Small Business Blog

Does you site fit into the rotten websites category? Rotten websites (and this is a personal definition, so feel free to disregard or disagree) are those that lure in traffic, but fail to deliver anything of value.

When you have taken the time to develop a site and its content, you might have a difficult time objectively measuring the value you are providing online. So your immediate answer to the opening question is probably something like, “What? Rotten websites? My site’s great; if more people knew about my site, I’d be making a killing…”
It is true that telling people about your site is one of your biggest challenges. But what happens when you do get traffic? Does the site have a high bounce rate? Does your traffic consist entirely of new visitors? If you answered yes to the last two questions, you might indeed have something less-than-fresh on your hands.

Rotten websites fix no. 1

Add interactivity to your site. There are many free and affordable features you can incorporate, particularly if your site is built in a content management system (CMS). Iinteractive features encourage your visitors to stick around and even come back later. Here are some ideas:

• Speaking avatars. SitePal offers an affordable, subscription-based program that requires no technical skill to set up. Avatars can created relatively quickly, and then incorporated them into your site by cutting and pasting the code. You can even record your own script and add it to your custom avatar scene. A speaking avatar is often most appropriate when you want to encourage your visitors to do something specific, such as sign up for an email newsletter. Because you are expecting a specific action, you have the opportunity to track the effectiveness of the avatar campaign.
• Polls. Addpoll.com provides a free service that allows you to add polls to your website or blog. Polls can be customized to match/fit your site and are easy to set up. If you have a CMS site, you probably have a polling feature already built in.
• User comments. You can add user comments to your html site for free by creating a free WordPress blog, and using that to add new content. There are also free extensions for Joomla! that will enhance the user commenting on your CMS site.
• Game and other widgets. Google Gadgets has a large selection of free widgets that you can quickly incorporate into your site.

Rotten websites fix no. 2

Bribe your visitors. Offer something of value to those who come back to your site repeatedly. There are a variety of ways to do this, depending on how your site is constructed. Here’s one example. Make a list of tips that are relevant to your site’s subject matter. Post a note on your site in a visible place that starting on x date, you are going to publish one tip per day for 10 days straight. At the end of the 10 days, anyone who emails you the complete list gets something free. Then post your tips, one at a time over the designated 10 days. Remember to leave the initial note published on your site the whole time. (If you try this, let me know how it works for you.)

Rotten websites fix no. 3

Make it easy for your visitors to return by adding a social bookmarking widget. AddThis and ShareThis are two options that don’t require any technical know-how.

The ultimate rotten websites fix

Write serial content. Publish compelling content in chapter form, and tell your visitors when they can expect to see new content. If you’re not sure how this works, pick up any printed women’s magazine and find the page that pitches the next month’s issue. Or, watch an episode of a drama series on TV. At the end, you’ll be treated to scenes from the next episode. Note the user of teaser phrases. Duplicate that strategy on your site. If you’re not sure how to create serial content around your site’s current focus, go back to the drawing board and start over.