ARTICLE - FREE WEB CONTENT

Previously you learnt how to keep surfers coming back to your website - by making your site 'sticky'. "But where do I get this 'sticky' content and how much will it cost me?" I hear you cry...read on...

I'm going to run through some great sites that offer FREE content for your website, from games to news feeds.

First up are the news feeds - news by its very nature is bang up to date and makes for great content on any site. Take a look at moreover.com, where you'll be able to choose from hundreds of news topics. They'll email you the relevant JavaScript code - which you then place in your web page and voila, you've got news on your site!

For those of you who are not artistically inclined why not use other people's artwork, freeimages.co.uk offer a whole host of photos and iconbazaar.com have a great selection of icons - both animated and static.

If you have plans to make millions from your website then a good place to start is by signing up for an affiliate scheme - amazon.co.uk is a good example. They'll provide you with nicely formatted links to any products that you wish to sell on your website. Display these links on your website and if a surfer buys something after clicking on a link - you get commission. You won't make enough to retire on but it'll pay for a few beers!

Everyone has used a search engine at some stage - how about adding one to your site? All the big search engine sites are keen to attract as many users as possible - so they offer search boxes for you to display in your website. Here are some of the better ones: alltheweb.com, altavista.com, google.com

Bored at work? Of course not, but the folks viewing your website maybe! Include some games on your site and you'll keep surfers happy for hours. You can find free online games at 4evergames.com including the classic 'Space Invaders'!

Ever wondered what visitors think of your site? Adding a poll can give you the answer to this and many other questions. They are easy to set up, with only a small piece of code to include in your web page, nojunkfree.com is a good start.

The above links give you some idea of what content is available but I've only scratched the surface in this article. Get out there and surf for the content yourself - and when you've found it - let me know!!