europeforvisitors - 5:19 am on Nov 7, 2001 (gmt 0)

I've produced travel-related content sites for five years, and if there's one thing I've learned during that time, it's that some topics don't lend themselves to repeat visitors.

European travel and Jane Austen are two good examples of topics that inevitably will have considerable audience "churn." In the case of European travel, visitors will show up when they're planning a trip to Europe--which may be once a year, once in a decade, or even once in a lifetime. In the case of Jane Austen, most visitors will be students who are writing school assignments and will never return after they've finished their term papers.

Some e-commerce sites will have the same "here today, gone tomorrow" traffic pattern. If you're selling sea tortoises as pets, you may not see the average buyer again, since your product may outlive the customer. :-)

Of course, if you *do* have a topic or product that lends itself to repeat visitors, a newsletter can be a great traffic-building tool. But if that isn't the case--if churn goes with your territory--it may be best to focus your efforts on maximizing traffic from search engines and directories.