Digital Boomerang Singapore 

1. Content is still King

Well-developed content is still the key reason users return to a website. 74% of users surveyed in a study by SurveySite.com indicated that they returned to sites for content.

Ideally, your web content should be unique i.e. users can’t find elsewhere. It could be the combination of content, the way you package it or just your sources or content.

Always keep your web content:

• relevant
• timely
• accurate

Because websites, unlike print or broadcast media, can be updated quickly, users expect content they read to be timely. Do you have the necessary resources to keep your site updated?

Try packaging your content into free guides or downloads. Remember that there is no point in giving away something free if it has no value at all.

2. Start A Blog

Blogs are can reach out to users and provide a voice or personality to your site that users can relate to. Corporate sites and Government sites are infamous for their cold feel. And no matter how much you try and warm it up with graphics, users can still be quite a sceptical lot.

Get an expert to contribute a blog or simply start one yourself about the customers you have met. That way, users feel there are real people behind the site committed to driving your website.

Blogs also can be added to the blogosphere and have the pelasant side effect of helping to drive traffic.

3. Serving Satisfaction

Do you respond to your email? Do you have in place a list of guidelines on how to respond to your users? Is there someone they can talk to if they experience problems using your site? Provide guidelines to your customer service officers so they know how to reply. Make sure all user feedback goes back to your web and content development team. Websites take time to evolve.

If you don’t have the resources, consider starting a forum so users can help each other. Over time, appoint moderators for your forum. The best moderators can often be found be looking for active users in your forum.

4. Newsletters

Newsletters can keep your website top of mind. The frequency will depend on how frequent and how massive your website is. Most news sites have daily newsletters to give users the gist of the daily news.

For most companies, a monthly newsletter will suffice. You also do not want to annoy your readers with too many newsletters. It can be extremely annoying and be dismissed as spam.

Remember that whatever you do, ensure that your newsletter drives value. Don’t use it as a mechanism to boast about yourself. Instead, see it as tool that delivers content relevant to users to their mailbox.

5. Give your users a say

Users like to be involved if they find your site useful. On forums, they can leave messages for other users. They can also add comments to articles you’ve written to share their views and insights. And these little messages will become useful to other readers. Don’t expect a lot of comments at first, and not everyone will have something to say. You will need to start the ball rolling by seeding comments or forum topics.

6. Polls and surveys

These are nice to have features to show that your site is lively and encourages user input and interaction. Not all users will participate. Many surfers are too busy to entertain polls and surveys. Usually, they participate only if they are curious about the results. It really all boils back down to relevance.

If you are doing a survey, remember to keep the questions really short and sweet. Lengthy surveys should only be used for in-depth market research and you may have to throw in a prize to make it worth their while.

7. Contests and Prizes

Really good giveaways are infamous for causing spikes in traffic. They are essential interactivity tools for sites that want to build user communities. A contest is just fun – a moment away from the hectic world and a casual flirting with lady luck.

Be aware, though, that too many contests can make your site look very gimmicky. If you have a serious, very credible and authoritative site, you might not want to run frivolous contests. If you are running a business site, you might want to give away prizes for “the most original business ideas” or “the best user tip on filing your taxes”.

Maintaining a site, getting repeat visitors is a lot of work. Most of the time, we find that companies underestimate the work involved to keep the site going. It also takes a tremendous amount of energy to get user participation and a community going.

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