A client and friend whose websites we haven’t officially launched yet despite my pleas to him to do so (yes, Scott Buel, I’m talking about you!) will send me updates periodically to let me know where in the process he is. We talk about websites, how to get noticed, and how to make them successful.

One of the things I’ve come to realize in talking with him is that the best websites are an ongoing conversation. Those are the websites that people keep coming back to over and over again. Liz from Successful-Blog.com calls it Relationship Blogging, though it certainly isn’t limited to blogs. Some people call it Web 2.0, some call it interaction, some just do it and don’t call it anything at all.

One of the people who does it best is Robin Brande, a young adult author whose website I designed. Her site was launched, if memory serves, last April, so it’s still fairly young, not yet a year old. When she first started writing her only readers were neighbors, friends and me. I’d comment and she’d drop me an email to thank me for my comment, and NOT respond on her blog. I pointed out to her that her response to me should instead be posted on her blog and start the conversation rolling, and she paid me the ULTIMATE compliment, and showed me the UTMOST respect by taking my advice, a gift I have truly treasured. If you visit Robin’s conversation aka her website now, you’ll see that most of her posts have 20-30 comments, and some have many more. She’s also taken her conversation to the blogs of other people who comment on hers. It’s become a lively and fun place on the web to visit, with many of the folks contributing there involved in the publishing, writing, reading, and selling of books– a true web community. The most awesome thing is that she’s managed this BEFORE her book has even been released. The publicity machine is just firing up for her book release, and she’s going to be shocked when she sees how that conversation grows!

I, for one, can’t wait to buy Robin’s book, based on the writing I see on her blog. And I’m sure her publisher’s publicists are just as thrilled as I am, since when the book is released the soon to be Robin Brande fans will have a LOT of great stuff to read, laugh at, cry over and interact with. I love it when someone takes the tools I’ve given them and dressed up for them and goes on to create something wonderful. Robin, you’ve done just that. Thank you. You have no clue how many times I’ve held you up as an example for other clients to emulate if they want to succeed. For those of you curious about the book, it’s Evolution, Me, and Other Freaks of Nature, and will be out in August.

This web conversation, and the ensuing web relationships, I speak of does not have to limit itself to just a blog setting. Even shopping carts have review sections! Testimonials are another part of the conversation. Forums are an ongoing one. And the conversation does not have to be just on your own site for it to be successful. Carrying the conversation to other sites where it’s appropriate is a great way for all sharing in it to benefit. One way to do that is by linking back to those involved in the conversation, the way I just linked to Liz and Robin, which, if linked to a specific post on blogs set up that way, will register on those blogs as a trackback, something that should show up on Liz’s post re her upcoming conference on Relationship Blogging. Another way is to comment on other’s posts on a similar subject with a link back to the post you made about the same thing. Another client has just launched a gardening site which asks visitors for their favorite gardening tips and includes an upcoming events calendar which is being used for a planting and gardening guide for the region in which Neil’s brick and mortar location resides. He’s also started a Question and Answer section, where people can get gardening help. We launched this site a very short time ago, and he’s already made a couple sales from the shopping cart! As his conversation grows and people find out what a treasure of gardening information he is, I’m sure his business and website will grow as green as his garden.

By carrying on a conversation you create a more interesting site that people will want to return to simply to see what happens next.

Technorati Tags: Blogging, SEO, Web Relationships

This entry was posted on Thursday, March 1st, 2007 at 2:05 pmunder SEO, Web Design and . Comment RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.