You have put a lot of time, effort and expense into building your website and the result is that you have a fantastic site, very professional, beautiful images, great copywriting and your products are second to none. You are also getting good traffic as a result of your marketing efforts.

But did you know that it takes on average 7 encounters before someone will buy something from your website. So not only do you need good marketing efforts to get the traffic, but when the visitors arrive at your site you need something to keep them coming back. The aim is not necessarily to keep them surfing on the site for half an hour, but to make sure that they come straight back to you next time, through your direct URL, without clicking on expensive adds. Remember these visitors will work as your personal marketing team if they keep coming back to the site, they will recommend it to others.

Here are 7 ways to help you get 7 encounters.

1. Content

Keep the content alive. New and useful content should be published frequently. If your site is exactly the same each time they visit, why should they come back? Studies have shown, that people return more often to sites that are updated regularly. Just because you are a product based site and not an information based one, doesnt mean that you cant include beneficial information for your visitors. Whatever products you sell you should have a target audience, find content and information that may be useful to them and use it.

2. Capture Them

Capturing your visitors email addresses is a great way to keep in touch with them. If you can provide a free report or an interesting newsletter it will remind potential customers to come back and visit you. People want to get to know you better so they can trust you. A friendly, informative newsletter is the ideal way to build the relationship. But remember dont overdo it with the volume of mail you send them, that will have the opposite effect. Dont send a newsletter for the sake of it, you must include information that is of value.

3. Competitions

Who doesnt love to win something in a competition? You can have anything from vouchers to spend on your site, to complimentary products from other websites. Ask other sites to donate and you do the same for them. Cross promotion between complimentary sites is a great traffic generator also.

4. Blog blog blog.

A blog is a great way to add new content easily and frequently to your site. Visitors can subscribe to it and be automatically informed when there are changes. They can add comments if you allow it, and its also a great way to build a relationship with your potential customers as they get to know the person or people behind the products

5. Website specials.

Announce your special offers in a particular place on the website and update it often, perhaps on a set timescale such as; special of the week or special of the month. This will get the visitors coming back to see what may be on offer this time.

6. Interact with your visitors.

Website visitors love to talk and interact with others who have the same interests. Consider starting a message forum or review section on your website. Potential customers can leave reviews or talk to others and will come back often to check on replies or to give their opinion.

7. Serial Content.

Just as TV viewers tune in each week to see the next exciting episode of their favourite Show, you can do the same with your website visitors. Put just one part of an article or review or excerpt from your new product range on the site at a time and encourage visitors to come back next week, or next month for the remainder.

The world wide web is evolving very fast and to keep on top of the game you will need to evolve with it. Not only do you need to keep your visitors coming back through useful and relevant content, but you need to consider upgrading your appearance and style at regular intervals. Creating a website is the exciting part, the fluffy part. But you must put as much effort into maintaining it and keeping it alive, dont forget that!