Reinvent Your Site and Get Hits - Your desired outcome
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When redesigning around content, you want to attract web surfers and keep them on your site until they perform your desired outcome. You should write your content around your desired outcome, and you should build your navigation around your content. This takes constant practice, and must be studied carefully. I believe that sounds sufficiently sage-like to confuse even me.
Simply put, you must write compelling content, telling your visitors to perform your desired action. A call to action must be worked in at least three times on a page. Your site must have a focus, and this focus must come out in your content.
You must imagine your content as cattle herders, driving traffic to your desired outcome. I believe this may sound like a severe comparison, since traffic is not like cattle. But traffic can be directed by content.
Most websites have mediocre copy, apart from sites that seek to give information. When reinventing, you must offer information. Even if it is not your primary aim, you must. Information is the biggest single thing people are looking for online; information on prices, information on procedure, information on other people, things and products. Giving free information will help your search engine rankings and keep traffic coming to your site.
Opt-in
If your site does not have an opt-in form, you must place one on it and build a database to keep the names of people who leave their information. Some of the best sites I have ever visited do not have a subscribe form, register form, or opt-in form. This is a huge mistake that cost them my continued patronage. There are simply too many sites out there, and you cannot guarantee that users will always come to your site to get the information you offer. Sometimes users find another site, other times users forget your URL, and still other times users do not even know they need your services until you remind them via email.
You must reinvent your site and place your registration form in a location where it will not be impossible to find; the top left of every page is desirable. However if you want to have your form on just one page, then you must use your content to drive your users there with promises of great benefits.
A good feature to incorporate into any site is a members section. This builds up your opt-in data base. It will also increase the number of repeat users to your web site. A members only section can offer registered users an opportunity to contribute to a forum related to the content of the site, access to content rich emails, or access to freebies.
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