10 Tips for making your site more useful

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color=#333333 size=2>10 Tips for making your site more
usefulsize=2>

By Carole
Pivarnik size=2>

People rely
heavily on sites that are most useful to them. They go to Dictionary.com to look
up or translate words. They go to BankRate.com to use financial calculators.
They go to SmallBusiness.com to get and give business advice. They go to
Coupons.com to save money. They go to 1800flowers.com to quickly and easily
order gifts for loved ones. They go to HomeDepot.com to learn how to install a
ceiling fan.

All of these
sites and others with a large, loyal visitor base have one thing in common: they
provide a useful service or product to their visitors. Usefulness is one of the
key factors in attracting repeat traffic. Here are some tips for making your
site more useful and more competitive:

1.Teach something. There
is a huge demand for concise, wellwritten how-to information. If you have a
business Web site, you have an area of expertise. What can you teach your
visitors?

size=2>2.Simplify a
complex task. Many tasks are so complex that people have difficulty figuring out
where to start and what to do. Some examples are buying a home, changing
careers, or starting a business. By providing checklists, online wizards, or
other tools to organize and automate complex tasks, you can make those tasks
significantly easier for your visitors.

3.face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" color=#333333 size=2>Offer extraordinary
value. People calculate value by comparing what they get to how much it costs.
Value exists for them when they perceive that they're getting more than they pay
for. If you offer an expensive product or service, create value by showing how
the benefits of purchase exceed the cost. If market conditions make it difficult
for you to compete on price, increase the value of your offer by packaging it
with "free" add-ons or companion products.

4.Provide superior
quality. In today's competitive market, people simply expect high quality. To
wow them, your site must provide that extra feature, service, or customer care
that puts you in a different league than your competitors.

5.Offer
unparalleled convenience. People take the path of least resistance. Make it a
snap to find and use your Web site. Make it easy to remember. Design it for easy
access. Make it clear what visitors can get from you and where they can get
related material that you don't offer.

6.Assist with
decision-making. People often have trouble sorting out the details that go into
complex decision-making. Provide them with an organized, easy way to do that and
they'll love you for it. For instance, a small business portal might offer a
checklist or worksheet that helps entrepreneurs figure out what paperwork they
must submit to local and state government to incorporate their
business.

7.Invite participation. Allowing your visitors to
participate in forums, share advice, publish articles, or otherwise interact
with other visitors creates a sense of community. Since we all like to belong,
sites that provide valuable communities for visitors tend to foster great
loyalty among them.

8.Give something for nothing. People respond
to getting good stuff free. Can you offer something free for which your
competitors charge? Can you offer more or better free stuff than your
competitors?

9.Differentiate. Take a close look at your
competitors' sites. What do they lack? Set your site apart from theirs by
offering a different mix, more content, better quality--whatever it takes to
rise above the din. And then make sure you tell visitors why your site should be
their first choice.

10.Diversify. Offer your audience as many
different reasons as possible to find your site useful. Offer content, tools,
and services for different levels of expertise, areas of interest, or
professional focus.

Conclusion

By providing a
more useful site, you encourage your visitors to not only return frequently, but
linger. This can greatly increase the chance that they'll become paying
customers. Take the time to carefully assess your site and make changes that
enhance its usefulness. Doing so is one of the best investments you can make in
your Web site and your business.

Carole
Pivarnik manages audience development and affiliate programs for SureCode
Technologies, Inc., which offers fullfeatured, customizable Web databases that
plug right into any site with no programming. target=_blank>http://www.surecode.com

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