ifoh designs - Web Design That Is Neat.

It certainly is a great feeling to know that you have people who liked your site enough, to revisit it more than once (hopefully not by accident). If you are using Google Analytics, or similar trending software you might be aware of this view, which in time can become quite rewarding. But, have you ever stopped and asked yourself…

What draws visitors back to my site?

Subscribers

Obliviously if a visitor has subscribed to your RSS feed, you probably have a return visitor on your hands, or one in the making. Something I think a lot of us, myself included have forgotten to allow users to subscribe alternatively through email. I am going to get on that now!

Links

Incoming - Another way to get users to revisit your site is by having tons of incoming links. Easier said than done? Well, if you have just created the site then make sure you submit it to tons of css galleries. Other than tha, just write some great copy and hope people like it, heh.
Reciprocal - If you happen to find another site you frequent why not ask to trade links? You don’t want to over due the reciprocal links though, at least not just in a plain old long list. Try and organize it, otherwise it will be chaotic, and not add any value to the links.

Trackback/Comments - You aren’t going to be gaining any real value here as far as page rank goes (due to rel=”nofollow”) in most cases, but this is free space to publicize your site, and or service. I personally have read a comment that seemed interesting, and decided to check out the authors site and have been delighted, even inspired.

Marketing

This section kind of goes hand in hand with Links, but except this can be in many more forms not just links.

Banner Ads - If you are brave enough to cough up the loot to get some ad space, good for you. This is a great way to keep your brand fresh in the users mind. You might have noticed on your favorite css gallery showcase site(s) the same ads being run. You might even be able to picture how they look in your head right now. In which case, the marketing has done its job. If you are just a small blog, keep it simple and go for some cheap space on a site with decent traffic. You don’t have to go bet the farm if you have nothing to offer…This will most likely drive users away, and or confuse them.

Avatars and Signatures and Gravatars…Oh my! - Some forums, and more recently blogs have been offering the use of avatars, or a standard “gravatar” to be shown along with your comments. I personally, to keep it uniformed, use my site’s logo everywhere I can. It is just an easy eye catcher that you might say “Hey, I think I have been to that site before…let me see what they have been up to”.

The same thing goes for signatures, on forums and what not. Of course, these will only do you good if you post stuff!

Credits - When you build a site for someone, let them know you appreciate a link in the footer for the credit of the design. If they have a strict color palette they are adhering to, just change your logo to fit it.

Favicon - Basically the same deal as the Avatars and the like. Keep it simple and repetitive, and easily identifiable.

Bookmarks

Chances are, if a user bookmarked your site it was for a reason. They either hopefully liked something about it, or did not like something about it, and wanted to file it accordingly. Either way, you are looking at a repeat visitor some time in the future.

Inspiration - If you are lucky enough to be bookmarked by someone on a site like del.icio.us or other category/tag based bookmarking sites, you are in the money, especially if it is in a more frequently visited section, such as inspiration. The user might have liked your logo, color combinations, layout, or if it is just an overall unique design.

Accessible

Mobile Device - Many times have I been sitting somewhere, waiting, and take out my phone and just want to see how different sites look on a handheld device. If it looks good, and functions nicely, I might be more likely to return to it next time I am bored and waiting around.

Browser/OS Independent - Much like the above deal with the mobile device, if I see a site that works great on my setup, I might be more likely to visit it again. If a visually impaired user comes to your supreme flash splashed “schazzy” factory all constructed with 20 tables deep with no semantic markup, chances are they will probably wish you were there at that very moment so they could choke you to death and laugh about it later on.

Please don’t tell use “This site is best viewed…” blah blah blah. Your site is best viewed by some one other than me apparently (in case you were wondering, this site is best viewed in Firefox with a resolution of 1024×768 or higher).

Content is King

Last but certainly not least, the content. None of this could even be worth discussing if it weren’t for your beloved content. What you break your back over day in and day out. The stuff dreams are made of.

Updated - No one likes old outdated content upon their revisit. If they are returning say after a month, they better not be seeing the exact same thing, unless of course this is a static page. One would hope though that the home page should have something new and eye catching fairly frequently.

Resourceful - I am not saying that every post should be a “TOP 10 WAYS TO MAKE MILLIONS” Digg special, but if you can offer your readers a resource, then all the more reason they will return in hopes of more. They will also be more likely to see what else you have to say, so make it count!

Personal - I think it is important to try and connect with the visitor/user on a more personal level, while still maintaining a level of integrity. If you go to a site that sounds like a robot wrote it, expect only robots to visit.

Interactive - If your site has a blog, or forum and people post on it, then they will most likely come back.

That sums it up for now at least. I am sure that I missed a whole bunch of other things, in which case…Let us know, thanks.

• Posted at 2:20 pm in resources
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