Tips to Get More Members

February has been a busy month for the Graphics Site Guide so for the rest of February and March. The Graphics Site Guide will be giving some free and valuable tips that will help you to increase your membership. These tips will provide a guide that will help you increase your site's ability to make money. You can use these tips for any type of online site.

Having talked to a few site owners who are experienceing low sales or low membership enrollment, GSG has come up with a few general tips that can be used to almost completely get rid of the low points in sales and membership enrollment. The tips are separated into 2 categories, hobby sites, and business sites.

HOBBY SITES

Hobby sites differ from business sites in that many of these sites are free. Free sites that are created just out of the enjoyment of providing the products and service without asking for anything in return would be considered a hobby site. Tips to increase membership enrollment are:

More important than using key words. Join other free sites and web rings that will help to drive traffic to your site. This will go a long way in getting your site on the "Internet Map." It also allows you to come into contact with people who also enjoy the same hobby.
Use keywords. If your web site offers free service or products then make sure that free is one of the keywords that you will use
Have great content and even better manners. If your site is a hobby site then be sure to offer great content, ideas, thoughts, opinions about your knowledge of the hobby, and offer a way for your members and visitors to give feed back
Be nice and build a more personal relationship with your site's visitors and members. Let your site become a place where they can relax and talk about the hobby.
Provide useful information according to your skill level. If you are a beginner in your hobby area then it would be best to state this. This will allow you to attract other beginners that will help you to grow in experience in your hobby level

BUSINESS SITES

Business sites are very different from hobby sites in a number of ways. The major way that it business sites are different from hobby sites is that they take money. If your site is now a site where members must pay to access membership areas or must pay to obtain a graphic then your site can no longer be classified as a hobby site many graphic site owners out there will require money to join or to obtain graphics. If your your site is like this then do not apply the tips for hobby sites to your site. The tips for business sites are:

Know who your customers are and where to find them. Don't bother trying to sell sand to someone who lives in the middle of the desert. If you do not how to do this then feel free to go to the service page and use some of the free services available that will help you to find your customer.
Have fair terms of use.
Get out of the "Me and I" mode of thinking. Unlike hobby sites where the site can be about you or the hobby that you are interested in. A business site must focus on the members.
Build a Reputation. This is easier than most people think. The only downside to it is that it's a slow and never ending process. It will take some time for you to build a honest reputation. As a business you must value your reputation and not think of it as tricking people into beliving that you are someone that you are not. How do you know when you have a good reputation? When your site's name can be toss in the trash, thrown in the dirt, kicked around, accused and abused, and yet your members still want to be members and new people still want to join. Someone will always have something negative to say about your site. The Graphics Site Guide get a great deal of negative feedback and publicity, but the good feedback and publicity goes a long way in keeping the reputation good.
Say good bye to personal emotions. Learn to either know when to express personal emotions or don't bother with personal emotions at all. As a business owner your personal emotions on various situations and matters can destroy your site. If you are mad because you feel that someone has stolen your graphics. 1st calm down and 2nd contact the owner of the site directly. If you let your emotions decide on how you handle such matters then you will surely do more damage to your reputation. As a business you should operate accordingly.