Web Promotion - Web Development and Design Foundations with XHTML - page 518

Newsletters
A newsletter can bring return visitors to your site. The first step is to collect e-mail
addresses. Allow Web site visitors to opt in to your newsletter by filling out a form.
See Figure 13.7 for a sample newsletter subscription form.
Figure 13.7
Sample newsletter
subscription form
Offer your visitors some perceived value—timely information on a topic, discounts, and
so on. Send out the newsletter with fresh, compelling content regularly. This helps to
remind your previous visitors about your site. They may even forward the newsletter to
a colleague and bring a new visitor to your site.
Sticky Site Features
Updating your Web site often and keeping your content fresh will encourage visitors to
return to your site. How to keep them there? Make your Web site sticky. Stickiness is
the ability to keep visitors at your site. Display your interesting and compelling content
along with features that encourage stickiness such as news updates, polls and surveys,
and chats or message boards.
Personal Recommendations
While forwarding a newsletter is a form of personal recommendation , some sites make
it even easier to tell a friend about them. They offer a link that is used with a phrase
such as “E-mail this article,” “Send this page to a friend” or “Tell a colleague about
this site.” This personal recommendation brings a new visitor who is likely to be inter-
ested in the content of your site. See Figure 13.8 for a partial screenshot of the FirstGov
Web site ( http://www.firstgov.gov ), showing a personal recommendation link.
Figure 13.8
This site makes it
easy to tell friends
about interesting
articles