Today, almost every company in the world has a website. With a staggering 455 Million, and rising, built using WordPress. This means that the WordPress market share is now around 35%. You basically don’t exist in the online world without a website. That said, the online market is highly saturated with all kinds of websites, and consumers comb through them every day.

In most cases, they’ll abandon a website straight away. But why is that? Over the years, consumers developed certain expectations, needs, preferences and demands when it comes to browsing websites. Websites that don’t meet certain criteria are left abandoned.

Simply put, consumers want interactive websites. Therefore, if you plan on creating your website, you should keep that little fact in mind before you proceed. Otherwise, your website won’t get as much organic traffic as you’d hoped it would.

Online consumers have seen pretty much everything a lot of companies have to offer in terms of website design. That’s why it’s time to get creative. With that in mind, here are a few tips for building interactive and a highly engaging website.

Include relevant content

The fact of the matter is that content is the foundation for your website. However, not just any content will do. Irrelevant content is the number one reason consumers will not engage with your website. Therefore, make your content highly relevant.

You can achieve this by researching your target audience so that you can understand their needs and expectations. Furthermore, make your content informative, educational and entertaining so that consumers have a valuable reason to engage with it. After all, content is valuable to consumers because it gives them something without asking anything in return.

Lastly, use different content formats. Relaying on articles alone can be good, but articles are not everyone’s cup of tea. That said, try various other formats, such as images, videos, infographics, webinars etc. The important thing is that you strive to publish original content as much as possible.

Social sharing buttons

The thing about good content is that consumers want to share it with their friends and family, especially on social media networks. To make your website more interactive and engaging, make that sharing process as seamless as possible.

The best way to go about it is to add social sharing buttons on your website. This doesn’t apply for just content. In fact, you should have social sharing buttons on all other pages, including product pages if you happen to sell something on your website. If you have a WordPress-powered website, you can add social sharing buttons as a plug-in. If not, you’ll have to incorporate those into the web design early on.

However, if you want to do it on your own, you might consider taking a few online IT courses to help you specialize and acquire specific skills. This is also a two-way street as consumers engage with your content on your website while you engage with them on social media. That’s why you should link your website to popular social media platforms.

Include interactive activities

There’s not much to do on a website aside from exploring content or browsing through products or services. There’s not much interactivity there unless you make it more interactive. By including interactive activities, such as polls, quizzes, surveys, stories and so on, you can make a seemingly dull website much more interactive and engaging.

Online consumers like these sort of activities and they will participate if the activity looks engaging enough. Having a WordPress-powered website really helps in such matters. For example, WP allows you to modify your website design on-demand instead of having to modify the code yourself or having to hire a developer to do it for you.

WP website allows you to use either a third-party platform or a plug-in. Through these interactive activities, you can gather valuable information about website visitors and their preferences. You can even use that data to grow and segment your email list as part of a lead generation strategy.

Leverage Gamification 

Simply put, gamification refers to implementing game-like elements in a non-game environment. It’s basically a psychological trick a lot of website owners leverage to boost interactivity and conversion rates. Here’s an example: Consumers spin a virtual wheel filled with promotions and discounts, and they win a corresponding reward.

To claim their reward, they will have to sign up for an email newsletter, for instance. This is a very good way to encourage consumers and website visitors to engage with your website. It’s also a good way to lead them down your sales funnel or encourage them to explore your website further, at the very least.

Such seamless, yet fun elements on your website can really get the consumers going in terms of engagement. After all, a discount is considered valuable these days. When using gamification, make sure it’s tasteful and well-designed so that you encourage consumers to interact with it instead of forcing them to bounce off.

Leverage user-generated content

When consumers engage with your website in any way, especially if they comment on your content or provide some kind of feedback, it’s a good idea to show appreciation. That way you show that you value that engagement and you encourage consumers to engage even more. The best example of this is leveraging user-generated content.

For instance, you can write blog posts based on user comments or reviews. This sends out a signal to consumers that their effort didn’t go unnoticed and that their effort is appreciated as well. Another example of user-generated content is to create a testimonial page.

That way, you allow consumers to express their experience with your website, as well as express their opinions. Positive user reviews can also serve as a powerful marketing strategy as word-of-mouth recommendations can go a long way for new websites. Consumers tend to trust such reviews as much as they’d trust personal recommendations from friends or family.

Creating an interactive and highly engaging website can be challenging, indeed. There are numerous websites out there trying to do the same. However, with a bit of creativity and innovation, you can make your website truly stand out and encourage consumers to engage with it.