Interactive websites

All websites are interactive because users must click links to navigate to different parts of the site. But to encourage users to engage in a conversation requires a more inviting approach. If you enable users to contribute directly to your website, you express an interest in their views and your openness inspires a certain confidence. You can vary the degree of access depending on the user and the content, and you can reward "active" users with additional profile and roles.

If you want to add interactive publishing to your website, you need to consider a number of things:
New website or add to existing site?
What content will be used to seed the conversation?
Who will manage and steer the conversation?
Can you maintain the momentum?

New or existing website
If your existing website is static, do you want to keep this content and add an interactive section, such as a blog or wiki, or do you want a brand new website where you can add interactivity at every level? Adding a blog or wiki to an existing website can be a quick and cost-effective way to start engaging with your users. The impact on your existing website can be minimal, simply requiring the addition of a link to this section on your existing navigation menus.

However, if you want to drive the conversation, you will probably want to present highlights on your front page to bring it to the attention of all your visitors. Therefore, at some point, you will probably want to replace your home page with a design that is suited to dynamic updates of information.

Assuming that the conversation is growing and loyal users are contributing, you may decide that a complete redesign is necessary to enable the degree of user participation you desire. If you are confident that you can sustain this degree of engagement with users, it is probably worth considering a redesign from the outset.

The cost of a website which uses a content management system (CMS) need not be prohibitive. In the past, many web designers have offered CMS solutions which based on proprietary software that locked you into that provider if you wanted to update your services. At Peann, we use Drupal, a free CMS that uses open standards and formats and has a very large community of developers. If, in the future, you want to change your supplier, you will be able to make a quick and easy transition to one of a myriad of other Drupal developers available.