The most important aspect of any website is that it encourages people to return. When people use a website as a resource, they start talking about it and your popularity will grow. People will share your site online with their friends, and over time that will build respect for your organization. It's a lot easier than it ever has been, but it's still quite a daunting task. For this to work, you truly need to be an expert, or at least have a great amount of infomration to aggregate and organize for your readership. We'll talk about news syndication soon.
There is also the option of creating an online forum community. That will get users together that share interests common to your industry. You already need a fair amount of respect and notoriety to get this working successfully. Build a forum, stimulate great conversation, and watch it grow. To properly manage a forum, it is a lot of work. I've set many up for clients and at least half aren't successful because the subject matter experts aren't able to stimulate conversation well enough to encourage the return traffic. The communities that become popular are truly internet forces that can make your business a household name in the coming years.
Ok, the easiest way to get teturn traffic -- update your customer-specific content regularly. Have a current schedule, offer coupons on the web only. Actively encourage people to view your website and return to it. That way, they will remember you when they talk to your friends. If you have a great domain name, your customers will drive your traffic.
Maybe next time we will talk about how to choose a great domain name.