In today’s tech-savvy world, if you want to stay competitive and on top of your game, your website should be interactive and interesting to your target user base. Being interactive provides you numerous ways to deliver the content of your site and give users the option to contribute to the message. Users are more likely to return and recommend your site to others if they find it engaging.
An interactive website is more than just a website. It creates interaction between users and content allowing them to have a personalized experience and go beyond the usual browsing and viewing. Users are the ones who usually provide most of the content here. Having an interactivity can help generate more traffic in your site and increase user engagement.
If you’re a marketer, an interactive content is very useful as a marketing tool; it can provide you with information about your target demographic. In creating one, take into consideration that interactive content comes in different forms and not all will work well with your users. In strategizing your content, make sure that it matches your audience.
Below are 8 simple ways to get interaction from your audience:
SOCIAL MEDIA
In the past decade or so, we can’t deny the explosion of social media like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. It has become a lifestyle, a way to keep up to date with what’s going on around the world. It also plays such an important role in making something trend or go viral. Adding a Facebook like button or the option to share a post from your site in Facebook or Twitter is a way to add basic interaction with your users. With this option you will be able to reach other users, generate more traffic in your website and grow your online presence.
Go one step further by letting users sign in using their social media accounts like Facebook and Twitter, this way they will be able to easily share your posts and receive notifications when you update your site.
QUIZZES
If created and written in way that will stand out from thousands of social media posts, quizzes can be a gold mine for interactive content. It is one of the most effective interactive elements you can put in your site. Interactive quizzes can attract audience to visit your site and pass the word along. In order to increase audience interaction and engagement, make your quizzes brief and offer incentives upon completion such as increasing their knowledge about a city, celebrity or even access to content in your site for a limited time.
You can create an interactive quiz with user-friendly quiz apps and share it in Word Press or social media in under 5 minutes. Don’t forget to integrate the message of your brand in the quizzes.
USER-GENERATED CONTENT
Users love it when they see their content posted in a website. Another way to make your site interactive is providing your users a way to generate and create content with you. User generated content is a great strategy to improve user engagement in your site. This will give your users a place to speak their minds, share information, give their own opinions and be heard. Forums, comment features on articles, question and answer boards and discussion boards are some examples of user generated content. Encourage users to post their opinions and thoughts by adding any one of these features, not only will it help the regular flow of your site’s content but it will also result in users coming back for more. User generated content will also allow users to interact with other users.
FEEDBACKS AND RATINGS
Feedbacks and ratings provide insight and information on your website and users. Asking for feedback is a good idea to see what users think and feel about your site or featured products. This will give users the confidence that you want to give them an exceptional experience. Feedback and rating are very helpful in determining how to improve your work, products and services.
CUSTOMER SUPPORT
Another good idea to interact with users is by providing them with customer support. This is a must especially for sites that requires memberships or are selling products. This feature will reassure users that you care about them and will provide solutions to any problems they may encounter so that they will have the best possible customer experience.
There are different methods on how users can contact you like contact forms, interactive FAQ and live chat programs which are automated with computer-generated response. There are also websites with pop-up chat box with customer service representatives ready to answer any problems from users. The most popular is a “Contact Us” page which contains contact details you want to share such as an address, phone number, email address or mobile number. Make sure to place the contact link of your site where users can easily locate and access it.
NEWSLETTER
Newsletters are a great way to increase interactivity in your site. Keep users engaged by sending out newsletters with sharable content that they can forward to their friends or colleagues through email. Have a regularly scheduled newsletter for your subscribers to keep them updated. Your newsletter can include a link to new posts you want to promote or a link to a discussion board where users can further discuss the content of your newsletter, this will send users back to your site and increase visits and interest in your site.
FREQUENT UPDATES
A website that is frequently updated is an interactive website. Keeping your site up to date is very important to encourage user engagement. Users are more likely to return to a frequently updated site since they view it as a more reliable source of information. One great way to update on a regular basis is to ask users what they’d like to see featured in your site. Not only will you be able to update often but you will also meet your audience’s needs.
REWARDS, GIFTS AND FREEBIES
To attract more users to your website, you can promote it and raise awareness by offering a free product or service. Users become interested in visiting sites that offers rewards, gifts and freebies. You may offer a free download of a product or access to e-books, coupons or content for a limited period of time. Providing users an option to download something for free or claim a free gift is a great way to increase interactivity in your site. You may also offer incentives instead if you do not want to give out freebies so that users will keep on returning to your site and generate more interactivity.
There are many ways on how to increase interaction in your website, but these 8 ways are the proven ones to work and are used by successful websites out there. You can choose to use all these 8 ways or you can simply choose the ones you think will work best for your website and your target demographic. As you go along the way, you will be able to come up with more unique ways and ideas to increase engagement and interactivity in your website.
Guest Author: Patrick Del Rosario
Patrick Del Rosario is a blogger from Design Bro. DesignBro is the world’s highest quality brand identity design. Stand out in the cluttered marketplace with your unique logo & Brand Identity and boost your brand image by having a consistent brand identity.
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