Website stickiness: Attracting and retaining visitors06 February 2006
People in the US now spend an equal amount of time on the internet to the hours they wile away watching the television, according to new research. A study by Jupiter Research found that consumers with access to the internet spend 14 hours online, as well as 14 hours on the box each week.
Although traditional televisions are likely to suffer in the long-run as internet protocol television broadcasting is developed, right now the immediate effect will be felt in print. Analysts are predicting that consumers will increasingly turn to the web for up-to-the-minute news and recently updated information, and as a result advertising online is set to increase significantly over the next year.
The Jupiter report also found that this increasing group of consumers who prefer to depend on online resources for information and entertainment rather than books and newspapers are more likely to use new innovations in its distribution.
The rapid rise of the internet and its importance in both work and leisure indicates that this is likely to be more than just a passing trend. Small businesses looking to attract potential clients and customers to their websites and keep them coming back should be looking at how they can offer interesting content to attain this site "stickiness".
RSS and Podcasts
An RSS feed streams syndicated news content onto a website to allow small businesses to offer breaking news content and accurate, current information without having to collate the content in-house. A number of large news organisations offer these syndications under varying usage agreements, including Reuters and the BBC. The feed displays the syndicated headline on the website homepage with a link through to the posting. In addition, some businesses include podcasts on their sites, which allow visitors to view and listen to company material, for example a promotional video.
Blogs
Alternatively, many small businesses find it useful to run their own "weblog" in order to create and retain customer interest in their website. This allows businesses to post information such as product offers, news about the company and so on and then encourages customer interaction. Surfers may then pose questions and benefit from the expertise and advice of you and your staff, or converse with other visitors to the site.
SEO
Search engine optimisation refers to the practice of using key words and phrases to achieve a higher listing on search engines such as Google. This can be implemented either through the XML code or by implanting key words in website text content. If the keywords are chosen carefully, prospective customers will be more likely to head to your site as it will be rated higher in the search results. For more information on this, see our previous feature on choosing effective keywords.
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