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How to Attract Sticky, Targeted Traffic

When you attract traffic to your website, you should find ways to immediately engage your visitors. And the only way to get them engaged is with content that focuses on the REAL NEEDS of your customer.

Author: Jeremy Harrison

May 12, 2015

INBOUND MARKETING PART 2 of 4 

Today we’ll talk about attracting visitors to your website, and getting them to stick when they arrive.

Sticky, targeted traffic is a vital first step if you want a site that gets results.

But before we go there, let’s take a moment to understand an important fact about every website created since at least 1993.

“Beam Me Up, Scotty”

Browsing a website is never linear.

We can’t demand that they read our pages in a certain order. We can’t provide “turn-by-turn directions” for experiencing a website.

Star Trek TeleporterBrowsing the web is more like Captain Kirk using the teleporter in Star Trek.

See something of interest? Click it.

BAM.

You’re there.

Cute squirrel picture? Click it.

BAM.

You’re there.

No “turn-by-turn directions” are needed. There is no journey. You are just instantly there… instantly anywhere.

As a marketer, this is a good thing. You can send your traffic right where you want them to be.

They see your online ad. They click it.

BAM.

They’re here.

Remarkably, there are still people spending good money on online ads that point traffic to their home page.

Huge mistake.

Never make your first-time visitor figure out where to click next. It shows a linear, turn-by-turn way of thinking.  

If you force visitors to do the work, their next click will probably be the “back” button.

You have only a second or two to make a connection with your visitor, and the place you send your traffic must make them want to stick around.

But how do you do that?

Engage Visitors Based on Their Real Needs

Success Blueprint: Engage VisitorsWhen you attract traffic to your website, you should find ways to immediately engage your visitors. And the only way to get them engaged is with content that focuses on the REAL NEEDS of your customer.

We talked about how to uncover those needs in my previous article.

With those customer needs in mind, you need to create content that resonates with their needs. It should make a deep connection with the visitor, and they should feel like they are receiving something really valuable from your site, no strings attached.

Three Proven Ways to Engage Visitors:

Here are three types of content proven to engage your visitors.

  1. EDUCATE YOUR VISITORS.
    This is my favorite method, because it always works. You already have expertise that you can share with a visitor based on their needs. Check out how REI shows visitors “How To Fit A Bike” without ever trying to sell us a bike:

     

  2. ENTERTAIN YOUR VISITORS.  
    This is tougher, but it helps you make a personal connection with your visitors. You might have to fail a few times before you find something that works, but there’s a chance you’ll hit a home run. That’s what happened for BlendTec when they started promoting their blenders with a hilarious series of videos that have drawn nearly 1 BILLION views over the past few years:

     

  3. INSPIRE YOUR VISITORS. 
    Some things are deeply motivating and moving to your visitors. Show your visitors that you understand and share their passions with inspirational content. Here at Spire, Patrick created a video to showcase our Video Production work. But when he mixed in audio from Ronald Reagan’s 1983 tribute to entrepreneurs, he suddenly had an inspirational tribute for hard working small business leaders who frequent our website:

Engagement Fuels Trust, Landing Pages Can Erode Trust

As you engage your visitors you build trust.

You show that you are there to help, no strings attached. This will make your visitors more receptive to sharing an email address or buying.

For years I taught seminars on marketing funnels and told people that you need to drive targeted traffic straight to a “landing page.”

Landing pages are targeted pages designed to capture a name and email address or convert a sale. They eliminate distractions and focus on getting the customer to take action.

But my advice has evolved.

Most of the traffic you attract isn’t ready to buy. If you send the wrong type of traffic straight to a landing page you will erode trust.

Landing pages are still critically important to your process, but only AFTER you’ve built plenty of trust with engaging content. We will talk more about their role in the next article.

The First Visit is All About Trust

You should focus on making a visitors first experience ALL about building trust. With lots of trust established, you can invite them back to your site to take action.

They feel good about your brand and the engaging experience they had on your website. And because they visited your site before, they see your “re-marketing” ad as they browse the web.

They click it.

BAM.

They are back on your site, ready to make a deeper connection with you.

Now that you have a plan to engage first-time visitors and build trust, it’s time to make that deeper connection. That’s what we’ll cover in part 3.

 

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