How the Best in Content Keeps Users Coming Back

Building a website may seem like one of those things that just gets eyes rolling. “So 2002,” some might say, looking instead to augmenting a social media profile or focusing on a mobile-optimized site. While these all have advantages to consider, the idea of building a regular desktop website isn't a bad idea these days, and can offer some significant advantages all its own. But a regular desktop site runs on content, and content can be a difficult thing to do, particularly so to do well. There are, however, a few simple points to consider to make the best content: the kind that keeps users coming back.

Indeed, this is the point of having a website in the first place: users that come back for more. Used properly a website can actually serve as a means to drive users to a social media presence or to a mobile site, and the three systems can work together in aid of promoting a business, whether or not that site has a product to sell. Keeping users coming back, however, requires that said users have a reason to do just that, and that means not only content, but also content that reoccurs regularly.

Those concerned about putting out that kind of content, however, need only consider one critical point: it's not specifically necessary to tell a new story every day, so much as it is necessary to tell something different every day, meaning that the same story can be used a few times over, but with some critical differences attached.

Naturally, this approach will be different for every business, because every business has a different stock in trade. But there are always sufficient differences within every business to make it possible to derive several different stories therein. A farm, for example, might bring in a chef to offer recipes for certain breeds of farm-fresh produce. A bookstore might talk about writing books as well as reading books, or accomplishing self-publishing. A plumbing supplier might offer pictures or video of the world's greatest fountains and offer some commentary on how same work, and the list goes on.

That's just the start, though; website analytics tools can chip in some value here, telling users just where the real value is had in the content. Do the viewers like video or photos? That little thing you do on Fridays where you tell funny stories from the business?  Figuring out what the users like to see most means that more of that can be done, which draws in more return viewers and potentially more new ones as word spreads about just what's going on. People tend to enjoy sending links to online friends; “go check this out!” followed by a link is a fairly common matter online.

The key takeaway here, however, is that the content engages the user. If the user likes what is found on the site, the user will come back in hopes of getting more of it. That's not easy to do, and will require more than a little experimentation. But once that mix is achieved, and the users get more involved, that opens up opportunities in terms of getting users in and interested in the site and what it has to offer, whether it's a product for sale or just a way to get users together. Quality content is the key, and plenty of it, so look around, see what's available, and get it out there where people can enjoy it.