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Why Should I Make My Webpage Interactive?

Posted By Guest Blogger 10th of April 2015 General 0 Comments

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This is a guest contribution from Ben Shwartz.

They say you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover… but does that extend to eBooks? How about webpages? In the current state of our globalized, media-saturated society, it’s difficult—if not outright impossible—to live by this seemingly antiquated adage. Amidst the hustle and bustle of the World Wide Web, appearance often conquers content in terms of user retention, which makes your landing page the golden ticket to your website’s success.

“If you had one shot, one opportunity to seize everything you ever wanted, one moment… would you capture it, or just let it slip?”—Eminem on landing page optimization… or a rap battle.

Generating a home page with interactive features (think layered multimedia and on-site social networking) allows the fireworks to come directly to the customer, instead of having the customer waste his or her precious time searching for what exactly it is that you have to offer. With that said, put your best foot forward and take advantage of all the…well, advantages, an interactive site can procure.

Capture the social media-unfriendly.

For better or for worse, social media often gets a bad rap. For the stubborn old-timers, social media shy, and those who are proud to have never given a virtual thumbs-up or double-tapped to “like,” having an on-site source for communication can be an easy (and potentially covert) transition to get these hesitant folks more inclined to digital networking.

If you’ve already won the first battle by getting them to your site in the first place, the immediate presence of focused content and engaging topics relevant to their interests may compel them to take part in the conversation. Easy, automatic signup options (i.e. via your email account) saves time and gets the user directly apart of the conversation. As a bonus, user profiles are limited within the site’s perimeters, ensuring an extra level of privacy that will be happily received by any reluctant recluse.

For the sake of organization.

If you’re a startup or an e-commerce retailer, chances are you have a string of social media accounts representing your business all around the web. From obvious mainstays like Facebook and Twitter to the more professional LinkedIn and less structurally restrictive Tumblr, there’s a whole pond full of big name outlets for one little fish to navigate. Streamline key topics of interest to establish your site as the primary source of discussion, so as to provide a clear, exact, and timely authority on your site’s content. Allow your social media links to direct traffic back to your site, whether they target new customers with catchy captions or retain existing customers with reminders regarding updates to the content with which they are already familiar.

On the contrary, if you’re looking to give your customers some extra context that you find may interest them (and thus further establish yourself as a thought leader), multimedia tools are available on the market to create centralized hubs of outsourced interaction. Simple, customizable icons link to related and relevant content. Should one recommendation prove beneficial to your customer, there’s a good chance you’ve converted him or her into a repeat user on your own site.

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Enjoy the benefits of live personal presence in real-time.

Social networking, especially within a particular niche, can quickly get to look a lot like a high school cafeteria. You have a few cheerleaders on the hunt for prom dresses, a gaggle of brainiacs preparing for the next Comic-Con, and devoted group of traveling Phish fans. While each individual adheres to a different class schedule, eating at the lunch table affords a precious punctual platform from which to vocalize their hopes, needs, and desires.

While these “lunch tables,” or online outlets for communication, do currently exist (and in great numbers), the current state of cyber affairs stimulates the desire for instant gratification, or feedback in real-time. While alerts and notifications on other outlets can remind you of existing conversations, having an on-site communication tool allows a more organic flow of communication. Customers can feel that they’re actually a part of a dynamic conversation, rather than uttering anonymous nothings to the wind. Users can create more substantial relationships with one another and in turn, return to the site to continue these budding interest-based friendships. Topics will be more likely to stay on course given their placement in a centralized, authoritative position, and you will be more likely to sustain P2P relationships given that your site will be the common link (literally) shared between viewers.  Just like in high school, everyone wants to be a part of a group and their conversation. Your on-site social network will give your viewer a voice and heighten the likelihood that he or she will be heard.

Educate others while educating yourself.

In terms of building a community, user retention is more likely to increase if your viewers feel at home. If they’re already engaging in a conversation, they’re more likely to resume input if they feel that they’re in a group consisting of thoughtful peers based on mutual interests and respect.

Having one (or several) of your team members as an active social presence on your site is a win-win for all parties. From a customer’s perspective, they can gain insight from interaction with a thought leader, and the informal setting in which it takes provides a more humanized and less formal or mechanical component.

Additionally, it goes without saying that a business needs to determine its customers’ desires and interests, and having an inside source on the front lines is one of the easiest ways to do just that. By learning the popular topics in your forums, you’ll have a better idea of what can be added, edited, or removed to maximize your website’s potential and propel your future business goals.

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In essence, an interactive website prioritizes and centralizes not only the products by also the discourse associated with your brand. Your landing page is your money maker, given its status as your company’s official authority. If we stay with the times and realize that consumers must be efficiently engaged to ensure conversion, then we must recognize how important it is to create a visually appealing product that provides a one-stop shop for your audience’s needs.

Finally, consumers strive for a human connection rather than a technical, formalized response to their social networking input. Combine winning visuals with interactive, informal discussions to ensure that your site is one worth reading from one day to the next.

Ben Shwartz is the VP of Marketing for Spot.IM. He loves to buy and sell websites, and immerse himself in anything and everything in the realm of online marketing.

About Guest Blogger
This post was written by a guest contributor. Please see their details in the post above.
Comments
  1. It’s always a good idea to make a webpage interactive because you want people to have a seed planted in their mind that your blog or website is useful and informative. Additionally, an interactive website also creates deep conversation, and subliminally encourages people to share your blog-conversation-websites on social networks like YouTube, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter, which in turn inspires more people to come out of the woodworks and join the conversation, thus, bringing people together.

  2. Great concepts! Making your site interactive can only increase user engagement which will in turn keep them coming back! That is a great point about the “non-social networkers”. They often get forgotten. Making them feel at home is a great strategy!

    Chris

  3. Being interactive also allows people online to see how you respond as a business in the moment, which can potentially lead to increased sales and affiliate commissions. That is, if you “do the transformation business work,” and move forward despite entrepreneurial challenges.

  4. Hi Ben,

    People love eye candy; right or wrong. Serve it up to draw in folks.

    I am big on video, and also, I use large, eye-catching images of myself traipsing through paradise after paradise, on my world travels, to draw people in more easily. We all buy into a dream anyway so you may as well make it super spectacular to appeal to your audience’s imagination. If you can do that, you’ll have both an interactive web page and a thriving business.

    The only downside may be performance issues. Going super interactive may affect your site speed but of course you can use workarounds to speed things up again. I’d not be too concerned about that though; with all the technology available to all blogger and site owners you can create a super interactive, engaging site and still keep it fast. Find that nice balance to reap the greatest rewards.

    As Eminen said ;), you have a shot, a chance. Make the greatest impact with that one shot to become memorable, so more and more folks can live their dreams through your message. That’s what it all boils down to: if you can make a serious impact by engaging web visitors you can really rock out this online bit and you can also help folks solve their problems too. Win-win on so many levels, and that’s why we’re doing the online bit anyway, right?

    Adding more videos to my email newsletter now; I have the 1080 HD camera to work with, so it makes perfect sense to get more interactive, to boost engagement and to help a ton more folks online. That’s the real key, to be engaging and to use tech to make your engagement pop, or go.

    Thanks Ben.

    Tweeting from Bali.

    Ryan

  5. Very nice and benefical post. Please keep posting such great knowledge.

  6. Exactly, making the website interactive not only keeps the users visiting but also makes the individual to tell his friends about the website. This leads to “indirect publicity” by the user. Once the user likes the interactivity he surely gives one visit per day(at least), this is so because he keeps on thinking about what new article may get to see. I guess interactive website can increase the traffic(in slow speed).

  7. Good Idea to make a website interactive.

    Mock up is one of an impotent think for any website.Its turn again a user.New user must be attraction.
    A Blog Websites must be informative and interactive so that user can learn and know many information.

  8. Hi Ben
    Great post! I’m new to blogging and have been wondering this myself. I’ve noticed that many of the blogs I follow are beginning to write more in depth content and some seem to have abandoned short posts altogether. I only have a few posts on my site and they are short. You definitely got me thinking about a new plan of attack.
    Thanks Ben.

  9. Helpful insights as we are working to make our website more interactive.. interaction definitely does lead to more meaningful relationships with visitors. Thanks!

  10. I’m totally agree with you, I think an interactive website is far way more interesting than a simple one, because it can attract people to explore the whole web and become to subscribe, great post!

  11. ofcourse it is very important to get returning traffic. If You can publish some unique and useful post
    by the way thank you so much and interactive your sites, then you will more visitir in your site. They always focus your site to learn something and it can happen any time, so always interactive an webpage.

    by the way thank you so much for your unique ideas.

  12. Interactive websites increases the chances for the business to convert online users to paying customers. As mentioned by Ben, educate others while education yourself is a great concept to retain customers and keep them coming again and again to your website for the valuable information you have to share.

  13. Thanks for explaining the reason why one should make his/her webapge interactive.

    But it will be most helpful if you show us “How to make a Webpage interactive” with some proven tips and tricks.

  14. Your book sample is very clear to explain why ı should make my page interactive. If a visitor can navigate easily on our blog, he will keep his visiting continuously and he will be our reader.
    Thanks for the post.

  15. You are absolutely right about making web-content interactive, but first step is putting together high quality and engaging content. Top content coupled with social media features invariably would lead your blogs to greater heights.

  16. If we don’t make our blogs interactive, then there is no need blogging, some say they blog for fun when no single comment is on your platform… that is not fun.. if you are a blogger and you actually know what you are doing, i think threading comment helps grow traffic though

  17. Whew, great insight but an exhausting idea to think through. Once you get over the technical hurdle of making the site more interactive, there has to be an organizational change or mindset to shift some presence to a more real-time interaction with customers. If you don’t have this in place early, this might be a bit of a struggle. But it’s worth a try. You’re right, it really is something to have a live person talking to you on the other side of that webpage.

  18. Interactive web pages are always helpful for making good impression and converting our normal visitors in to clients. Thanks for the post.

  19. Excellent post Ben, definitely something to look into. Bookmarked!

  20. Making your website interactive is extremely important. Have a contact form, phone number listed or click to call, social media channels are all important factors.

  21. Edgar p hogle says: 04/14/2015 at 5:14 pm

    Great post. Thank you for giving this post. I have blog site and its design is good but arrangement options are very bad to looking by the visitors. After I read this post I knew how it will arrange in a correct order. Now recreating my blog using by new idea behind this post

    https://sites.google.com/site/topessaywritingservicereviews/

  22. Attractive and eye catching websites is mandatory for improving more and more visitors towards your business.

  23. Nice post! We haven’t tried anything like this before, but this is a really good place to start learning about how content upgrades work. Thanks for the article!

  24. Nice Post Ben. New and interesting thing you have share with us.

  25. Nice post
    making website interactive is very important for every site and presentation of the site and content plays crucial role for making website interactive

  26. Great insight. From my perspective interactive webpages benefit both webmaster and visitors. Engagement is crucial for any business.

  27. Thanks for the great article Ben! I am currently working to make my site more interactive; however I have some questions for you.

    How would I go about incorporating a video introduction or a slideshow panel on my home page?

    Are these changes going to make my website slower?

  28. This is a very useful post for all the bloggers. Keep posting valuable content like this. Thank you !

  29. Web Click India says: 02/06/2018 at 9:08 pm

    A webpage should be interactive as it represents your business in front of customers as well as search spider.

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