Virtually all human endeavours depend on repeat visitations. Although you’re not selling anything to your site visitors, the frequency and number of return visits are usually good indicators of failure or success.  If you are going to make a site into an online location that people want to visit time and again, you should think from more than one perspective. You need to wear your marketer’s hat, and as you might guess, you should also look at your web site from visitors’ perspective. For a while, put aside your consideration of the site’s mechanics and structure; approach your site as though you’ve just stumbled across it as a new visitor.

Ask friends whose judgements you trust to look at and critique your web site. You might not need to change things based on their advices, but getting outside perspectives won’t hurt.

Developing a comfortable site

Keeping new visitors around for a few more minutes, let alone converting them into a repeat buyer, often depends on how comfortable your site is. If new visitors aren’t comfortable navigating around your online store to begin with, so how can they be convinced to bookmark your site and come back for another purchase?  In creating a comfortable site, you should consider these questions:

• Does your site maintain a consistent style and layout on each page? If not, you may only create annoyance and stress for your visitors.
• Are the style and type of contents consistent over time? It is a critical consideration. A majority of visitors comfort comes from creating a pattern and giving them what they want.
• Is it easy to move from one part of your site to another? Visitors often don’t appreciate being asked to follow preset paths.
• If your site is large, do you include a search feature? Unless your site allows visitors to use a search feature so that they can easily and quickly find the material they are looking for, you may run the risk that they will not bother to return to your site.

Keeping a fresh site

If your content never changes, then chances are, people will never come back, if ever. Except if your contents are authoritative and rock-solid reference articles, you shouldn’t do anything less than regular updating.  Although you use the latest such as an online store with a sophisticated RSS subscribers.

How often you should update your site depends mostly on your subject and site policy. If your site deal with volatile themes such as technology reports, international news, you should update on a daily basis at least. But then, sites that analyse and provide opinions on an event can stand a less hurried pace, due to the considerably wider scope.

Although your topic doesn’t completely demand a rigid update schedule, you need to still establish how frequently you add fresh content to your site. Whatever update schedule you establish, ensure you always stick with it.  Don’t forget the comfort factor, also bear in mind that your customers can be less comfortable if they can’t see a pattern and don’t know what they should expect from you. Freshness and consistency on your side can easily help build trust on theirs.