The harsh reality is that most people who visit your web site for the first time won't buy anything at all. Even if they do stick around, it usually takes a few visits or contacts for anything to happen.

They need to get to know you. They need to get to know your product or service. And this can take time, especially if a large exchange of money is involved.

To get them to return, you need to get those visitors to volunteer their contact information to you. Once they opt-in to your mailing list, there are dozens—even hundreds—of ways you can politely keep in touch and encourage them to return over and over again.

But people aren't that freewheeling with their personal information these days. So give them something they can use in exchange for a little of their information. And make your offer so prominent on your home page, that they can't miss it and would be crazy not to take you up on it.

There are a variety of approaches you can take to make this happen. The key is just to give them something of value for free so they have no reservations about releasing some contact information.

Here are 7 ideas to get you started.

1. Offer information. Everybody likes to learn something new, especially if it can give them a leg up in their business. So take something of value that you know and package it into a free report.

It doesn't have to be long and involved. The topic just needs to be enticing enough for your visitors to want to read. In exchange for their information, let your visitors download the report as a PDF. Even better, offer to mail it to them if they will supply their physical address.

2. Offer a newsletter. I know first hand that people are more than willing to share their information to subscribe to a newsletter that interests them. And if you keep providing useful information, they'll stick with you for years to come.

3. Offer a consultation. If you're in a service- based business, exchange a chunk of your time and expertise. I offer a complementary 20-minute consultation for new prospects. One of my clients is a personal trainer who offers a fitness evaluation to serious inquiries. You get the idea. The time spent on the consultations is often nothing compared to the dividends the contact information can pay in the long run.

4. Offer a demo. If you have a product-based business, find a way for your prospects to get a demo in exchange for their information. Software trials can be easily downloaded off of a website. Or in exchange for a physical address, you can send an informational DVD or videotape.

5. Offer faster shipping. Tell your visitors to opt-in and their first order will get overnight shipping on the house. This might require some backend work, but it's nothing a good shopping cart system can't handle.

6. Offer a catalog. No matter how much the Internet invades our lives, people still enjoy the experience of a physical product catalog. It's just too hard to "curl up” with a web site, no matter how interesting it is. But visitors will spend the time to get cozy with a catalog if they like what's inside.

7. Offer a brochure. This falls along the same lines as the catalog, and it gives you a chance to really go into detail selling your product or service. Best of all, a brochure might end up sitting on a prospect's desk for days at a time— a constant reminder to get back in touch with you and place an order. Or it could just as easily get passed along to a friend or colleague.

The importance of your mailing list cannot be overstated. These are people who have expressed interest in your products or services, and invited you to stay in touch with them. While you should never take advantage of this permission, you should do everything in your power to make the most of it.

(c) 2006 by Cory Fossum. All rights reserved.