“Come in. Take a good look around. And please do touch.” A good Interactive Website will encourage all this, without ever screaming it out. So what makes for an irresistible little Interactive site, one that'll keep your customers informed, amused and constantly engaged? And have them coming back for more! Right from design cues and appropriate content, to better search recognition tools, read on to find out some of the tricks of the trade:

• Don't let it take more than 4 seconds for people to figure out what your site is about.
• Let all design cues point towards one focal point on the home page.
• Even with loads of colors, ensure credibility for your company with a few 'formal' cues.
• Create an atmosphere of trust with certain familiar design cues.
• Ensure that none of the pages take forever to load.
• Be brutal with all unnecessary design elements – do you really need that smiley face?
• Don't make visitors scroll down the screen to gather info on the home page.
• Dark type set against a light background facilitates easy, friendlier reading.
• People relate better to images of people looking directly at them.
• People do not relate to super-models with perfect teeth telling them “how much we care.”
• When selling a product, use thumbnails that open up to a larger, detailed photograph.
• In most cases, splash pages are a no-no, better left to shady websites.
• Unless your client's the Tele Tubbies, don't get cute with the Web branding.
• Unless you're BMG Crescendo, don't have music playing automatically in the background.
• Images in the middle of a page can halt the thought chain of a visitor.
• People respond better to pictures that provide useful information, not just decoration.
• Don't pop-up windows irritate you? Then why would you inflict them on your visitors?
  

• Before going live with the site, test-run it in its entirety to filter out crucial design mistakes.
• Dead links are right up there with legwarmers as this season's major faux pax.
• Your site's navigation bar should tell viewers where they are, and where they're headed.
• From anywhere on the site, it should be easy to get back to the home page.
• Sideways Navigation has the curious ability of putting most people off.
• Ensure consistency from page to page.
• Category and subcategory divisions make it much easier for people to explore your site.
• People appreciate Navigation graphics of the same size/ colour, as opposed to graffiti art.

• When there's less on a page, visitors tend to read more.
• Make sure the copy isn't too small or too large.
• All-caps is paramount to getting in a person's ear and SHOUTING THEIR HEAD OFF.
• Don't use centered text all over the place.
• Ditto, with justified text.
• The first 2 words of a sentence are what most viewers will read – make sure they count.

• Who you are, what you do and how people can reach you – let this be priority 1.
• Deal in plain-speak, leave marketing jargon at the door.
• It's called the World Wide Web for a reason – make sure your content won't be considered offensive to international audiences.
• Make the content addictive, engaging the audience in a 1-on-1.
• Don't transfer words written for print verbatim onto the web.
• List a physical address, make people know you're for real.
• Don't ask potential clients to fill out a form without giving a substantial reason.
• Hire an editor to go through the entire site with a tooth-comb.
• Make sure your site has a privacy/legal statement page – it's your virtual safety net.
  

• Getting your site to show up on the very first page of a Google search result is the Everest you need to aim for. How can you expect a new segment of people to grow your business, if they can't find it in the first place? Here are a few hints that can help you along the way.
  
• Choosing the right keywords is paramount to getting picked up by major search engines.
  
• Ensure that the Meta-tag (invisible tags on every page which search engines pick up while determining a page’s ranking) on every page of your site contains specific, relevant keywords.
  
• Think specific unique keyword phrases, not generalized keywords that would be used by everyone out there.
  Put yourself in the shoes of your target audience when focusing on keywords.
  
• Make sure the 'title tag' of your page is a real killer!
  
• Use appropriate, interesting keyword phrases in the copy as well, because that is what search engines are on the look-out for too.
  
• Graphics don't do much to help a website get discovered by search engines, so go slow on them.
  
• Text embedded in a graphic won't be picked up by search engines.
  
• Even with a local business, make sure you mention the entire geographic area you serve in text on the site.
  
• Create a buzz, that generates its own traffic. Increase the number of sites that link to yours, be an active participant on various blogs, get the word out there!
  

Information and inspiration gleaned from

www.online.wsj.com
http://www.usatoday.com
www.seattletimes.com,
www.webpagesthatsuck.com,
www.submit-it.com,
and the words of Jakob Nielsen.