Turn Your Website Visitors Into Guests In 3 Easy Steps

Let’s talk about data. Data is vital when it comes to any Indianapolis SEO marketing strategy, or really any SEO strategy for that matter. When it is analyzed correctly, data can tell us the grand story of your website. How people find you, use you, and at times, abuse and refuse your website. Without data there really isn’t any way of finding out what to improve, or how to improve it.

Yet, data can also come back to bite us. How may you ask? Well, data is impersonal. It’s serious of cold hard facts that show what is happening. But, it never answers the question why. In order to find out why, you need to get personal. Instead of seeing users as numbers, we need to start seeing them as people. And not just people who visit your website, but as guests who visit your website. In order to best show you how to transform a user from a visitor to a guest, let’s first explain the difference between the two.

A visitor is someone who typically comes and goes without much preparation on our part, or given much thought afterwards. They aren’t planned for, can’t be anticipated, will come for a short time and will leave so as not to be an imposition, may or may not choose to visit again, and we will only access their visit after the fact.

A guest, however, is very much different. A guest is typically a person who is cared for and has been intentionally prepared to attend. In most cases, a guest is a participant, a person who came looking for a specific experience. They are planned for, they are prepared for ahead of time by us and we assess everything before and after the fact, they need to be anticipated by us so we can be prepared to meet them, they stay longer because they were invited and feel welcome, and they will plan to visit again.

So, now it’s time to take this information and apply it towards your website and Indianapolis SEO marketing strategy. The following 3 steps are surefire ways to give your users the guest experience.

Step #1: Prepare For Their Arrival

What is the first thing that you do when you invite a guest over? Clean the house right? Well, that’s exactly what you need to do with your web page. Make sure you run tools through your website to pinpoint problems and fix them. Also, you’ll want to fix broken links, hard-to-access ages, and forms that don’t work properly.

You also will want to prepare for their needs. When a guest comes to your house, you will normally offer them some form of refreshments. So, in digital terms, that means creating content that will be useful to your users and meet their needs. Also, make sure you build and optimize your landing pages to ensure guests find what they need quickly and can move on. This then brings us to our second step.

Step #2: Make Your Guests Feel Welcome

The biggest mistake you can make when inviting a guest over, is making them feel like you didn’t prepare for their arrival. So, do your best to make your users feel at home on your web page. This means to eliminate annoying ads that pop up immediately after entering your site. You also need to have a clear message that lets them know that the page their on fits with their needs or search.

The other thing you will normally do to make a guest feel welcome is to give them a tour of your place. Well, the same goes for the digital world. Make your web page easy to navigate and understand. Use textual links to allow visitors to find their way while staying engaged with the content. Finally, implement a call to action so guests will know what to do next.

The last thing you’ll do, is attend to your guests comfort. Virtually speaking, this means to have a clear “About Us” page, so your guest knows whom their working with. Always provide adequate contact information and easy ways to reach you. And of course showcase your expertise to let them know they are in the right place.

Step #3: Plan the Next Visit

One of the biggest difference between a visitor and a guest, is that the visitor will never likely return. Whereas a guest will, because you have engaged them enough to know they are wanted and valued. You can do this on your web page by encouraging them to sign up for a newsletter. (Just make sure you aren’t annoying them in the process) You can also give them something for free, such as an e-book. And of course, always always always, invite them back. Do this by reminding them of their visit through remarketing, or send them special deals and coupons with their order and through email marketing.

You can’t help that some people will always stay visitors. But, if you can learn how to engage your users to make them feel like welcome guest, instead of just a number on a chart, you’ll find that not only will your rankings go up. But, you’ll also see a tremendous retention in guests. And that is always a win-win.