July 20th, 2010 by Susie

If you want your site to be brilliant at attracting and retaining users, aiming for a community atmosphere is a shrewd move. It can mean that users are welcomed to the site by regular visitors. It can lead to copious amounts of user generated content. In addition, it can stop a site from appearing sterile and bland. Furthermore, a site which successfully establishes a virtual community is much more likely to have a high conversion rate than one which does not. So it makes sense to provide a diversity of incentives to ensure that users come back frequently. Amidst all the positives about developing a virtual community, it is easy to forget that it can sometimes lead to the odd problem or two. Moreover, ‘one size does not fill all’ and not every site needs to go down the community route.

At Searchengineoptimization.co.uk we not only assist our clients with effective SEO campaigns, but we also can deliver social media marketing which ticks all the required boxes. It is also the case that we provide thoughtful SEO tips which are relevant to a variety of sites.

It is easy to see why so many experts focus on the positive aspects of community development in their articles. There are undoubtedly multiple advantages for sites which do house vibrant communities. These communities can be gradually lured on to a site. Competitions, free gifts, special offers and less tangible incentives can be powerful draws for users who are interested in what the site is about. Guest blogs can add excellent SEO content to your site, while simply responding with courtesy to comments on your own blogs can make users feel ‘wanted.’ If you can get users engaged in vigorous debates between each other, they will spend more time on the site concerned. The setting up of a forum may be a good way of answering relevant questions which are not Frequently Asked Questions.

However, it is important to remember at least two potential problems with what could become ‘community excess.’ The first, and most obvious, problem is that hosting a forum can lead to a large obligation in terms of moderating comments. Any offensive material has to be removed. If dubious material is left on a site it could deter other users from making a repeat visit or a purchase. Even ensuring that guest blogs are of the right quality can be a bit of a chore. Not every site needs to be a home to a ‘talkative’ bunch of users, some ecommerce sites work well by sticking to functionality and aesthetics. The second difficulty is that a site can become a place where users are too easily distracted from what the site owner wants them to do. There is not much point in them lingering on the site for hours if they ignore the advertisements and never make any purchases.

In some ways a site can be thought of as being a bit like a restaurant. It is important to establish a welcoming and convivial environment, but consumers have to be subtly encouraged to do things which contribute to company profits.

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