Creating An Interactive Website

In a world where the new watchword is Web 2.0, it's vitally important that your website makes the grade as far as quality is concerned. But quality doesn't just mean having a site that looks professional: you also need to have a fully interactive site if you are going to reel in even the most casual of visitors and encourage them to stay put and not go elsewhere to find what they need.

So what is an interactive website? Put simply, it is a site which employs a variety of ways of engaging with the visitor. Many of these techniques are constantly changing, to provide a website with more depth and importance as it develops. In its simplest form you could say that the inclusion of a free hit counter is a step in the right direction; it tells the visitor how many people have already visited the site and it changes constantly as more people discover it.

It's clear that the more interactive features you can include (or at least point to) on the home page, the better the reaction will be from visitors. They will be tempted to think, "Hey, there is plenty to do here. I can really get involved with this site." And that is much more enticing than realising that all they can do is read the information you have given to them and not even have a chance to respond to it.

It can be daunting to start developing your current website into a more interactive one if you don't have any experience of doing so. The best way to begin is by thinking about a simple way to engage with your visitors to see how it develops. This can also give you some great ideas for developing your site and your business in the future as well.

For example, you might want to put a questionnaire or opinion poll on your home page. It doesn't need to be too big, but it could just catch the eye of anyone who sees it and if it does, that could be all you need to keep them on your site for a bit longer.

At the other end of the scale there is the opportunity to add a forum to your website. This can be reached via a link on the home page, and it allows visitors to take an active part in how they interact with your site and what your business stands for. Furthermore, if you keep tabs on what is going on in the forum you can get a good idea of what people want from your business in the future - enabling you to expand and become more successful as a result.

Finally there is the chance to add a blog to your site as well, to allow people to respond directly to your comments on particular subjects related to your business. You should soon see that your hit counter starts to reflect the increased traffic you will experience, which is definitely a step in the right direction.