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 Back
in the late 1990s, “stickiness” was the big term; how
to get web visitors to return to your site – hopefully,
again and again. Today, the strategy has evolved into
“Outbound Stickiness” – going out and pulling that
visitor back in.
Going back in time, there were many sticky techniques
including the hosting of tools, calculators,
forums/bulletin boards, and of course – my favorite –
“favorites”.
“Favorites” pre-dated good search engine results. Back
then, you as a site owner would proffer your favorite
links. Typically, they related to your industry and gave
web visitors the opportunity to explore other related
sites. Well, as the search engines of the day improved
their results, the favorites section lost its favor.
It became very hard to become an authority site. Many a
client of mine back then created a “lounge” or
“portal” type of section on their site hoping to be
the center of their respective universe. But web surfers
soon preferred to get their informational direction from a
Yahoo search.
Site stickiness never lost its allure. And now, new
techniques have come into play in order to gain that
coveted repeat visit. This time it’s an outbound effort.
Content is created that travels out from the website to
seek out users. It’s driven by RSS (Really Simple
Syndication), and it’s used to distribute all kinds of
information including news, blogs, and podcasts. We have
evolved to Outbound Stickiness.
Currently, most blogs and podcasts revolve around
time-sensitive events and writer opinion. However, they
are just too darned valuable to be left to those noble
endeavors. Businesses, big and small see (or will soon
see), RSS and its related content as an opportunity to
reach out and touch someone – again and again.
This trend doesn’t bother me in the least. I’ve always
gotten educated or stayed current on my industry by
subscribing to informative newsletters, magazines, etc.,
be they of the printed or electronic variety. I even
appreciate advertising as an information source in its own
right. The difference is that now I have the convenience
of having all of my sources being dropped into a central
place for pickup. It’s on demand and I like many others
are demanding it.
Outbound stickiness is going to include not only news of
the day, but education on the tried and true.
In order to be credible, businesses are going to need to
educate through these mediums as opposed to simply
advertising or branding. If they want to keep you as a
subscriber of their feed, value is going to need to be
continually delivered. Something easier said than done.
This all presents opportunities and challenges on a
variety of levels. First, there is creation of the
content. Someone is going to have to acquire and
consolidate the content. To get good traction with and
grow a subscriber base, recycling someone else’s content
will not do the trick for long (sorry, you can’t just
steal it from the net).
Next,
not all of us are writers or recording artists. Internal
or outsourced resources will need to be hired to actually
deliver the information in an effective style and format
(e.g. blog writers, podcasters, video podcasters, etc.).
You’ll need information marketers to continually review
the information that has been previously published for
accuracy and relevancy. Because information created and
distributed to the Internet is difficult to eradicate, it
won’t be a matter of just deleting old files. New
information will need to be created to supersede the old.
And the whole cycle will begin again.
A credence of mine (that I obtained from somewhere now
unknown), is “if you can’t get out of it – get into
it”. Let me tell you – you can’t get out of this
one.
If you don’t already have a strategy to deliver some
Outbound Stickiness, get it going now. It’s just not for
news-junkie/conservative/liberal/techie/egocentrics
anymore.
My recommendation is to publish by series. If you sell
paint, do a series of 5 blog entries, podcasts, etc., on
color. Next, do a series on prep and application. Next, on
design trends. You get the idea.
By publishing to a series you escape the pressure of
continually coming up with and extending your subject.
Also, if you need a break, take it between series’. Then
you won’t look like you just jumped on the bandwagon,
ran out of ideas, and fell off.
Additionally, mix time-specific information and opinion
with tried and true educational content.
Good luck with it all! For some of you it will be
liberating, for others it’s fingers on a chalkboard (by
the way, we’re going to need to come up with a new idiom
for that one – who uses chalk boards anymore. Any
suggestions – email me).
If you want some advice or have any comments – email me
at jboulter@bastioninternet.com
or visit us at www.bastioninternet.com.
We’re a web marketing firm located in Southern
California and are happy to help.
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