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3 Ways JavaScript Can Make Your Website More Engaging

 Denver Marketing Firm

Imagine a visitor just landed on your site, they spend 10 seconds scanning around and then quickly close the page to go search for a different website.

What happened?

Is your website too plain? Did they not find what they were looking for? In most cases they were simply not properly invited to engage with your content. Even the most interesting and relevant content will be passed up and/or missed if found within a mind-numbingly lackluster website.

Why should you care?

According to Tony Haile of Chartbeat, getting visitors to visit your website is no longer enough as, increasingly, more sites shift their focus towards retaining visitors and not just getting views or “clicks.” In the world of Inbound Marketing content is king, which means keeping visitors and having them spend time becoming familiar with your content should be one of your top priorities.

What can you do?

Most websites today are created using a combination of HTML, CSS and JavaScript. HTML controls content, CSS adds a consistent look-and-feel and JavaScript controls the interactions that users can have with the content. JavaScript is where the opportunity to increase time spent with your brand can be maximized.

JavaScript has grown to become one of the most popular programming languages used today. The “scripts,” or programming instructions, are used to give the website access to prebuilt components that make static pages become interactive. While learning about JavaScript can seem daunting, arming yourself with this information is an important first step to feel more confident when discussing how to revise your site with a professional web designer.

Not sure where to start?

Here are three JavaScript features you can use to update your website and help increase visitor engagement.

1) Image Galleries

Image galleries are a great way to showcase previous or current work to get attention and help increase engagement from even the most demanding visitor. The type of images should be tailored to your visitors and can range in quantity.

Whether using a simple slideshow with accompanying information or a more complicated Pinterest board, there are many ways that JavaScript can help incorporate images on any website. If applicable, providing the ability for user-content to be added is an additional step that can yield great results.

2) Slide-In Call-To-Action

Historically, call-to-action (CTA) buttons have lived in very specific locations within a webpage. However, many studies have concluded that most online visitors will completely ignore these traditional placements. One of the most effective ways to mitigate the “blinders” scenario is to move the CTAs.

A properly placed slide-in call-to-action – with the correct content – will create an opportunity to gain trust and more information about your visitors. Sample ways to use slide-in CTAs include: ebook offers, informative newsletter signup, or visitor opinion requests.

3) Content Personalization

How likely are you to open an envelope addressed to “Resident?” How about one with your full name? Have you ever been invited to download an app when viewing a website on your iPhone? Or had your keywords listed after clicking on a search link? All of these (and many more) functions are made possible with the use of JavaScript. We’ve mentioned before that personalization is going to be very important in 2015. That fact makes this feature a very critical one to implement.

Additional ways that JavaScript can help personalize the user experience for your website include:

  • Geolocation: provides the ability to know where a visitor is currently located
  • Cross-site integration: provides the ability to connect with third-party websites that already contain additional information about your visitor and use some of it on your pages. (i.e. social media networks, and forums)
  • Language preference detection: allows you to obtain the language preference set directly in the browser the visitor is using to view your site
  • Visitation counts: provides the ability to keep track of the number of unique visits by individuals, which can be used to provide personalized offers
  • Referring website or search engine (including search term): provides the ability to include this information in your website or create offers for visitors of partner websites

We live in a time where we are all overloaded with information on a daily basis; finding ways to update your website to invite engagement from visitors is becoming critical. The longer someone spends interacting with your content, the more exposure that they get to your brand. This exposure will likely increase recollection when it comes time to close and they are ready to purchase.  Don’t let the potential marketing opportunities from these changes pass you by.

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