This process works! However, it only works if the visitor finds value in the advice, tips, utilities, etc. that you are giving away. You will be surprised how many people do return to your site. DominoPower employs a similar approach with tips [and it works amazingly well].

Tell your friends
You'd be surprised at how many of your customers will act as sales agents for you, and for free! There are many techniques that can be used to get your site visitors to help "promote" your site. There are award sites, rings, and even post card sites.

However, one of my favorites is "If you like this site, tell a friend". On the surface, a user simply clicks on a button, a mail dialog pops up, and he or she enters in his or her email address, to the address of the email recipient, and clicks a send button. Off it goes. Behind the scenes, you have collected two email addresses, and someone new now learns about your web site!

[Another, brilliant, approach is the affiliates concept promoted most visibly by Amazon.com. You can add books to your site that point directly to Amazon. If the books sell as a result of a click directly from your site, Amazon pays a small commission. It's been instrumental in helping them grow. -- DG]

In Closing
Don't let your site grow static, old, and familiar. I know webmasters that simply change the date that displays on the home page! Trust me, your customers are not that stupid! Give them a reason to come back. Give them a FREE reason to come back. In the movie, "Field of Dreams", Kevin Costner's character kept hearing a voice which said, "If you build it, they will come." Well, if Kevin was a webmaster of a commercial Web site, that voice might also say, "And if you give them something new, they will come back!"

James D. Cimino is the President of Bright Ideas Software, Inc., a Lotus Notes Business Partner who specializes in Intranet and Domino development. James is also the author of "The Webmaster's Guide to Lotus Domino" at http://www.bright-ideas.com. You can contact him at ciminoj@bright-ideas.com.