ride making sure you experience everything you can so you’ll know what you like and what is not worth coming back to a second time.
The famous Nielsen rating company that tracks and reviews media usage tells us that surfing habits are changing these days.
More Internet users are visiting fewer web sites; and at the same time, they’re staying longer at the sites they choose as specific destinations.
The question for every business is this: Is your web site a rest stop where customers come to use the restroom and then they’re quickly off again to their real destination?
Or did they log on to their computer with the express idea of coming to your site for a specific purpose?
Do your customers stop by to simply stretch their legs, or are they there to interact, learn, and shop?
If you want your business web site to be a destination, it needs to be designed, planned, and equipped as one.
It must have the right attractions to hold the customer’s attention and interest for specific periods of time.
In addition, the attractions must be fresh and exciting each time the customer visits or he will soon reason that he’s already seen everything there is to see and head off to the next destination that offers something new and exciting.
Folks these days are always in a hurry!
We have a shorter and shorter attention spans it seems.
We want instant and immediate gratification of things that we seek . . . including pleasure, products, recognition, entertainment and personal acknowledgement.
Your business has the opportunity to interact with customers in your niche or it can simply be one of many storefronts that get passed by for “cooler” or “more exciting” experiences down the road.
You would do well to learn how to make your web site “sticky!” If you haven’t heard that term before, it means to make you site like fly paper . . . grabbing your visitors’ attention and “forcing” them to stay at your site longer. Of course, we’re talking about having great content that will keep your visitors with you for extended periods. Or you may have fun things to see and do at your site. Games, puzzles, contests, image galleries, interactive features, a forum or chat room, etc.
We’ll talk more about “sticky” web sites in another post.
To your online business success,
Steve Browne
www.stevebrownedirect.com
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