Food for Thought #12: Why People Really Visit Your Site
You’re sitting at your desk, browsing the internet. You’re chilling at Starbucks with your laptop, cruising the web. You’re stuck in traffic, be-bopping around on your phone in Google.
So here’s the question: have you ever once searched for a site only because it has the most beautiful theme? Have you ever looked for a blog because you heard it had the best plugins?
As my wife would say, “Not bloody likely.” (She’s from the UK).
Today’s food for thought has to do with why people visit our sites. We often get so caught up in making our sites pretty to look at, or so focused on the latest tools and updates, that we forget the real reason people come to us in the first place.
Content, Content, Content
Unless your niche is something like photography or graphic design, no one comes to your site because they wish to admire your theme. Unless your site is all about electronic equipment, no one comes because you are running the latest technology.
People are visiting your site for the content. They are looking for answers to their questions, or solutions to their problems. They want easy, step-by-step instructions.
I have seen beautiful, award-winning design sites that only cost the company money. And I have also seen the most generic, basic black and white site with barely a logo pull in $4,000-$5,000 each and every month, because it is so full of credible, up to date, articles that it draws in traffic by the tens of thousands.
And, by the way, unless you are Amazon or a similar site, people are rarely coming to your site to buy something. It’s true that they often do wind up buying through our links (otherwise we wouldn’t be here, right?), but that isn’t generally what brought them there in the first place.
Filling your site with tons of links and banners with no real content is a recipe for failure.
They’re looking for information. They’re looking for answers. They’re looking for solutions. In a word, they’re looking for content.
Let’s give ‘em what they’re looking for, shall we?
Share your ideas on how you create and share content with your readers.
Recent Comments
41
Content, content, content....thank you for hitting the point across in your insightful post!
Content...our big challenge and our bugaboo. Yet, to me, content is what makes my niche exciting. I am researching and writing about something I love, so hopefully I can instill that love into someone who visits, because I have the information they need. To me, the connections are as important as the sales.
"To me, the connections are as important as the sales." I couldn't agree more. I think a lot of people miss this important difference. If we could only get them to understand they will make far more sales in the long-run if they just focus on building strong relationships first.
Yes, you are right, AJ!
We also google to find out on what we want to know. It's the content rich that is helping people. If not, why we surf the internet? Thank you for your great sharing! I've bookmarked it and come back for revision! :o)
Totally agree with you, AJ.
Most of my competitors have annoying pop ups and too many banner ads that make their sites very difficult to navigate, especially on a smartphone.
That’s why all that is on my site is content. I will be adding a page with an affiliate link soon, but any visitor will have to click through to get to it, meaning they will be already be interested in what’s there. Hope it works!
Best wishes,
Steve.
Definitely. For me, there is nothing that screams you only care about getting my money that that kind of nonsense. Sadly, I see a lot of new members so desperate to make money as fast as possible that they go down that road not realizing they are doing themselves more harm than good.
Agreed. In many ways it's the ONLY thing. What's the use of spending time getting traffic if there is nothing there for them to see (or get value from) when they get there. I truly believe content should always be the priority.
See more comments
Thank you for the reminder AJ. Reminds me of when I was in advertising and we became too focused on the design elements, losing sight of the consumer / target market. So easy to do and a critical error.
Thank you again.
Blessings
Louise
Oh, god, yes.
I started out as a direct marketing copywriter.
When I thought I needed to move into the "big leagues" I got a job with a typical Madison Avenue style advertising agency where image was everything, even if it didn't actually translate into sales.
It was all fluff and no stuff! lol
Needless to say, I didn't last long; it drove me nuts. :-)