How to Offer Value to Your Readers to Keep Them Coming Back
Many website owners are not aware of how to utilise the tools that they have been given to create the most value for their customers. Few websites pay enough attention to their readers and realise that they are the most important part of the site, without visitors there is no reason for the site to exist. When you consider there are thousands of people creating new websites each and every day, the bar for entry is raised as someone who is engaged and enthusiastic about a topic starts a new site.
One of the easiest ways to offer value to your readers is to show them something different. While it is important to cover the main points in the industry that you may be in, it is nothing when you consider how many people are already covering the main points. Give your readers details that they can find nowhere else! What are the leaders of the industry doing that is going to shape the future? How are you going to be affected by what others are doing? Anything that is new, situation changing or can create a controversy is a great method of offering value to your readers that you will rarely get elsewhere.
Incentives are a simple and effective way of offering real, tangible value to your readers. While some critics may disagree with paying your readers or offering them something for free, most mass media consumption has been motivated by incentives for decades. Best of all, individuals can tap into the power that is incentives! While just a few years ago, one would have to advertise a coupon or some discount in a newspaper, the Internet cuts down on the cost of distribution. Often, individuals will be able to cash in without the company incurring any cost. You might be asking, “How is that possible?” . There are companies who make enough income off readers that they are able to offset the free item that they giveaway. Otherwise, they wouldn’t be in business!
Offering the ability to see an issue from a different perspective is one of the many reasons that individuals choose to read different websites. Often, the same perspective may not be what the mass audience agrees with. It may be the agreement among the mass media but few people want to read what the mass media is telling them. Websites have the ability to form a different point of view and spread that message at an extremely low cost. Best of all, individuals do not need to worry about the mass media. Some cases of this occurring actually cause the mass media to quote different websites as sources for these stories. It may seem bizarre but it can be true, the amount of times that Wikipedia has been used as a source by a tabloid even when it’s showing incorrect information is growing every day!
The way that you choose to offer value to your readers will vary depending on who your audience is and what kind of service your site offers, as you can see though there are plenty of ways to do this. Don’t pass up the opportunity to reach your audience and engage them when possible, the results will speak for themselves!