Monetizing Window Shoppers for Your Business Website
Everyone has them—the casual window shopper who comes to your WordPress website, browses a little, and then leaves, perhaps never to return again. These visitors, typically, don’t become your customers. They are noncommittal, and do not impact your income. In fact, they are can even cause some problems because they show you bloated figures of website traffic and make it more confusing to see where your paying customers are coming from. But that's not the end of the story.
If you think creatively and understand your audience, you will be able to monetize even these drifters. After all, as a small business owner, your primary goal is to be as profitable as possible. Historically, small business owners have attempted, time and time again, to monetize the window shoppers, but with limited success. But there are a couple of things you can do, that might prove successful in helping you monetize window shoppers.
Focus On Getting Email Addresses
One of the first and most important things to do is to try to grow your email list with your window shoppers. Don’t let them just go away; entice them with something, maybe a coupon, a sample of your product, or a free eBook. The word “free” is very appealing to most people, and even a casual visitor will want something free. In return, you ask them to give you their email address. Since you are giving them something — and make sure it is genuinely both free and meaningful — they are more likely to give you their email, than they would be if you didn’t offer them anything. You can then put them into your sales funnel (which we'll show you how to set up and run), and continue to communicate with them using meaningful and targeted email marketing which can hopefully convert your cold traffic to hot traffic.
Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate marketing is a second strategy you can use. You can become an affiliate for a diverse range of websites that complement what your online business is doing. When you become an affiliate, you are able to post ads for these companies on your website. If you're not familiar with affiliate marketing, essentially, whenever a visitor to your website (including window shoppers) clicks on these ads, known as sponsor ads, if your referral ends up becoming a customer for the business you linked them to then you are paid a commission. Sometimes affiliate programs will pay you just for the referral without the referral becoming a customers. This is generally known as PPC (Pay Per Click) income because you get paid for each click that you can garner. You'll want to check the details of the affiliate program you are joining and make sure you understand how it works. Even if the window shopper doesn’t buy your product, they might still click an ad or a link and earn you some money. If you are thoughtful about which affiliate programs you join, you are also adding value to your visitors by introducing them to companies and services that they may really like.
Opportunities Are Everywhere
Even the most casual, non-committal visitor to your WordPress site can be encouraged to stop, browse a bit, and engage in an action that may:
- Grow your email list
- Win you a new customer
- Get people talking about you their friends
- Tell customers about other related services they may like
- Win you a little commission income from your affiliate programs
In this way, not only can you monetize you online business or your blog, but you can possibly get to know some people who are actually interested in you, your online business and what you are offering.
