Young Entrepreneur Council — November 13, 2019 If you think your business could be viewed as complicated or boring to people unfamiliar with your industry, you may believe you’ll never be able to compete with website engagement rates seen by more “exciting” companies, such as ones in tech and retail. However, no matter what you’re selling or offering, there are ways to make your web content interesting and engaging. Young Entrepreneur Council members provided the following responses:
What can businesses in less-interesting or exciting industries do to encourage engagement from site visitors?
1. Interactive Content
Even the most complicated and difficult-to-understand topics can be made fun and easy with interactive content. Creating a contest, or using infographics, quizzes and other types of interactive content engages visitors. It gives them something to play with and uses their input to create content. There are many free tools available that make it easy for businesses to create interactive content too. – Blair Williams, MemberPress
2. Live Chat
Using live chat on your website is an effective way to get people engaged on your website. You can create a prompt that appears in a chat window that encourages users to ask questions. When you create real and personalized communication with your business, you’ll get the visitor’s attention. This works well for even those websites focusing on complicated and less-interesting topics. – Syed Balkhi, WPBeginner
3. Gamification
Gaming has always been popular, but now it’s seeping into the marketing industry as well to catch consumers’ attention and create a fun experience. When you add gaming elements to your website, it turns it into an interactive experience where users feel engaged with your brand. This helps to generate sales, build brand awareness, grow your email list and more. – Stephanie Wells, Formidable Forms
4. Elements Designed for Your Target Market
Businesses in even in the least-interesting spaces have parts that interest some people. Whether it’s toilet innovation in the sanitation market or concrete formulas in the construction space, some people care. So, build the website for them. Highlight what they care about. Call them to action with relevant offers. Engagement will jump because you’re focusing on what matters to your market. – Adam Guild, Placepull
5. Visuals
You can typically get more engagement from site visitors regarding boring industries by adding visuals to your content. Whether it’s videos, webinars or other avenues, site visitors will engage more when they have something to look at rather than just read. This approach works well because you give your audience more opportunities to engage. – Andrew Schrage, Money Crashers Personal Finance
6. Content That Appeals to Industry Outsiders
Just because an industry is less-interesting doesn’t mean people don’t have questions about it. Figure out what people wonder about it and what angles that touch people in their everyday lives, and then create good Q&A content that delves into plain-English explanations that are short and to the point. The key is creating content that appeals to outsiders rather than someone who already knows you well. – Ryan D Matzner, Fueled
7. The Most Interesting Elements of Your Business
Businesses in industries most consider boring are not necessarily boring businesses. On the contrary, there is something interesting or exciting about most, if not all, companies. If you run a business in a less-interesting industry, hone in on the aspects of your business that are especially compelling — particularly in the eyes of potential customers — and amplify them on and off of your site. – Adam Mendler, The Veloz Group
8. Relevant Content That Speaks to What Users Are Looking for on Your Site
If your site is generating organic traffic irrespective of the niche, it’s a good sign. Find out the reason people are visiting your website, what information they look for, what problem they face and then set out creating engaging content for them. The website design, UX and other factors are secondary to the value you deliver to the visitors. Content is the key to visitor engagement. – Rahul Varshneya, CurveBreak
9. A Review Platform
Review platforms are incredibly engaging because everyone loves leaving their two cents. Allow them to leave their honest thoughts on service providers (or equipment, etc.) in your industry, and you’ll find that visitors come back time and time again to not only leave their thoughts but read others’ before making a purchase decision. – Yaniv Masjedi, Nextiva
10. A Great UX
If your website’s UX doesn’t cater to visitors, then your engagement rate is going to be poor. No one wants to stick around for a website whose homepage takes 10 minutes to load, so it’s crucial to provide simple navigation so that it’s easy for users to engage with your content. – Jared Atchison, WPForms
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