Martin Reed – Blog Author from CommunitySpark.com

Starting a new online community is a huge challenge. Not only do you need to attract visitors and convert them into members, you also need to ensure they return to your website frequently and get involved.

Never think that once a visitor has become a member of your site, your work is done. You need to ensure that every person that visits your site will remember it. By keeping your site in their minds, they are far more likely to return and get involved.

Never let the visitor forget your community

You may think it odd for someone to take the time to register at your community then never return. Unfortunately this happens extremely often. Sometimes you will even find new members begin to post, then simply vanish without explanation or reason.

It is your job, as a community developer, to ensure that this doesn’t happen. You need to make sure that once someone visits your site, they find it almost impossible to forget about you. If they can’t forget about you, they won’t be able to resist returning and contributing.

For your community to be successful, it needs to be like a drug.

Methods to ensure a visitor remembers your community

The most important method of ensuring a visitor remembers your community is to have unique, compelling content. If your content isn’t up to scratch, a visitor will not remember your website.

Similarly, if your site looks like everyone else’s you can hardly expect a visitor to remember your community. Ensure you customise your design, have a strong brand and use a good domain name.

Remember that behind every user name is a real person. When addressing a member, use their name. Ask them for their thoughts and opinions. Engage with them and form a relationship with them. Not many online communities pay such individual attention to their members these days – be the one that stands out and ensure that you are remembered.

Have an opt-in newsletter; send out interesting and unique content to your subscribers each month. Make sure you include content in your newsletter that will encourage readers to click and return to your community.

Make it a challenge: refuse to allow your visitors to forget about your site.

Original article and conversation posted at http://www.communityspark.com/your-online-community-should-be-a-drug/