Visitors to your website are the life-blood of your business. Your website can be used to promote you as an expert in your field, it can be used to generate leads for your list, it can be used to disseminate information out as a sales tool.
Whichever reason you choose (or reasons) one thing is certain – you need to work on developing the relationship with your readers. Engagement of your people is a wonderful way in which you can get folks to know, like, and trust you.
Of course, there are several plugins that can be used to help boost your social-ability – these include plugins like the Facebook Like Button, Tweet MeMe, Sharaholic, and a host of other plugins. Adding a plugin is relatively simple to do.
The most overlooked way to make your website social is by utilizing the comments section! Yes – comments are worth their weight in gold and in many case are the key to increasing conversions to your opt-in (or even sales page!) dramatically. The typical life cycle of your clients are: Random Reader (someone that stumbles on your site), Return Visitor, Someone that Opts-in to your offer, Buyer/Client. The goal of any business is to get new clients and bringing people through this process gets you to your goal of an increased number of clients.
So how do comments, of all things, help with conversions? Comments work on the engagement factor. When someone leaves a comment on your website, they are actively casting a ‘vote’ in favor of your site. They are saying, “I have something to say to you” and they have become an active participant in the conversation. You start that dialog when you initially write and publish your post, and then, someone is brave enough to leave that first comment. They have raised their hand and made a one-way monologue into a two-way discussion.
At this point, you need to respond to that comment with your own comment. After all, if someone has taken time out of their schedule to write to you, it is common courtesy to write back to them. By doing so, you are acknowledging what they have to say. When the original commenter sees that you have written back, that goes a long way in initial relationship building.
It was mentioned earlier that people buy from those they know, like, and trust. By engaging people in a dialog through the use of the comment section of each post, you build a rapport with them. In the long term (and sometimes even the short term) good things will come from this relationship you have built.
Today's guest post is from:
Paul B. Taubman, II, is the CEO and founder of http://INeedHelpWithWordPress.
