How to Make Your Website More Interactive

Both personal and business websites should be thought of as interactive, engaging platforms rather than static brochures. In this way, meaningful conversations can be had with visitors, and a loyal audience built. Great content is necessary, of course, and easy navigation and updated material are also vital, but these do not guarantee audience involvement. There are a few things that have been proven to enhance interaction with site visitors, which results in improved performance in clicks, subscriptions, and sales.

Here are four of the most popular methods to increase the interactivity of your website.

Social Media Integration

Social media is a must — as essential as having a website in the first place. In fact, many businesses are opting to only build social media profiles. While not recommended, it definitely shows that social media is a powerful tool. Simply placing social media buttons near the top of the page or after each post in your blog provides an easy way for visitors to share links to your material with their friends and associates. As people continue to share, your website receives more free exposure.

Contact Forms

Occasionally, you might have a visitor that wants to communicate, but does not wish to do so publicly. In this event, a dedicated contact form works well, especially for complaints or tech support issues you do not wish to have made public. Alternately, provide an email address, but this opens the door to relentless amounts of spam.

Whichever method you choose, it is expected that the form and/or contact information be placed on a dedicated “Contact us” page. This makes it easy for visitors to interact.

Forums

Having a forum on your website is a powerful way to create in-depth conversations between not only yourself and visitors, but among visitors themselves. Forums are loved by search engines, and having a large number of posts can help your website get plenty of hits. They do, however, require a bit more effort to maintain, especially since spammers and trolls tend to abuse forums.

Forums can be implemented through both paid products, such as Vanilla forums, and free solutions such as phpBB.

Encourage Comments

Comments can extend the life and interest level for a post on your website by encouraging people to stick around and interact, even if it is just to say “Great post!” Make it easy to leave comments by eliminating the need to register in order to do so. Instead, simply post a notice that the first comment will be moderated, and then subsequent comments will be auto-approved. Most content management systems, such as WordPress and Joomla!, handle this automatically by checking IP addresses.

Interactivity is the name of the game in this age of social media. Along with having superb content, it can greatly increase the interest and loyalty of visitors, as well as repeat visits. Some websites are even better known for the comments posted by visitors than the site’s content itself, so don’t be afraid to let people express their opinions on your website.

Author Bio:- Steven Taylor is a freelance web designer and developer. Steven also reviews phone and internet bundles for businesses, as well as other business topics.