Getting visitors to your web site is not one of the easiest things to do especially if you've only just set up your web site. The trick here is to find as many ways as possible to get the visitors, that do visit your site, to come back again and again.

Here are 8 ways you can achieve this:

1. Start a blog

Yes, everyone else, including my grandmother, has a blog. You should start one too. A blog is a great way to get your visitors to return to your web site. Especially if you frequently update it with entries that are relevant to your visitors' needs. And also that occasional odd entry on what's happening in your personal life. A blog can greatly increase the personal touch of your web site. And your visitors are more likely to come back.

2. Start a forum

An active discussion forum may be all that you need to attract repeat visitors to your web site. You'll generally get two types of visitors to your active forum. a) One who seeks help and b) one who provides help. If your forum is active with these two types of visitors, you can almost guarantee repeat (as well as new) visits for many times to come.

3. Provide a free useful tool

Every one loves free stuffs. Try and provide a free online tool, that's hosted on your web site of course.If your tool is very useful to your visitors, they will come again and again to use this tool. Example of tools include a banner creator, web site popularity checker, or html generator etc.

4. Free Stuff

Don't just stop there. People really love to get free stuff. List free stuff on your web site. It could be software, services, sample products, e-books etc. The freebies should be related to your web site topic. Keep the freebies coming and your visitors will return regulary. You could maybe add a monthly freebie to your site.

5. Encourage feedback

Have a section on your web site or open a forum especially for visitor and subscriber feedback. You could write a small line at the bottom of the articles on your page to invite readers to leave feedback about the article. Or get your subscribers to leave feedback on your ezine topic for that month. Make sure you reply to their feedback. Not only will this increase repeat visitors to your site, but you'll also have happy subscribers.

6. Publish an online version of your ezine

Though email ezines are popular and wide spread, you should also publish an online version of your ezine at your web site. There are bound to be some subscribers who would prefer the online version. This would bring them back to your web site.

7. Original Content

This is by far the best way to get your visitors to come back for more. Give your visitors content they can't read anywhere else. I'm not saying all your content has to be 100% original, but a portion of your web site should have original information. People will usually read information they haven't read before.

8. Prize Drawings

Hold an ongoing prize drawing on your web site. The prizes should be something of interest or value to your subscribers. Most people who enter will continually revisit your web site to get the results.

There you go. 8 ways to get your web site visitors coming back for more.

Bina runs the WebSite Workshop http://website-workshop.com, a membership site filled with tips, tools and tutorials for the novice webmaster. Subscribe to her free ezine 'WebBriefcase!' and get your free 7 part course on "How to Build Your Own Web Site in 7 Easy Steps" mailto:myows@ITbizinfo.com