In the past the internet has been all about getting your message out there into cyber space and hoping that people will identify with what you have to say.
While that philosophy may be good for a bit you will never build a solid base of clientele with it.
Why?
Because you are not providing value to your visitors.
Think about this for a moment. If someone finds you online and likes your site then you have the potential to sell them something. If they visit once they don’t necessarily need to return to your static website because they’ve read it and it’s static so unless they have a bad memory they likely won’t need to read it again.
There goes your customer. Since you are not giving them a reason to return to your site you have a very limited amount of time to keep them engaged.
But what if you were providing them with some value?
For example, say you’re a real estate agent. Most agents have a home page with a big splash about who they are, how much experience they have and why one should hire them over another agent.
This is a global template used by almost every agent in the biz. “Look at me! I’m so great! I’ll sell your house faster, better and for more money than anyone else!”
Right?
Additionally agents fill the site with listings that are meant to appeal to the broadest audience possible. The listings are not targeted to the visitor but rather to the agent’s needs.
What if, instead, you had a web presence that provided value to the visitor?
What if you provided them with so much, relevant value that they signed up for your newsletter, told their friends about your site and became your biggest fan?
What if they are look-i-loos who do not intend to buy now but ARE on your list and you continue to provide them with information that will make looking for an agent when they’re ready un-neccessary?
What if your home page had articles on how to get a mortgage, how to buy a rental property, what’s trending in your target market?
What if that content was updated every few days?
What if you became the expert that everyone went to for answers?
Do you think that people, buyers, would find that useful?
Do you think they would come back over and over again, sign up for the newsletter, twitter interesting information and share it on Facebook too?
Of course they would!
We all want to be useful. We all want our friends to know that we are so clever that we found useful information and we will share anything that we think will help others. (if you’re not a horrible person you will anyway and really, who wants horrible clients anyway? 😉