If you run a business and have a website, you should understand the importance of user engagement. Its important to keep the visitor on your website for long and make him interested to come back again and create enough interest to make him buy your product or service. Lets list few ways to increase user engagement on your site. These ways are easy to implement even if you do not have expert knowledge of on-site optimization.

Listed below are some of the ideas that you can use to hook your readers so they would not want to leave your website.

1. Website Search Box

Have a search box clearly visible on every page of your website. Your website may have a wealth of quality content, but this will not be appreciated by your visitors if they get lost in a pile of articles.

2. Social Media Buttons

Social media is in thing today and helps a lot in the promotion of your website. Let your website visitors “like,” “share,” “tweet,” “reblog,” your content by providing social media buttons on your website.

3. Comment Platforms

Let your website visitors post their thoughts about your articles, products, offers etc. right after reading the content. Indulge your visitors by activating a comment platform at the bottom of your article. Make sure to take out some time to join the conversation, answer questions or simply talk to your readers to get to know them better.

4. Videos

People usually get tired of reading. Even your most loyal clients would sometime want to take a break from online reading and commenting. This is when they start looking for something different. To meet such need, upload videos that are consistent with your brand and relevant to your clients. You also have to make sure your videos are enjoyable to watch and, if possible, educational.

5. Popular Posts Widget

Assuming that your website’s content is of good quality, you can expect clients will visit regularly, looking for more. The question is how do you engage those who are new to your domain? One way to guide them around your website is by posting a popular posts widget.

This will direct clients to the posts that have the most views and reactions from fellow readers. When your clients see that your articles get a lot of love from other readers, it is likely they will spend time reading them too.

6. Related Content Plugin

Similar to the popular posts widget, the related content plugin will direct your readers to your website’s other content. The only difference is that this particular plugin is not limited to listing your website’s most popular posts, it also includes related articles via categories and tags.

Run this plugin to help your clients read more about a specific topic they need without having to leave your website.

7. Color Palettes

This is the first impression any visitor will have of your website. To create a good impression of your website to the visitor, it is crucial your website complements your brand and the services you offer. Make sure your readers have a good user experience when going through your pages. You also have to take into consideration the colors, layout and even fonts that will appeal to your target market. After all, they are the ones who will spend the most time on your website.

8. Lists, Tips and Advice

Publishing quality articles is good, but not all readers have a ton of time to read. Casual visitors or even avid readers will definitely ignore chunks of text unless they’re actually following your posts.

What you can do is offer these readers some lists, tips and advice written and formatted in a way that is easy to read and understand. Put them up on spaces of your website where they will neither be ignored nor seen as a nuisance when reading the longer articles.

9. E-mail Opt-in Box

For clients who check their e-mail regularly, it could be more convenient to receive alerts in their inbox rather than check various sites everyday. Accommodate this demand by placing an e-mail opt-in box on your website. This way, your readers can still be updated on what’s new even if they don’t get to access the website directly.

10. Surveys

Surveys are among the tried and tested methods as far as research and data gathering is concerned. Every once in a while, release either a poll or a set of questions that is relevant to your clients and to the services you provide.

Doing so will not only allow you to get to know your clients better, you can also serve them better once you know what best tickles their fancy.