A lot of successful websites depend on returning visitors for a major part of their traffic. Why? Returning visitors are easier to convert into paying customers because the more frequent they return to a site, the more trust they have in that site. Keep your visitors coming back using the following methods:

1. Start a forum, chat room, or shout-box.

When you start a forum, chat room, or shout-box, you are providing your visitors a place to voice their opinions and interact with their peers--all of them visitors from your website. As the conversations build up, a sense of community builds up and your visitors will come back to your site almost everyday.

2. Start a web log (blog)

Keep an online journal, aka a blog, on your site and update with the latest news about yourself. Us human beings are very curious creatures and will keep our eyes glued to our monitors if you post fresh news all the time. Bonus, you build your credibility because you are proving to them that there is a real life person behind the website.

3. Carry out polls or surveys.

Polls and surveys are other forms of interaction that anybody who owns a website should consider adding on. They provide a quick way for your visitors to voice their opinions and get involved in your site. Publish polls and surveys that are relevant to the target market of your website to keep them interested to find out about the results.

4. Hold puzzles, quizzes, and games.

Imagine how many office workers that are out there that procrastinate at work everyday, and this should give you an idea how many people will keep visiting your site if you provide them with addicting or interesting entertainment. You can also hold competitions and award the high score winner to keep people continuously trying to win a prize.

5. Update your site with fresh content.

Update your website frequently with fresh content so that every time your visitors come back, they will have something to read on your site. This is the most widely known and by far the most effective method of attracting returning visitors, but by far the least carried out because of the laziness of webmasters. Nobody want to browse a site that looks the same over ten years, so keep it updated with fresh tidbits!