Webmaster-Now article: 10 ideas to make a web site alive

A regular visitor knows a web site almost as much as its webmaster. But once he knows it thoroughly, the challenge is to satisfy his need to know even more. If the site is not updated, doesn't provide new content, is not more specific and specialized, the visitor doesn't have a good reason to come back.

The goal is make a web site look alive, in such a way that the user is happy to come back again and again.

Inform regularly users give them the perception that the site is well alive !

1: Have a plan to develop new content for the next year or two
If you have a massive load of content when you create your site, maybe don't put everything online just from the start of the site but leave a little bit of content and add regularly a few pages. Create a new section and add content on a regular basis. Inform the users that the site is updated regularly. Mention when the content was last updated.

2: Publish at least a new page every month
If the web site is never updated why on earth an user will come back to the site if he already read everything that is there. But if the same user come back to the site and notice that there are new content to read he would probably come back as long as there are new content to the site. Regular visitors are the most important users. They trust the site and have more chances to buy from the site, to recommend it to others, to subscribe to a newsletter than a first time visitor.

3: Create a news page, manage links to news sites, update each day, week or month
It is an easy way to updated content regularly that every webmasters can do. Select a few news sources in the same area of the site you need content for. Check them regularly. Create a news page on your site. Link to the news pages, mention the title of the news, the name of the source and maybe a few lines of introduction the news. Update the news page regularly. Archive the pages from the past years.

4: Offer users to subscribe to a site alert by email and send them an email each time there is a new page on the site
Let users know that the site is offering new content. Don't wait for them to come back. Motivate them. With a simple cgi-script, users can leave their email addresses. Inform them on the form page that you will send them messages when the site has new content to offer. Send an email to the alert lists with the title of the new pages, the links to these pages or an individual page listing them. You can take the opportunity of these messages to offer a coupon, inform about new products and services and generally boost your e-commerce promotion.

5: Publish a newsletter regularly with link to the web site
With the same cgi-script as above you can obtain email addresses from users who want to subscribe to a newsletter. Let them know what the newsletter will contain and how often you plan to publish it. Stick to the promise you make with the subscribers. They will trust you and reward you with regular visits to the site, recommendation to others and eventually purchase your products and services.

6: Organize a contest
Contests and sweepstakes are very popular on the Internet. They are free, they are entertaining. Organize a contest on a regular basis every month or every quarter. This way people will come back to the site to take part in the the new contest. Contests do not need cost a lot of money. You can offer a book, an exclusive content, one of your products or services. Users who want to take part in the contest leave their email addresses through a simple cgi-script. You can take the opportunity to ask them to subscribe to the newsletter and the alerts you publish. When the deadline is over, you randomly select a winner. Inform him, send the gift and ask him to publish his name or his initials on the site so that users can see that the contest – and the site – is sincere.

7: Manage a board
Discuss with users on a board on the site itself. Some boards such as phpbb are free and easy to set-up and run. Try to motivate participants to ask questions, answer to other's questions, and participate actively in the board. You don't need to spend all your time on the board. But you need to show that you are here. Therefore you don't need to answer each and every questions and messages. Instead put your focus on the negative messages so that everybody can see that you care of your customers and users.

8: Put forward on the home page new and updated content
Let people know that the site is active. List in the first half of the home page the most recent pieces of content. You can possibly add the date when the content was created.

9: Rank most popular pages and products, update frequently
Using the statistics of the site, list the most popular pages and let the people know on the home page or on a dedicated page what these pages are. Update the list regularly.

10: Give and update a list of events, exhibitions, meetings, etc
In the area covered by the site, list the events, exhibitions, meetings, tv programs, that users will find interesting. If the page is updated regularly they will come back often and have your page in their favorites.

You can also inform regularly the audience about what is happening in your company or your site such as new appointments, contracts, customers, products, plants or offices, strategy, financial information etc... Show to everybody that you are alive.

About the author

Phil Blasco has 10 years of web marketing experience. He shares his best tips in Webmaster-Now, a tutorial to help you build, manage and promote a web site. Webmaster-Now also includes a set of online tools and a directory to give you all you need to make a success of your site. http://www.webmaster-now.com

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