Your Website Should Engage Your Visitor

Here's an article that came across my desk today, and believe me, from a web developer's viewpoint, it tells it like it is:

10 Rules To Keep Your Website Visitors Engaged
By Deepak Dutta (c) 2007

Do you know that most visitors leave a website within 10
seconds of landing on the home page? And they may never return
to the same site. To keep your website visitors stay longer, you
need to engage them. Follow these 10 simple rules to build a set
of core loyal visitors who will return to your site frequently.

1. If you have a brick-and-mortar business and you want an
online presence, don't just hand over your printed brochure to
the web developer for your site's content.

2. Get good text, picture, and video content related to your
products or services and organize them into categories for your
website publication. How do you get content? You can ask your
kids to write content for you. Today's kids are information
savvy and know how to do research on right topics. They can help
take pictures and videos of your products and provide
narrations. If you cannot leverage your kids talents and you
don't have time to develop content, buy them from online
sources, like distributors of private label rights to articles
and stock photographs. You need a small content set to launch
your web site.

3. Ask your developer for some sample websites he has developed
in the past and review them. If you find clutter, music,
unprofessional graphics, etc. in those sites, run away from the
developer. Tell your web developer to use basic search engine
optimization techniques for your web site. Use a developer who
uses content management systems (CMS) to develop websites. You
or your kids and spouse will be able to maintain and add
content regularly to a CMS without much effort.

4. You must have an About US page in your website that explains
the expertise of your company and your unique selling
proposition. Also, you should provide a phone number and an
e-mail address for contact.

5. Publish a weekly tips section in your website. If you are in
a business for a long time, you have a wealth of knowledge about
your business, market, and technologies related to your
business. Make it a habit of jotting down one tip every day. You
will have plenty of tips for your weekly publication.

6. Don't use guest books, testimonials etc. These are so Web
1.0 concepts. Use a forum. Let your customers interact among
themselves. Develop a value network. You get into the insights
of your customers' minds by reading their posts and your
visitors know your products and services by talking to each
other. As a result, you will be able to provide improved
products and services and ask for a premium price.

7. Promptly answer all your visitors' e-mail. This is one thing
you should never delay. Use your visitors comments, e-mail, and
other form of communications to generate ideas for new articles
and tips.

8. Tell your web developer to include an RSS feed on your site
and publish filtered news related to the market you serve and
emerging technologies in that market. Don't use a weather
report. Nobody comes to your site to check the weather.

9. Publish a frequently asked questions page related to your
products and services. It helps save your visitors' time and
effort when they are looking for information on a particular
topic related to your website.

10. Did you know that the average person must be exposed to an
offer around seven times before they will make a purchase? Make
your website an advertising platform for your most popular
items. Advertise them throughout your site but don't use any
'in-your face advertising' techniques. You can use side bars for
this type of advertising with interesting anecdotes, pictures,
etc. Be creative and use your imagination.

Your website is your publishing medium. It is not your online
catalog. You want repeat visitors who spend their time at your
site for valuable information. The possibility of visitors
turning into a paying customers improves when they stick around
your site longer.
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Dr. Deepak Dutta is the creator of http://www.semanticbay.com -
an interactive social network website based on user shared text
and picture contents on any topics. His other website
http://www.classifiedsforfree.com - is one of the oldest online
classifieds sites.