Web site tips: Increase Web site traffic using newsletter-style articles

How to use newsletter-style articles on your Web site to generate more traffic

by David Kandler

Editor's Note: The author of this article, David Kandler, is the founder and president of CompanyNewsletters.com, an Internet firm that produces newsletters and Web content for companies throughout the United States. Learn more about how his firm can help your company produce printed and electronic newsletters.

Today, it seems that nearly all businesses are scurrying to the Internet, eager to establish their Web sites and reap all the benefits from this new marketing frontier.

First-time business Web sites are typically small, with maybe only three or four pages of basic company information. These sites are usually big on flashy graphics but small on content.

After a few months of being online, these businesses usually become disappointed with their Web presence. Nobody seems to visit their site, it's not getting results and it seems like a big waste of money.

This Web site disillusionment is a common occurrence. There are millions of Web sites on the Internet competing for people's attention, and only those that provide useful, valuable content draw a decent number of visitors. Unfortunately, Web sites that contain nothing more than a couple pages of basic company information have fallen to the bottom of the Internet food chain. They are rarely visited by the masses.

Experts say over and over that, when it comes to attracting visitors to your Web site, content is king. Your site should be more than just an online brochure. It should be a valuable resource, rich in content, that attracts your target market and keeps them coming back.

A Web site statistics program, such as this one by WebTrends, is a necessity for judging the success of your site. Most major Web hosting companies provide their clients with Web statistics for no extra cost.

If you're looking for ways to increase traffic on your Web site, consider adding more content that visitors will find useful. One of the best ways to do this is by adding newsletter-style articles to your site.

Many of the same fundamentals that go into the making of an effective customer newsletter can also be used to help make your Web site successful. In both cases, you want to feature useful, interesting content that attracts prospective customers, inspires confidence in your company, enhances your business' reputation as an industry leader and encourages repeat business.

Beefing up a Web site's content with newsletter-style articles has been a key to success for CompanyNewsletters.com. By continually adding new articles of interest to our target market, we've grown to become the Internet's most popular company newsletter Web site. Because of the useful, helpful information we offer on our site, we continually attract thousands of new and repeat visitors each month. And many other high-volume, successful Web sites have linked to our site, sending us even more visitors.

So speaking from experience, I can tell you that, if done correctly, adding newsletter-style content really works. If you're interested in using these kinds of articles on your Web site, remember that the stories must contain valuable, useful information, or nobody will read them. If you already have a company newsletter, you may want to use some of its articles on your Web site. If you don't have a company newsletter, you will likely have to create these articles from scratch. Here are some article ideas:

"How-to" articles: This has been a very popular feature at CompanyNewsletters.com. In these articles, we simply give people suggestions, tips and advice in our area of expertise: newsletters. Companies in other industries could do this as well. For instance, a mortgage company could feature an article on "How to choose the best mortgage for your budget." A realty company could tell their Web site visitors "Inexpensive ways to increase the value of your home." A medical clinic might feature an article: "The best ways to avoid catching a cold." These how-to articles are invaluable at attracting new people to your Web site.

Highlight a specific service or product: Write articles that show potential customers how your specific products or services can benefit them. For instance, an air conditioner manufacturer could write about their newest model, and how it uses new technology to keep electric bills low. An accounting software company might highlight its new plug-in and show how it makes time-tracking easier than ever.

Customer success stories: This type of article is similar to a customer testimonial. Interview your satisfied customers, and quote them as to what they like most about your product, service or company. Describe new, creative ways in which these customers use your products or services.

Here are some important guidelines for writing your Web site articles:

Write the stories objectively. For maximum effectiveness, newsletter-style articles shouldn't read like an ad. They should read like stories you'd find in a newspaper or magazine. Write the articles objectively as if you're trying to educate and inform readers, not twist their arm to buy from you. Newsletter-style articles should be a soft sell, not a hard sell.

Make sure your writing is polished and error free. Just as your printed brochure represents your company to prospective customers, so does your Web site. If the articles on your site are full of typos and bad grammar, that will reflect poorly on your company's standard of quality and professionalism.

Once your articles are written, here are some tips to make sure your newly enhanced Web site is successful in attracting more visitors, and ultimately, customers:

At the end of every article, encourage readers to contact your company for more information. List a phone number and e-mail address for them to contact. Also link each article to your main Web page, so if readers are interested, they can learn more about your company.

Your articles will only be effective if people can find them. Make sure you submit each of your Web pages to the major search engines for indexing. And do this on a regular basis. Search engines are notoriously inconsistent. Even though you are listed with a search engine one month, you may find your entry has disappeared the next month.

Make sure your Web page designer knows how to construct each page so your entry becomes listed as high as possible in search-engine rankings. This can substantially increase traffic to your Web site. Among other things, your position in search-engine results will depend on what keywords are used in your Web page and where those keywords are found in the layout. It's too complicated to explain here, but successful Web designers and marketers know the tricks to getting your pages listed higher in search engine results for the keywords you desire.

Monitor your Web site traffic with a statistics program. This is a must if you want to judge the effectiveness of your site. Web statistics programs, which most major Web hosting companies provide to their clients for no extra charge, can tell you how many people visit your site, what pages are looked at most, which other Web sites have linked to your site and much more.

Continually add new content to your Web site. The more articles you have indexed with the search engines, the more likely someone will search for and find information that is featured on your site.

How to use newsletter-style articles on your Web site to generate more traffic

Read more newsletter ideas, tips and "how to" articles from CompanyNewsletters.com.