Business activities thrive on several concurrent techniques and mechanisms. Internet marketing and web-oriented business is taking new shape and new dimensions are gaining importance. Small and medium businesses (SMBs) across the globe have started experiencing the need for adopting improvised technological strategies and more ‘Information Technology (IT)’ based approaches.
“Personalization” is one such aspect that has witnessed sea changes during past many years. Maintaining constant contacts with the customers, visitors, and viewers has become a vital factor in maintaining the profitability of the business. Sometimes, it becomes obvious and necessary to resell a product or service and make the previous customers understand that why they were offered the first chance in first place. Repeated orders and re-orders are quite often much more profitable in comparison to beginning a new business activity. This strategy helps in reducing the acquisition costs and advantages the discount offers.
Some of the best websites and blogs are what Buzz Bruggeman describes as ‘intelligence agents’. These information media generally have constant updating of contents and current posts that would be of beneficial interests to their target audience, in their understanding.
For such websites and blogs, the golden rule applies, “Try to put yourself in your reader’s and customer’s shoes and figure out how you would want to be treated”, says Edward Craine. It is a “Top to Bottom” approach. “If you don’t do proper things, you’re bound to fail,” he says.
Benedict J.frederick, President of ‘Frederick Realty’ in Baltimore has positive believes about this. In his views it is really helpful to develop “some unique knowledge”. A good blogger must find its niche and should go deep in to that niche and then he can become an invaluable resource to people.
Personalization is one such aspect for any web based business in which taking a few extra steps would always be beneficial for both the business as well as the reader. It helps a reader to remain in constant touch with the business owner.”My goal is always to leave clients with more than they expected. It is not just that I do the job but that they really get value from what I do”, says Deborah E. Harry, CCIM, President of Deborah Harry & Associates in Elverson, Pa. “I believe in building relationships. It is for the long time, not for just once”, she says.
Personalization strategies ensure build up the reputation of a website or a blog. Next step would be to advertise this reputation. Future readers and visitors are more likely to believe certain reputation advertising through the “word of mouth” if they happen to know that somebody just like them has already experienced it. A website always grows exponentially with the help of such reputation and experience stories.
Referrals, testimonials, and recommendations are some of the other important tools for the success of a website that helps in ensuring the coming back of a visitor. “when I asked people to write them for me, a trend was established. The writers felt that I made them look good to their clients”, says Harry. She now asks for a letter of recommendation. “I’ve found my readers are very supportive and happy to help me”, Harry Comments.
For bloggers, no matter how glowing a word of mouth recommendation is, it is still necessary to keep the blog and blogger’s name in front of past and future visitors. A nice combination of well planned marketing activities and updated informative posts would definitely of much help. Craine explains this concept lucidly,” people have an understanding that when you’re just freely giving information, you’re a person they want to stay in touch with. People love them. They want to know when the next story is coming”.
‘Feedback Surveys’ from the readers are of immense help in improving a website. Constant feedbacks keep the business owner always on its toes. An online survey is one of the easiest, fastest, most convenient, and almost inexpensive mode of gathering information about the reader’s choices and the changing trends.’ A Note of Thanks’ in response is as mandatory as anything else. It will further strengthen the inter-personal bonds between the website and the reader. A feedback always makes a customer feel special for its contribution.
A blog is the true reflection of its creator. It demonstrates the creator’s concepts thoughts, vision, and communications, to the entire internet world. Bloggers often reveal so many things about themselves without opening even a single word about them.
A good blog and a well organized website tell the whole story in itself. We find many websites having just a jumble of images and text imposed as momentos. But a well designed, well conceptualized and well managed website will always be more beneficial to the business objectives. Just a collection of links, ads, banners, and some irrelevant text posts would lead to nowhere in web-based business.
Updating the website therefore becomes a key factor. All links on the website should be properly placed and comfortably opening for the visitors else the visitor will just move on. A neglected website or a blog would never be a profitable or popular concept.
“Create the best website that you can with the knowledge that you have. You will never be finished, as there will always be more to say and show”, says Richard Lowe, Jr.
There are varieties of means to ensure continual updating of a website. You could place a message board to start virtual conversations with your visitors. You can also adopt a weekly column or an associated ‘eZine’ as an innovative idea in order to get people to come back. Even if you’ve said everything there is to say, perhaps you can add few pictures, sound and videos or change the layout or presentation. “What’s New” section on a website will definitely serve visitors and customers and they will come back again and again just to see what you have added new.
Periodic ‘eZine’ helps maintaining contacts with the readers and communicating them about new happenings. Similarly, the ‘newsgroups’ and ‘email discussion lists’ such as ‘egroups’ and ‘topica’ are also gaining popularity among the internet marketers and readers both. Posting pertinent information at such communicative platforms helps people to visit back to the website for further exploration of their interests.
“If you want people to come back to your website, you had better be keeping it up-to-date, accurate and adding new content all of the time. Otherwise, your readers will grow and move on to greener pastures”, says Richard Lowe Jr.
‘Personalization’ is therefore an extremely beneficial technique that helps making a visitor come back. If a website or a blog welcomes with smile each time a visitor or reader comes back, a friendly positive tone is automatically established between the two. It is one of the most customer-pleasing features that can be added to the web -business and above all, it costs nothing but the efforts only.
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