Are you inadvertently promoting other websites?

This is something I’m seeing more and more often – links on websites that take me away from the site I initially visited. Usually the reason behind this phenomenon is to have something (anything?) on a website that sounds interesting and the site owner hasn’t had the time to put it in their own words.

Yes, it is better than copying the original information and infringing copyright law BUT if a website is there to promote your business, why take your visitors away to another site?

We humans are fickle creatures and many of us (myself included) are easily distracted. If I see something on a website that appears interesting and it comes with a link, there is a high probability that I will click on that link. Nine times out of ten, the link opens up a new website in the same window which means that the original site I was visiting is now gone unless I remember to hit the “back” button. The chances of me doing that once I’ve been drawn to this new site are extremely remote – in fact, by that stage, I’ve usually forgotten what the original site was because this new information has planted a new seed in my over-active Gemini mind!

It’s called web “surfing” for a good reason. The concept of surfing is to go with the wave; if the wave is a link to another site then another and another, your potential clients are off riding those waves of information which can take them further down the beach far from your site, perhaps never to return.

A simple solution

So if you’re tempted to place external links on your website (or worse still, in your e-news), there are two other options that I can think of:

Ask your web developer to set up the link so it opens in a NEW window, ie. your own website stays open in your visitor’s browser tab; or

Actually I can’t think of another reason you’d do it. A much better idea is to write the great information in your own words so you are seen to be the expert and the next link your visitors will click on will hopefully be your “Contact us” button!

Best wishes,

Julianne

Julianne Bell, Financial Writers Australia

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