And you don't ever return. Not only do you never return, you either don't bookmark it or you forget what name the bookmark was under. You've lost a potential goldmine of information, and the site owner has lost at least one, and probably several, potential future sales.

Don't let this happen to your website. Keep your customers coming back by giving them what they really want: great information and service.

Hooking Them the First Time

A customer who comes to your site the first time is usually curious, or thinks that your site has the resources to give him or her what they are urgently seeking. If you don't either fully engage their curiosity or demonstrate that you are what they're looking for within the first ten seconds, you'll lose the sale, almost guaranteed. If, on the other hand, you hook the customer, you just might have a sale.

That crucial first ten seconds is all you have to get their attention, and the best way to do this is by having a clear, easy-to-read, content-rich homepage that appears to lead into website that promises the same qualities. The qualities you should focus on for your site are:

* Clear, legible, literate text

* Easy navigation

* Good content on the very first page.

Easy navigation is, of course, part of good web site design. To a certain degree, legible text is also part of design. But clear, literate text delivering good content falls outside web design. How many times have you seen a beautifully-designed web site that has pages filled with jargon or impossible-to-follow information – or no information at all?

If you can't write well, there are solutions available to you. The best solution, and one that sets you up as a clear expert in your field, is to purchase directly from writers or from content article brokers articles and content that will suit your website. These articles have the advantage of being well-written by people who know what they're talking about and who have excellent writing skills. But because they sell private label rights to you, you are able to put your own name on the article if you like.

Now you have clear, quality content on your page, and you've established yourself as an expert. But how do you keep them coming back?

Repeat Customers: "Push" Marketing

If a customer likes your website enough to want to return, they probably are also interested enough in your information to sign up for an emailed newsletter. That's your next goal.

If you can send your potential customer pool a newsletter on a regular basis, you are reminding them that you exist, and that you have great information as well as good resources for them to use. In addition, you can sell advertising on your newsletter to secondary vendors, or you can advertise your own special bargains and sales.

Fill your newsletters with more content provided to you through the writer or content article broker you already have established a relationship with. This ensures a couple of things: first, a consistent voice in your newsletter, instead of one that goes from formal to informal to chummy, and back to formal. This isn't something that is immediately obvious to your customers, but it will make them uncomfortable over time, and you may lose a significant number of them. Second, you will be developing a writer or pool of writers who can supply you with quality information on your topic, and who will be developing their own expertise in the area without being potential competitors to you. Third, the longer you work with a writer or content article broker, the more likely they are to be able to supply exactly the information you're looking for.

Newsletters are a type of "push" marketing because you're pushing your information out to your customers, instead of relying on a hook like a search engine to draw them back to you. Push marketing is always a better way to go when you have an identified interested audience; you are more motivated to sell your service or product than they are to buy it!

With great content and a newsletter as a tool to keep your customers coming back, your site has a much better chance of fulfilling its purpose as an excellent marketing tool.