by Donald Nelson

My first web site was nothing more than a brochure that was transformed into an HTML document and installed on the web. Since then I have learned that web pages can do a lot more than printed brochures, because they can offer several different ways to involve the visitors. Here are some of the ways that I use to bring my sites to life.

Another way you can involve your readers on a regular basis is to offer a newsletter related to your site. The newsletter or e-zine in its simplest form can be nothing more than an update of new features on your web site. Or you can be more ambitious and write an article on themes related to your web site. For example, if your web site represents your bicycle shop, your newsletter could contain articles about cycling. Explain the scope of your newsletter with an announcement on your web site: “Get updates and information related to the themes of our website in a free e-mail newsletter” followed by a sign-up form where the people can sign up for the newsletter. In your newsletter provide links to your web site, and your products or services order pages.

You can keep people coming back to your site by using a bulletin board or online forum. The beauty of the bulletin board is that your visitors create your content. However, in order for this to work you must have enough traffic. If you have a Britney Spears fan site, then it should be no problem to get your bulletin board up and running. If your site doesn’t have a strong flow of visitors there is still a way in which you can use a bulletin board. Hold a special forum.

Finally, here is another idea on how to draw your visitors into the site. You’re an expert on something, that’s why you have your website! Start a questions and answers column on the site let your web visitors send in their questions and you and or your team of experts can give the answers. Award a prize to the person who sends in the best question of the month. It will help you to generate some useful and new content for your site and also let you know what your web visitors are thinking.

Taking this further, you can offer free advice on a one-to-one basis for visitors who have questions related to your product or service. Put a form on your web site. It can be right next to your product’s order button. Give the people a chance to either order your product or ask for more information. By offering good advice you will win the confidence of your web visitors, some of whom will eventually go on to purchase your products or services.

Donald Nelson is a web developer, editor and social worker. He has been promoting web sites since 1995 and now runs A1-Optimization ( http://www.a1-optimization.com ) a company that provides low-cost search engine optimization and submission services. He can be reached at [email protected]