Interactivity

You can improve your site a lot if you provide some kind of interactivity. Interactivity is important because it will let your users feel that they are a part of something, it may generate content for you, you know what kind of audience you have, etc. It will make your visitors remember your site and hopefully return to it.

Reminders

This is a service which lets the user get an e-mail every time your site is updated (See the Services section for providers). If you get your users to register for this kind of service you know they're interested in your site and most probably will visit again when they see it's updated.

Subscriptions

Let the users subscribe for something that lets them have something extra. It may be an e-mail newsletter, some kind of group or club, access to something. Whatever you choose, be sure it offers them them something that makes them come back, because they feel the belong in something. This is also an excellent way to promote new updates, new products, etc. For example, to join your "club" they have to fill in a little survey (which lets you know what kind of users you have) and when they've done that they have access to your sneak preview part of your site which lets them see new products that isn't yet released. Every time you have something new, send them an e-mail about it and they will visit you again because they've joined this group. This method allows you to both get users back and get some free advertisement to a group that seems to be interested in what you provide.

Feedback

Feedback is your most important way to know what users like or dislike. Always have a link to your e-mail address on every page (at least the main page). Offer feedback forms or surveys. Remember that users are lazy, really lazy, some think it's too much work to write a simple e-mail. So make your feedback forms as simple as possible. It's a good idea to let the user have some kind of reward for filling out the form, they won't do it just to be kind to you.

Contests

A popular things is contests. It's entertaining and it is a good way to involve the users. If you offer a commercial product it may be a good idea to have the contest related somehow to the product. A contest may be everything from a simple question to a complex java-game. Free prizes for the winners usually attracts many visitors.

Discussion Forums

If you can get your visitors to interact with each other it's even better. This can be done with discussion forums, there are a number of different CGI and Java programs that let you do this. You are almost guaranteed return visits if you get your visitors to participate in discussions with each other, this is also a great way to find out what could be a suitable change or addition to your site.

FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions is a common statement in the web community. If you receive the same question from different users, compile a FAQ and put it online. You may also do a special form for questions to give the visitors an opportunity to ask questions.

Search

If you have a big site consider adding some sort of search. This can be solved with CGI scripts, but using the already existing search engines on the internet is just as good, maybe even better sometimes. A search engine that does searches on only your site makes the navigation easier.

Last updated 970626