As an entrepreneur, you probably know how crucial getting people to your site can be. And chances are, you have read a lot of advice on how to get people attracted to your site. There is a lot of information and advice on the best ways to build a following or keep people coming back to your site. Believe it or not, though, the key to building long term Web traffic is not found in gimmicky phrases or those that promise the deepest savings or best customer service!

Give up on what it is that you can say that is the absolute most influential in getting people to sit up and take notice? It’s their first and last name! That’s right, we all have this little thing called the ego that makes us love to hear our name be spoken. We love to see it in print, and we can’t get enough of it. Furthermore, when we see it, we want to share it with others so that they see it as well. This is where your business can take advantage of this method.

When you use someone’s first and last name, you immediately pique their interest and get them to pay attention. There are a variety of ways that you can do this, and using your creativity, you can likely come up with plenty, but let me tell you one simple way that I do it on a regular basis. For starters, I pose a question to my readers, asking them for a piece of advice regarding a business topic.

I let my readers know that I am looking for their best tip as a response, and they should send it in with their first and last name, business name, and a link to their site. Then I pick the ones that I like the best because I usually get quite a few to choose from and need to narrow it down Then, I post a page with those reader tips. The key here is that with each reader response I also post who submitted the tip, along with a link to their site.

Once I do that, I respond to the readers who’s tips I used to thank them and provide a link to the page where they can see their business tip. That’s all I need to do. From there, they will boost the traffic because they share it with others, bringing new people to my site, many of whom will also become long term readers and may even later contribute a business tip of their own.

I’ve even worked with my clients before to help them boost Web traffic in this manner. We asked their customers to share related stories, we posted them, and those customers drive additional traffic to the site by sharing the link. After all, they wanted people they know to read their story and, well, see their name on the site.

This works in the same way as if you have ever had your name in the newspaper. What is the first thing you do? You buy several copies to pass around. You call your relatives and let them know to look for it. This is because you want others to see your name in print! It’s simply an ego thing.

Forget offering “guaranteed satisfaction” or whatever other type of business cliché you can think of to try to increase Web traffic. Just focus on finding a way to use your customer’s first and last name, and they will do the rest for you. Turning the focus to them will result in the focus being turned on your company in a big way!