3 Ways to Spike Your Sites Content

by Monique Harris

Yeah, yeah, yeah... we all know that "great content" holds the interest of visitors who have the ability to click, click their way around the Web. But let's face it, not all content is created equally.

Most content sucks. That's a point blank fact. You know it. I know it. That's why we're such a click-happy society.

Great content is no longer a well-written article, or a list of frequently asked questions, or links galore. Visitors have grown much more savvy. The question is, has your content evolved?

Here are 3 ways to make your content more spicy...

1) Be controversial.

A radio talk show host rarely becomes famous, unless they have some off-the-wall, or cocky attitude. Entertainers who dress wildly, often get more attention than those who don't. The lesson to learn here?

Sometimes you gotta be a little wild to get your point across. (Especially if you run a one-person operation, and you want to be noticed.)

Do you have an unusual opinion or theory about something? Instead of writing nice, neat little tip articles in your e-zine, talk about your competitors... talk about things happening in your industry... let your readers know if you think something is bad.

The more honest you are, the more people will love you.

2) Add more of what your visitors want.

The only way to know what your visitors are truly interested in, is by monitoring their behavior as they visit your site.

In other words, put some kind of tracking program on your site, and examine the stats daily. A tracking program will tell you which pages are the most popular... how long your visitors stay on a particular page... and so on.

Knowing this information will allow you to include more popular features on your site.

FYI- Some popular tracking programs include:

* Webtrends http://www.webtrends.com

* HitBox http://www.hitbox.com

* Extreme Tracking http://www.extreme-dm.com/tracking/

3) Use a multimedia element.

I recently started a site that features RealAudio tips on a daily basis. One thing I quickly noticed - (after examining the stats from my tracking program) - is how much people enjoy audio, versus text.

Three weeks after putting the site up, almost 15% of my visitors had re-visited the site between 10-24 times. It's hard to generate that type of interest from straight text articles.

You can follow in my footsteps, and do a daily 1-minute tip. (I also have 12-minute interviews.) Or you can read your print articles aloud, and put the audio files on your site.

FYI - The most common way to encode audio for Web sites is through RealAudio, http://www.realaudio.com .

Monique Harris is the host of the syndicated radio show, the "Netting Dollars Daily Tip." Get dozens of ideas to help you make - and save - money online, by going to http://www.NettingDollars.com .