ARTICLE - STICKY WEBSITES!

Designing a web site that attracts people is one thing but getting them to come back again and again is a recurring problem that faces a Webmaster.

Content is king but it is not always enough to have fast loading pages, good graphic design and page layout, clear navigation and interesting and relevant information. Who wants to return to a site to see the same things every day? Content should be managed and updated daily keeping a fresh feel to the site.

A 'sticky' site offers users what they want in a dynamic format that meets their needs. Keep things simple, uncluttered and easy to find.

Greet them personally each time they login or save their choice of colour scheme and settings via cookies.

Add interactive sticky features to a site. Chat rooms, forums and instant messaging give a community feel and add content in themselves. Games, competitions and quizzes are popular and even corporate sites use them to appear less dull. A great example of how successful games are can be found at Macromedia. It has shown that Shockwave media on some sites increased traffic by 500%.

Freebies are also well received, such as programs, music, screensavers or a postcard greetings (e-cards) service.

Get into the mind of your target audience, know what they want and fulfil those needs!