If you are struggling with creating an interactive site, follow some of the biggest tips any interactive agency would give you, and incorporate the following into your blog:

Thought Provoking Content

If your blog or site content doesn’t engage your visitors, you can guarantee that they will not stay interested for very long. Site visitors and blog readers want content that is going to inform them or provoke additional thought. They want to be captivated, and if your site isn’t found interesting, you can bet that they will move onto a competitor’s site or pull you off their blog roll.

Social Networking Sites

If you aren’t on social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter, then you are robbing yourself of numerous opportunities to engage potential customers or readers. People like to feel as though they are a part of a community or something bigger than themselves. Having a Facebook FanPage or a Twitter accounts allows them to interact in ways that make them feel as though they are a part of your business or blog.

Media

A great interactive site will have more than just text on it. It will incorporate video, content, and maybe other media tidbits to keep visitors engaged. Videos, in particular, are a great way to keep site visitors interested so both business site and blog owners alike should consider incorporating videos into their posts and articles to keep visitors entertained.

Questions and Comments

Incorporating questions and commentary is a great interactive tactic for both business sites and blogs. With a blog, writers can ask their readerships what their favorite posts were or what they would like to see more of. Businesses can interact with their followers by letting them know when new products are going to be launched or asking them what new products or services they would like to see. Either way, it keeps site visitors interested and coming back more frequently.

Don’t let your great content be wasted because you didn’t take the time to incorporate the occasional video, and don’t let your business site be passed over because a person can’t become a Fan on Facebook. Keep your site’s visitors engaged and coming back again and again by creating a highly interactive site.

1. Use a tagline

- Visitors should immediately be informed about the purpose of your blog. Use a tagline at the top with the title of your blog. Hot diggity blog – A blog about hot dogs. Make sure that all of the post subjects have something to do with hot dogs. The purpose of your blog should be simple and focused.

2. Pick a topic and stick with it

- Every blog post should be at least vaguely related to the main topic. You do not want to confuse your readers as to the purpose of your blog. Make sure that the blog’s topic is broad enough to give you a lot of posts, but narrow enough so that you are not serving cookie cutter content. There is always room for exceptions, but do not make this the rule.

3. Encourage comments

– You will increase readership if you allow your readers to comment and respond to those comments. There are very few bloggers who can get away with a one sided conversation on a social network. Through your readers, you can come up with new posts and new ideas. You want to appear personable.

4. Make subscribing easy

- You want your blog content to be as easily accessible to your visitors. Make sure that there is a huge RSS feed button above the fold available to your readers. These readers should have the option of capturing your content in any way that they choose.

5. Create a great About page

- Take advantage of the space available within your blog. If readers love your blog, they will want to know more about the person behind it. They will want to know about your interests and motivations. Be honest and positive.

6. Provide a Best Of List

- Your readers want more than just a couple of posts. They want to read more than a couple of posts. Give your readers a best of list to refresh some of your older content. You want your viewers to read everything that they can.

7. Give Previous / Next Post Links

– People will often go from one post to the next, or from the first post to the last so they can get the complete story. Let them explore your blog at their leisure by giving them reading options. This is your product which needs to be seen.

8. Provide contact information

- Place your contact information on another page within your blog. Make it incredibly visible to the new user so that they understand how they can get in touch with you. Do not be afraid to post your popular email address to the world. You should allow your users the opportunity to contact you outside of the public blog forum.

9. Use visuals

- People want their content in smaller pieces which is broken up with pictures, block quotes or subheaders. Put some cool looking pictures onto your site which are related to your subject. A great picture is essential for attracting readers and making them stick. Remember that the pictures don’t have to be fancy, they can be stick figures on index cards.

10. Keep advertising unobtrusive

- You want people to be interested in your content before you want people to be interested in Adsense or affiliate banners. You do not want your site to be so advertisement heavy that it makes you seem like you are solely interested in blogging for money. Don’t make your advertisements the primary focus for your blog because that is a great way to lose readers.

You want to make your content as available and sharable as possible. The visitors to your site should be overwhelmed with the creativity and beauty of your content and want to share it everywhere. You will gain more traffic if your blog is usable.

Get Higher Ranking in Google

But, I think I’m missing something. I need more to focus on Search Engine Optimization and Marketing Strategies. Because, search engines like Google, Yahoo! or MSN are changing their indexing algorithm time by time.

As per quote from Steve Wiideman’s (a SEO Consulting Services provider) article “Should You Do Your Own SEO?”

Would you do your own plumbing or electric? Probably not. Deciding on whether to handle your own search engine optimization presents a similar dilemma. There is an exception to the complexity factor, which is if you are in the IT field and are familiar with web scripting, CSS, and comfortable communicating with other website owners to get more visibility to your website.

It’s clear that if you don’t know Obstacle Analysis of your website or blog to determine what focal points on your website or blog are preventing higher positioning in Google, Yahoo! or MSN, then it will be risky job to DIY(do it yourself).

So, I think keeping aside some money for one of good SEO consulting service provider will help you a lot.

What do you think?