We’ve worked through various elements of creating and owning a Web site – now let’s look at ways to add some sizzle!

Without losing sight of “why have a Web site” – typically to build relationships – this article is about some of the ways of using technology to build human-to-human relationships.

Ideally your Web site should work how the visitor wants to work; everyone interacts with Web sites in their own way.

SEARCH
A search function shows that you are being helpful to your visitors and makes it easy for them to find the information they seek.

Add a Google search box to index your site. Also add other sites from your industry association or other “how to” Web sites that are related to your Web visitors’ needs.

See www.gisborne.co.nz , where visitors can search the local newspaper, the council or the local Chamber of Commerce. See www.google.com/adsense for details and help. You can also get a small income from doing it, too. www.atomz.com also provides the feature free.

Having a “sticky” Web site means that people have a reason to stay and view more pages on your site, and it also provides them with a good reason to come back often.

Everyone

PHOTO GALLERIES
You can use the free Web site www.flickr.com to create a photo gallery (or more than one) for your site.

You can email photos directly from your computer when it is connected to your digital camera (so you don’t need special image editing software), then use the tools in Flickr to manipulate the image (rotate, crop). Feed them back to your Web site using an RSS feed (see below for more about RSS feeds). See www.e-c.co.nz/live as an example.

Using Flickr allows people within the Flickr community to find, view and comment on your photos. If they are interested in what you are doing they can click through to your Web site. This is another way to increase traffic as well as build human relationships.

MOVIES
The same is true for movies using www.youtube.com – post videos to YouTube and then embed the video onto your Web pages. YouTube pays for the bandwidth (not you or your hosting company) and people can comment on them or share them with others.

Don’t forget to have a title screen or credit screen at the end of the video with your Web site address on it as a call to action.

OTHER TOOLS
Other interactive tools used to help visitors can be stock tickers, currency converters or survey forms. See www.pollhost.com for a good example of a Free Poll component. These are typically hosted remotely and installed into your Web pages by using the “iframe” tag. They require little Web design knowledge to set up and get working, quickly and easily.

FORUMS
Another way to engage visitors and get them to “stick” to your Web site for longer is to host forums on topics that are close in subject to your products or services. Some of these forums are free, while others are available on small monthly fees.

Some of the free tools have advertising on them and some have a ‘paid-for’ option to remove the ads. Most also have a demo or free trial, so you can “road test” the application for your Web site. See www.websitetoolbox.com as a good example of a simple paid one without advertising on it.

While forums provide a place where every voice gets heard, you may want to create a Blog or a Wiki for your site.

BLOGS
Blogs are basically online diaries, allowing you to post small, reasonably frequent thoughts and happenings. People can view and sometimes comment on them. There are many blogs and also many blog tools available.

Wondering what Chrysler Corporation is doing this month? Then visit Lee Iacocca (www.leeiacocca.net). After reading the man’s words, the corporation becomes less of a faceless monolith and more approachable. This is corporate blogging at its highest level.

WIKIS
Wikis are a mechanism for providing knowledge about a topic (or many topics). Everyone can edit an entry if they know more or updated information.

Having a Wiki on your Web site is great for customer support if you have a large installed customer base. Having your site visitors help other visitors is a great human-to-human relationship builder. See www.wikipedia.org for the excellent free encyclopaedia.

MAPS
You can also make it easy for people to find your street address by embedding any of the free maps into your pages. www.zoomin.co.nz is a local provider, or www.google.co.nz/maps can also provide a satellite view.

Both can use an iframe to add a map to your Web page. With both, you can also login and place your location onto the map for other users to see. This then aids in traffic to your shop front, or to your Web site if you add the Web address.

Having a link from a Zoomin or Google is also a great search engine promotion tool, and helps with your Google Page Rankings.

NEWSLETTERS
Newsletters are another way to build a relationship with prospective and future customers. They don’t need to be complex or time-consuming to create and can be run from your normal email. NB: Some ISPs are now making this option a little more difficult, with various checks in place to minimise Spam.

www.constantcontact.com is one of the better hosted services available and there are a number of New Zealand-based ones too. Ideally, Web visitors can subscribe/unsubscribe themselves and can view past newsletters on your Web site.

PAYMENTS
Getting payments from your Web site is getting easier too, by using some of the online tools and payment gateways.

Paypal (www.paypal.com) now accepts payments in NZ dollars and this is an easy way for you to process credit cards online. You can use either a ‘Buy Now’ button or a simple fill-in form mechanism for Web visitors to purchase from a list of products.

A hosted ecommerce shop is the next step in providing an online shop without using a Web professional – www.oscommerce.com is one of many examples.

Most banks in New Zealand provide payment gateways for you to process credit cards payments, but require a higher standard of integration and security than many of the hosted solutions available. Talk with your Web professional about the best way to sell items and accept payments online.

SOCIAL NETWORKING
Depending on your product or service, you may choose to use www.Myspace.com or www.Bebo.com If you are an artist or photographer, or even a business consultant, you may consider www.FaceBook.com

These are some of the “social networking” Web sites where frequent users of this kind of site typically have a lower level of “trust” of the traditional marketing-speak found in adverts and Web sites. They do, however, trust what their peers say, and so if someone in your network says a certain band or artist is “cool”, then this generation of Web users will also be prepared to visit and form their own opinions.

RSS
RSS (Really Simple Syndication) is a mechanism where information from a Web site, such as news items, can be fed onto another site via the RSS feeds. As a Web site owner you could have a News Page and find a source of RSS feeds that are topical to your Web visitors - perhaps an industry news feed or even a geographical-based one.

Many news media have embraced this technology. Look for the RSS symbol when you visit a news site. RSS feeds can contain images or calendar of events information too. There are also Web sites that combine multiple-source feeds to a single one, to add information from different sources. See www.feeddigest.com for one of the best.