Today’s post if from a guest author. He refers to features that can enhance a website, however, for many of us our blog is our “website” so I wanted to share these ideas with you. The key to adding features as well is to know your audience and which will work in building a relationship with them and keeping them on your site. Enjoy!

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If you want to create a website that’s going to stand out then you should think about more than just the way it looks and the color scheme. You also need to think about what the site actually offers and what the visitor who comes to your pages will get for their trouble. Of course the obvious answer to this is probably in most cases ‘content’ which is the main thing provided by most websites. However if you’ve only ever considered offering text on your website and things to read then there’s a good chance you’re missing out on just what your site could be. Here we will look at some other things you can use to make your site more exciting and interesting to visitors.

Web Apps

‘Apps’ are all the rage at the moment and it’s a big buzz word online. However most of us still think of these as something you get for your phone or perhaps a tablet computer, and we don’t think about offering them as part of our website. This is a mistake though as the right apps can bring a lot to a web page if you know how to make the most of them and they can help to keep visitors on your site longer. When someone uses an app you see they are getting a much more interactive experience that keeps them involved with questions or options – which means unlike an article they won’t just get to the end and leave.

Forums

Forums are one of the more common features to find on a website and a lot of different sites offer these. This is for good reason though, and there are many good arguments for having forums on your website. For one they give people lots of good reasons to stay on your site and to look around – by enabling them to get answers to specific questions as well as to create relationships and have conversations with new people. At the same time though, forums also give your site a way of generating its own unique content without your having to do any work; if your forum becomes big enough your site can become practically self-sustaining.

Games

We’ve looked at the possibility of adding apps to your site, but what about games? Java games or Flash games can give your site another interactive feature that at the same time can be addictive enough to make it hard for your guests to leave. Furthermore games on a site are light hearted and an enjoyable feature that will put your readers in a good mood.

Music

Music is a controversial idea on websites as it can be annoyingly distracting. However if you give the option to turn it on (with off as the default) then it won’t get in the way and it might help to set the mood you want for your site. Again it can help to keep your traffic for longer too – as if they’re enjoying the music there’s a chance they’ll want to find more to read so that they can continue to enjoy it. Just make sure that you have the rights to any music you do include.

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Bren Hammel is a blogger and webmaster. He thinks making an app can bring a lot more tablet traffic to your website and features like forums can increase loyalty of your users. He works with a Web Design Newcastle firm and has written a lot of useful posts for webmasters.