Harnessing the Power of Word-of-Mouth: Encouraging Website Visitors to Share Your Content

Jan 2
09:17

2024

Dawn Gray

Dawn Gray

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The first paragraph of this article serves as a summary: Is your website equipped with a simple and efficient method for visitors to recommend your content to their friends? If not, you could be missing out on a potential treasure trove of free traffic. This article will guide you on how to set up a system that encourages your visitors to share your content, thereby promoting your website and attracting high-quality traffic.

The Advantages of a "Share with a Friend" System

Implementing a "Share with a Friend" system on your website comes with several benefits:

  • Automated Website Promotion: Once you set up the system,Harnessing the Power of Word-of-Mouth: Encouraging Website Visitors to Share Your Content Articles your visitors will do the work of promoting your website for you.
  • High-Quality Traffic: Visitors will refer people who are genuinely interested in your products or services. These individuals are more likely to subscribe to your newsletter, request your free reports, and ultimately, purchase your products.
  • Non-Intrusive Promotion: As long as it's clear that the recommendation comes from a friend, this promotion technique won't upset or insult anyone. Participation is voluntary, and emails will only be sent by people the recipient knows.

However, merely asking your visitors to recommend your website isn't sufficient. You need to make it easy for them. Provide a form on your website that visitors can fill out to recommend your content to a friend. You can place this form on every page of your website, display it in a pop-up window, or link to it on every page.

Implementing a "Share with a Friend" System

There are several ways to implement a "Share with a Friend" system:

  • Javascript: You can find Javascript resources on the Webmaster Resources page that provide instructions on how to use the script.
  • CGI: Birdcast is a highly recommended CGI script. You can find more options on the Webmaster Resources page.
  • A Service: There are many remotely-hosted scripts available. The most popular is Recommend-It, which offers a contest as an incentive and allows you to add recommendation links to the emails you send out. Another free program is Let 'Em Know, which allows you to run your own contest for participants and provides more statistics.

Javascript and CGI scripts offer the advantage of being completely under your control. You can customize them to work on your website and decide if and how visitors are notified about the origin of your script. Services are easier to set up, but they may use advertising or display large, conspicuous buttons with their name and/or logo.

Don't wait! Implement a "Share with a Friend" system on your website today and watch the number and quality of your visitors improve without lifting a finger.