Is your website failing to gain any real traction with visitors? Lack of engagement is a serious issue that will cost you traffic and ultimately sales. If visitors aren’t “engaging” on your website, you simply won’t generate sales or leads. So, how can you make your website more engaging?
Produce Stellar Content
If there’s one element you don’t want to overlook when building a website, it’s the content. Google has said that high-quality content is the single most important element on a website, attesting to its importance. The key thing to remember, however, is that you want to focus on quality over quantity when crafting content. That being said, publishing with regular consistency is just as critical as the quality of the post.
Enable Visitor Commenting
Of course, another simple yet effective way to make your website more engaging is to enable visitor commenting. When visitors are allowed to submit comments on articles and blog posts, it boosts the site’s overall engagement. Webmasters can further boost engagement by responding to visitor comments in a timely manner.
Include Social Share Buttons
Be sure to include social media sharing buttons on your website. While users can always share your content by logging into their social media profiles, including buttons on your site will make the process a little easier, which means more Facebook likes and Twitter tweets. Assuming you are using a content management system (CMS) like WordPress, you can check the plugin directory for a social sharing plugin.
Oh, and don’t forget to use the share buttons yourself. The best way to get your content shared is to start sharing it through the social networks you use like Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Tumblr, BizSugar, ScoopIt, StumbleUpon, Pinterest, Flipboard, etc.
Include Photos
If you aren’t including photos in your website’s content, you are missing out one of the easiest ways to boost visitor engagement. Humans are hard-wired to respond with a greater level of intensity to visual stimuli, such as images. Therefore, photos should be an integral part of your overall content strategy, especially if you are trying to boost your site’s engagement.
Ask Questions
Why should you ask questions? (see what I did there?) Well, doing so will make your website more engaging. You can create articles, blog posts, or even an FAQ page that’s centered around one or more questions. Visitors will instinctively answer the question to themselves, at which point they will hopefully engage on your site in some way, shape or form.
These are just a few simple ways to make your website more engaging. Don’t be afraid to experiment with other techniques that aren’t listed here. After all, that’s the only way you’ll know whether or not something works.
Photo Credit, David Shankbone – Flickr.com
