Increase Loyalty to your News Site

There are a huge number of news sites on the web. Some are simply the online version of daily papers. Some represent special interest publications. Some exist only on the Internet, providing original news content, or displaying news items written by others. What all these news sites have in common is that they want people to come back and visit again and again. That’s site loyalty – and that’s what Conduit community toolbars are all about.

If you own a news site, it’s not too difficult to get readers to stop by once. But if want them to come back, you’ve got to stay in touch, and make it crystal clear that you’ve got what they want. This is what Conduit toolbars can help you do, whether your site represents a small local paper, or a media conglomerate like Yahoo News (which, by the way, is part of the Conduit network and offers community toolbars to its readers). Conduit toolbars are cost free, and they pay off in loyalty.

Let’s illustrate with an example of a local news site – we’ll call it the Smallville Sentinal. Readers in Smallville want to know what’s going on around town (even if it’s not much), and they don’t want to have to check back at your site every day. By creating a customized Conduit toolbar and offering it to your site visitors, the Sentinal’s editors can make sure that their site’s best content is displayed, right at the top of the browser window, whenever their subscribers are on line. From the latest headlines to weather reports, to local radio stations – the Conduit toolbar makes Sentinal readers feel at home whenever they’re on the web.

And let’s imagine that the Smallville football team finally beat out their rivals, and are heading to the state championships (hey, we can dream, can’t we?). The news will flash on subscribers’ toolbar newsfeed in real time, beckoning them back to the sports page to get the whole story. The toolbar can even offer Sentinal readers a great way to go out and celebrate – with a discount at the local burger joint, redeemable with a coupon back at the Sentinal’s URL. Continuously updated notifications about your best, most attractive content, piques your subscribers’ curiosity, provides one-click access to your site at all times, and increases loyalty.

Even if they don’t click through on a particular day, Conduit toolbars increase loyalty by constantly reminding your subscribers about the existence of your site. Toolbar-based games and applications enhance the browsing experience, while at the same time, putting your news site name and address in front of their eyes, all the time. This consistently engaging advertising presence is the key to branding, customer loyalty, and those all-important return visits.

Let’s get even more serious about getting people back to your site. Many news sites – like the New York Times, for example – offer their readers Conduit toolbars that come with built-in Google search engines. The Conduit search engine interface can be customized so that subscribers search your news site first, rather than looking for answers all over the Web. In this way, users who have already shown interest in your news site will be encouraged to come back for more. Now that’s loyalty-building good news!