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5 Ways to Court Your Visitor
Attracting visitors to your site is similar to the dating scene and wooing your prospective partner. And, like in courting, there are some hard-fast rules of engagement for attracting your prospect.
1. Look Nice – You want to put your best face forward. Your homepage is often the first thing that your visitor sees when they visit your site, so make sure that it is aesthetically pleasing and easy on the eye. Remember, for a vast majority of sites, the homepage has the highest bounce rate. Give your a visitor a reason not to leave.
2. Make your prospect interested in what you have to offer – In the dating scene, this means opening up and making sure they know something about you that makes them want to learn more. In website optimization, it means having a top notch Unique Value Proposition (UVP).
3. Remember them – Saving a visitor’s shopping cart for at least 30 days is a helpful tool for reminding visitors that they’re wanted (especially as Holiday shopping ramps up).
4. Don’t give them a reason to leave – The easier it is for your visitor to navigate your site, and the more quickly you can get them through their buying process, the more likely they are to convert.
5. Don’t talk up your best friend – The worst thing you can do is link to a site outside your own and push your visitor in that direction. Tools and references are always helpful, but don’t make them more attractive than the options that push them further though the conversion funnel. If you feel it’s necessary to link to outside domains, use a visual cue (like the common “tear off” icon) to indicate to the visitor that they’ll be leaving your site.
Now go ask for another date, or better yet, get down on one knee 
- Nobody wants to read your sh**!September 21st, 2009
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- Cross-post: How to Improve a Product Page, Part 1September 15th, 2009
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November 13th, 2009
2:07 pm
One thing I’ve always wondered is what an average bounce rate is? I’m sure it depends on the industry, but is there a baseline to compare it to?
November 13th, 2009
3:33 pm
Good post, Natalie.
November 13th, 2009
4:15 pm
@Drupal Designer: Average bounce rate is a somewhat dangerous metric to use as a KPI, but I understand your desire for one. I wish the Fireclick Index would benchmark this, but they don’t. I would say a safe average is 50%. Segment from there…
November 13th, 2009
7:06 pm
Great Piece!! These are about the same interpersonal rules for success that Mom and Dad tried to teach.
1. Look Nice = best foot forward and show respect
2. Make your prospect interested = interact and find out what your prospect is interested in
3. Remember Them = Remember their name.
4. Don’t give them a reason to leave = be hospitable and make your guests comfortable and welcome
5. Don’t talk up your best friend = Don’t Gossip.
The anonymity of the web world seems to have caused manners to get thrown into the ‘cloud.’
November 14th, 2009
8:01 am
Good tips – particularly about remembering a client’s cart and preferences!
November 14th, 2009
8:48 am
Thanks for this tips. I might need this one of these days.
Great post Natalie!
November 14th, 2009
6:55 pm
very great post my lady
November 15th, 2009
9:05 pm
very interseting article. So there’s a way to court our visitors.. thank Nat!
November 15th, 2009
11:16 pm
Great point including the last. If your site does not have what you want that person to know do not direct them to a new site either easy way out don’t include it or the harder but better step add the content to your site and direct them there.
November 16th, 2009
4:00 am
Really, the best thing you can do to keep anyone with you is make them feel wanted and that you have what it takes to keep them with you. Teaching things with analogy is the best way to put anything in others mind.
Thanks Natalie
November 16th, 2009
4:01 am
Great…in reality when we smile at people, people is going to do the same…so lets our website “smile” at our visitors.
November 16th, 2009
6:24 am
This is really helpful article. Thanx a lot for publishing it!
November 16th, 2009
7:13 pm
Attracting is giving you a first impressions that last. That can’t actually wait to be attached. I myself get attracted on the post that you shared! This could be a big help for me.
Thanks for your wonderful post Natalie! I love it!
November 16th, 2009
11:06 pm
Pleasing and eye catching website is the most important thing that a site owner must consider in order to encourage more visitors hook into your site. Otherwise, you’ll end up losing all potential readers.
November 17th, 2009
5:01 am
With ever more options on the internet and more advertising etc etc it does seem to be difficult to keep hold of visitors. Nice straight forward tips.
November 17th, 2009
10:57 am
Good post Natalie. Especially info about UVP
November 17th, 2009
10:59 am
Well done Nat. #1 is such such an important point that SO many people miss. Make the site look nice!
Orlando Web Design
Tax Deed
Snowshoe Rentals
Florida Liquor License
November 17th, 2009
2:38 pm
Its often the homepage that courts a visitor.I know a true story where just changing the theme resulted in 500 e-mail subscribers in one day.Isn’t that amazing.
November 17th, 2009
8:15 pm
Great post. I absoultely agree about the importance of good homepage, when I redesigned mine page I saw a dramatic increase in memberships.
November 17th, 2009
9:19 pm
I really like the way this site was done. Nice Touch and very true. Great Post
November 17th, 2009
9:25 pm
The courting issue works for most things in life. I just love how this information comes across. thanks.
November 18th, 2009
6:39 am
Too many people think it is about getting as many visitors as possible, but as these techniques show it is about keeping them. It doesn’t matter how many visitors you have if they all leave immediately, so encouraging your visitors to really “use” your site is key.
November 18th, 2009
7:51 am
I think in these days look nice is more to look web2.0
November 18th, 2009
2:31 pm
The bounce rate on the home page is a complex statistic. There are a lot more factors to predict the bounce rate.
November 19th, 2009
4:58 am
Good post Natalie. If its a retail oriented company, yes, the things like customer loyalty to the site can be measurably enhanced. What about intangible software services? How to ensure that prospective customers love what they see.
Thoughts, pointers please.
Shubh
November 19th, 2009
1:42 pm
Good tips shared by you.These tecniques are well worth.
November 19th, 2009
3:11 pm
I like your analogy, it works well.
I really need to work on my abs (my site looks like it was designed in 1992).
November 22nd, 2009
12:33 pm
Good step to make customers happy, I will do it with my site. Thank you.
November 23rd, 2009
7:14 am
Nice analogy. I like point nb 5 (Don’t talk up your best friend). I started online with affiliate marketing, and now that I have my own products, I promote my own first, and later on down the funnel, I start sending them to partners offer.
Franck Silvestre
November 23rd, 2009
8:52 am
I have managed to drop my bounce rate to below 20% … but my conversions are still really bad… i just dont get it!
November 24th, 2009
7:16 am
This may be a little too “Big Brother” for some people, but if you’ve got someone who abandoned their cart after entering some of their info, you could always e-mail them encouraging them to complete their purchase (and maybe offering them a minor discount if they do so).
November 24th, 2009
10:27 am
Nice !
There are 5 basics tips but how important ones !
Sometimes, it’s good to read basics again !
November 24th, 2009
2:47 pm
good advice. However always remember to split test what the customers think is a good design. They don’t always have the same opinion as you
November 30th, 2009
6:47 am
good advice
December 15th, 2009
6:40 am
5 quick and useful tips we often overlook. Thank you for sharing!
December 31st, 2009
11:20 am
A very insightful article, bookmarked for further inspection
December 31st, 2009
1:50 pm
Good information. I would also argue that unless you are getting a lot of direct traffic to your homepage, the first page most of your visitors will see is the inner pages. So, the presentation of the inner pages is just about as important as your home page.
January 1st, 2010
10:42 am
Monetary incentives can work well whether is in the form of cash rebates, sweepstakes,etc. For example, many survey sites such as http://www.homedepot.com/opinion and http://www.tellgamestop.com offers monetary incentives to keep users and get them o do something.
January 8th, 2010
9:53 am
It’s nice tutorial , some of these can be truly useful.
March 9th, 2010
5:45 pm
Look and BE nice
March 16th, 2010
2:05 am
Great tips on making a good website. Making an easy to use website is really important.
March 16th, 2010
4:45 pm
Great, simple tips that we don’t always think about. These basics should be considered first, before we try to bring more traffic in.
April 6th, 2010
12:15 am
My bounce rate has been going down lately so I think I am starting to get the hang of this whole thing.
April 23rd, 2010
7:34 pm
Very well said. As an entrepreneur, I always make sure to attract the possible customers and visitors then don’t let them leave without knowing my business. Give them time to recognize your ideas. Those tips were very useful and informative. Thanks a lot.
May 6th, 2010
11:57 am
All these are great suggestions. Also if you’re looking for some great golf or other city type attractions Myrtle Beach is a short ride away.
May 29th, 2010
4:48 pm
Subject number 5 is espcially true.. Too many webshops tend to have a great information video or FAQ at some 3rd party domain – Not the best idea guys!