How Can I Improve My Web Site's Stickiness?

How can you make your web site sticky? Put another way, what can you do to make visitors want to stay (stick) on your web site instead of clicking away. (See our May 31 blog post for a definition of stickiness and why it's important.)

A sticky website immediately attracts the attention of the visitor and entices him to stay. Incorporating the following elements in your web site will improve its stickiness:

• Content. Interesting and creative content that immediately addresses the user's reason for visiting the site and encourages him to explore further is the key to creating a sticky web site. Know and write for your target audience.


• Organization. A well organized and uncluttered site that allows the user to immediately find what he's looking for and go there easily will encourage the user to explore further. Be guided by the KISS principle (keep it simple stupid!).


• Navigation. Make navigation to other parts of the site easy by using intuitive navigation and extensive hypertext cross-references.


• Interaction. The ability to interact both with the site and other users will help the user to develop a relationship with your site and keep him coming back to find out what's new. Try adding some of these elements to make your site interactive: personalization, discussion groups, user feedback, message board, games.


• Expertise. Become the go-to expert in your field. Post articles and white papers and link to other sites and articles to increase your exposure. Offer a free email newsletter. It will help build your relationship with site visitors and get them to return for new info.


• Sharing. Make it easy for visitors to let friends know about your site. Add an "email this page to a friend" link.


• Inventory. If you sell a product, provide an online inventory with pictures so users can see what you're selling.


• Forms. Use online forms to make it easy for the user to order a product or request a contact.


• Updates. Update your site regularly (at least monthly) so there's always something new when the user visits. He'll keep coming back to find out what's new. Newsletters, inventory, special offers, interactive features are all easy ways to create new content.


• Structure. Make sure any visitor can view and navigate around your site by designing the site in pure HTML with no obscure plug-ins. Use only the most common plug-ins for audio and video. Users who can't see or use all of the elements on your site will become frustrated and click away.


• Search engines. Optimize your site for search engines to help more users find it. Don't bother to list your site with every minor search engine, stick to the top ten as these are the ones most visitors use.


• Don'ts. Don't spam and don't sell user information. After all, you want your relationship with site users to be positive, not negative.

Want to check out some excellent examples of sticky sites? Try these: Amazon, Yahoo, Excite.