Traffic Magnets That Keep Visitors Coming Back

Hundreds of suspended paper birds converge towards a circular installation in a contemporary gallery.

A good traffic magnet gives people something worth discovering and a reason to come back.

Getting people to visit your website is one challenge. Giving them a reason to stay, discover your business and come back is another. We spend plenty of time thinking about attracting visitors through search engines and social media, but perhaps we should also consider what we could offer that would make our websites genuinely useful. Sometimes a simple tool can build a lasting relationship more than another sales pitch.

There’s an online VAT calculator I regularly use. I can’t remember when I first discovered it, but I’ve had it bookmarked for years. Whenever I need to remove VAT from a figure, I open the same website, enter the amount and get my answer.

These days, I could probably ask ChatGPT to do the calculation. I could work it out myself or find a plethora of similar calculators online. But I don’t. I return to the same old calculator because I know where it is, how it works, and it does exactly what I need. It’s become an old faithful, and that’s quite an achievement for such a simple piece of website functionality.

A well-used pocket calculator on a wooden desk beside keys, reading glasses, a notebook and a coffee mug.

Sometimes the simplest online tools are the ones we return to most often.

That little calculator is what I’d call a traffic magnet. It attracts people because it offers something useful, and it gives them a reason to return. The more often somebody visits, the more opportunities they have to discover the business behind it.

It got me thinking about the websites we build for our clients. Attracting somebody to your website is the first hurdle, but once they’re there, you want them to notice your business and understand what you offer. Ideally, they’ll make an enquiry or buy something. If they’re not ready to do that today, wouldn’t it be useful to give them a reason to return?

Turn website visitors into regulars.

Most business websites explain what the company does and encourage people to get in touch. That’s their primary job, and they need to do it well. However, once someone has found the information they came for, they may have little reason to visit again until they need the company’s services. A useful tool can change that relationship.

Imagine a kitchenware retailer creating an interactive recipe collection. Visitors could find recipes using ingredients they already have, save their favourites and add their own family recipes. With individual logins and shared family collections, everyone could access the same treasured recipes. No more asking Mum for Granny’s trifle recipe every Christmas; it’s already there, along with all those little handwritten adjustments that make it special. Over time, the website becomes a family recipe book that people return to regularly, while the retailer has opportunities to introduce relevant kitchen equipment alongside the recipes.

Grandmother and daughter preparing a large layered strawberry trifle together in a family kitchen, with a recipe book nearby.

A shared family recipe collection could give customers a very personal reason to keep returning to a kitchenware retailer’s website.

Each subsequent visit gives customers another opportunity to become familiar with the business. They might notice an article that answers a question they’ve been considering or discover a product they didn’t realise the retailer offered. Of course, the website still needs to make those products easy to find. A useful tool might bring somebody through the door, but good website design and clear content help them understand what’s available once they arrive.

Find the little jobs your customers repeat

You don’t need to develop a complicated application to make your website useful. My VAT calculator succeeds precisely because it does one job exceptionally well.

Think about the questions your customers regularly ask or the calculations your staff perform on their behalf. Perhaps you have a spreadsheet that helps customers estimate how much material they’ll need for a project. Could that become an online calculator?

A building maintenance company might provide an inspection planner to help facilities managers organise their responsibilities. A specialist timber supplier could offer a product selector that guides customers towards the most suitable option. The possibilities will vary enormously between industries, but that’s part of the opportunity. You understand the everyday challenges your customers face, which puts you in a good position to recognise something they would find useful.

It doesn’t have to be a calculator, either. A searchable reference guide could become a valuable resource for people who regularly need specialist information. Even a straightforward checklist might earn a permanent place in somebody’s bookmarks.

The question is whether you can make a small task easier for your customers, especially one they encounter often enough to remember where they found the solution.

Hands fitting a precision-made blue metal component into a bespoke wooden and aluminium assembly.

Bespoke website functionality can provide a better fit when an off-the-shelf plugin doesn’t quite meet the need.

Build something better than a generic plugin

WordPress makes this particularly interesting because you can extend a website with additional functionality without rebuilding everything. Thousands of plugins already exist, and many do an excellent job. But sometimes you find one that almost meets your needs, except for a frustrating limitation or a collection of unnecessary features.

We’ve encountered this ourselves at Video & Web. Rather than keep adapting how we work to suit a generic plugin, we’ve increasingly developed our own tools around specific requirements.

The same approach can work for something you offer your customers. A bespoke calculator could use the measurements common to your industry, while a specialist booking tool might follow a process that makes more sense for your business.

Not every idea needs custom development. If an established plugin already does the job reliably, there’s little reason to reinvent it. But building something specific is worth considering if it offers a better experience or solves a problem existing software doesn’t handle well.

You can start small, too. A useful first version might only need a handful of inputs and a clear result. You can always develop it further once you understand how people use it.

Make it useful, not difficult.

One thing I particularly appreciate about my faithful VAT calculator is that it doesn’t demand anything from me. I don’t have to create an account or hand over my email address before it gives me the answer. That simplicity is part of the reason I keep using it.

Businesses sometimes turn every free resource into a lead-generation exercise, but there’s value in letting people use something without expecting an immediate return. A visitor who has a good experience may remember your business when they eventually need the services you provide.

That doesn’t mean hiding your commercial offering. Your branding should be clear, and relevant links can help visitors explore your services. The important thing is to make those opportunities feel like a natural extension of the resource rather than an obstacle to using it.

You also need to maintain whatever you create. A calculator that relies on changing tax rates needs updating when the rules change. Keeping a tool accurate and dependable is essential if you want people to trust it enough to return.

Tangled sewing threads and ribbons beside a neatly organised wooden drawer of colourful cotton reels.

The best tools take something unnecessarily complicated and make it easier to manage.

Our own Video & Web traffic magnets

We’ve been busy developing our own collection of useful website gadgets, which you can try for yourself on our Video & Web Resources page. They’re free to use, and each one started with the same simple idea: making a little everyday task easier.

A QR code generator lets you create customised codes, including your own logo. We’ve also added a colour palette generator to support branding and design, plus an email signature generator for professional signatures.

For website development, we’ve added a video embed generator and Emma’s Ipsum, our own little take on dummy text. We’ve also added a handy reference guide to social media image sizes, which is especially useful when platforms keep changing their requirements.

None of these resources is particularly complicated for visitors. That’s rather the point. We want people to visit, accomplish something useful, and get on with their day. They’re also a practical demonstration of how a website can offer something beyond information about the business behind it.

Video & Web Resources page showing the QR Code Generator, Palette Generator and Emma's Ipsum tools.

Our growing collection of free Video & Web Resources includes practical tools for everyday website and marketing tasks.

What could you create for your customers?

Perhaps you already have an idea for something your customers would appreciate. It might be a calculator you’ve been using internally for years or a simple application that could save people a surprising amount of time.

You could build it yourself, adapt an existing plugin, or commission something specific to your business. The key is to start with a real customer need, not the technology.

We’ve been busy bringing our own ideas to life at Video & Web, and if you have something in mind, we’d be happy to help you explore what’s possible.

A familiar family hallway with coats, shoes and wellington boots beside an open front door.

Becoming somewhere people instinctively return to is one of the most valuable things a website can achieve.

After all, getting people to your website is only the beginning. Once they’ve arrived, you want them to discover your business and have a reason to remember it. And if you can create something useful enough to become somebody else’s old faithful, you might just have given your website a reason to keep working for you long after that first visit.

Need help turning this advice into action?

If you are reviewing your website, marketing or online visibility, we can help you work out what to improve first.

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