If you love someone...set them free.

Have you ever felt protective of your website?  Like you want all the traffic and you don't want to send anyone anywhere else?  Are you worried that they'll start to love someone else more?


Think about what a disservice you are doing to your visitors!  True, it is essential that you give your listener the right experience on your site, and that you give them as much information as possible on your site BEFORE you send them somewhere else. 

But what is the harm in sending them off into the great beyond of cyberspace if they so choose?  If your visitors are likely to fit the target demographic of another website, and if they are likely to have a good experience there, take a deep breath, count to 3, then let them go. 

Sting said it best..."If you love someone, set them free."  Remember, your visitor already knows you and loves you (hopefully).  They WILL come back, especially if the place you sent them was relevant and useful.

I actually told someone today that my website was essentially designed for them to cannibalize!  Our target demos, our goals, even our blog and local events are nearly identical, except that my audience is much larger and already engaged.  They need my visitors to become theirs.  It occurred to me while we were talking that if my visitors decide to join them, I won't lose anyone, I will actually gain more trust, higher affinity.  OK maybe I'll lose 2 or 3 active members because they'll spend more time over there, but I'll gain new ones when they're talking around the water cooler about how they found this cool new site.

So I say to my new (and very excited) client...eat your heart out!  I'm prepared to set my visitors free...because if they don't come back, they were never mine in the first place...but I have to believe that my site has enough value that they will love me enough to come back.
ko