The Web spawns catch words and phrases. 'Stickiness' is one of them. The meaning is apparent: keeping visitors 'glued' to your site. A 'sticky' Website attracts visitors to it, and then keeps them on the site for a long time. But the term has its nuances.

Here are three ways stickiness can be measured:

1. by the amount of time a visitor spends on the Website
2. by the number of pages a surfer visits on the site (page views)
3. by the frequency with which a reader returns back to the site later

STICKINESS MEASURE: Time on the Site
If a Website provides excellent in-depth content, a visitor is likely to spend more time there browsing through it. Long feature articles, riveting writing skills or attractive presentation urges a surfer to linger a bit longer.

In contrast a Website that consists only of a collection of Net links quickly put together and interspersed with multiple banner ads is an invitation to the casual surfer to click off the site, right quick!

STICKINESS MEASURE: Page View Count
On an informative well-designed Website, a user will tend to spend more time and learn. Once attracted by the content on any given page, they will be more likely to explore the rest of the site by clicking on other links. The number of page views generated by such a user will be higher than of the casual visitor to a content-poor site, who is more likely to abandon it after one -- or at most a few -- page views.

STICKINESS MEASURE: Repeat visits
In the constantly exploding morass of information that the Web has become, returning back to your Website is the highest tribute a surfer can pay. How many times have you stumbled on to a site that you hoped to explore in greater detail, even book-marked for future reference, but never returned to?

A sticky site that can entice a first-time visitor to return again and again is rare indeed -- but extremely profitable.

STICKINESS VERSUS SITE PURPOSE
At first glance, it might appear that all forms of stickiness are good for the Webmaster. But this is not true. A lot depends on the nature of your site and its purpose.

Here are two examples that might clarify this point:

Let's say your site sells a product, but your potential customer has to click through multiple pages before being able to get all the information required to decide about buying. Your site would be 'sticky' by the "page view count" criterion. But the frustrated customer may not order your product!

Now let's say your site generates revenues primarily from ad banner sales on your Webpages. If you provide valuable content in the form of very long feature articles, your site will be 'sticky' by the "time on site" criterion. But you'll sell fewer banner ad impressions!

LOOKING AT YOUR SITE'S REVENUE MODEL
From these examples it is clear that before deciding upon the method of 'stickiness' you should aim for, you must define your site's revenue models. Broadly speaking, there are two ways most Websites make money:

1. Advertising
2. eCommerce
3. A third way, perhaps, is by 'branding'. But since this occurs indirectly and is very difficult to measure or quantify, I'll not discuss it further.

ADVERTISING SITES If you run a Website based on the advertising revenue model, you should aim for stickiness of the "page view count" kind. Any design layout that will encourage each visitor to your site to keep clicking onto more pages within your site will bring more money into your coffers.

If in addition your site also manages to encourage visitors to keep coming back again and again for more, you've done a wonderful job!

ECOMMERCE SITES Quite in contrast to ad-driven sites, an ecommerce site should have just one focus -- to get the visitor to order your products/services. As a Webmaster, your aim should be to design a site that will guide a visitor smoothly and as quickly as possible through the process of:

• learning about your product or service
• deciding on whether to order it
• completing the order
• This is a situation where conventional 'stickiness' might actually be harmful.
• But don't eCommerce sites need to be sticky?
• They certainly do -- but in a slightly different way. By increasing "time on site".

Surveys of Web surfers suggest that they tend to spend more time on sites they trust. And as a corollary, when they spend more time on a site, they begin to identify more closely with the company, its product / service, and slowly develop a trusting relationship with the Webmaster.

On an eCommerce site, such stickiness will directly translate into more sales since online buyers are much more likely to order from sites they trust and are comfortable with.

Visitors who spend more time on your site also tend to show a greater awareness of your brand. If youÕre lucky they may even become evangelists who spread word about your products, thus increasing your brand awareness.

The 'repeat visit' flavour of stickiness is an added bonus for eCommerce sites. It lets you up-sell your customer another product, probably a costlier one with a higher profit margin. Having once ordered from you and experienced your exceptional customer service -- it is exceptional, isn't it? -- the returning visitor is more inclined to order again.

HOW TO MAKE YOUR SITE STICKY?

1. There is no single answer to this question. Here are some tips that might work for you:
2. Make sure you have excellent content on your site
3. Break up long articles into multi-page features
4. End each page with a 'teaser' that entices the user to click to another section of your site
5. Invite visitors to bookmark your page for future visits
6. Offer visitors a free subscription to a newsletter or announcement list
7. Add a chat room or bulletin board to promote interactivity and generate a feeling of community that keeps visitors returning for more
8. Run contests or polls or surveys, so visitors return to view results
9. Conduct a quiz and provide answers after some time
10. Refresh content on the site regularly to keep visitors entertained and informed
11. Announce discount sales or special offers to existing customers
12. Invite visitors to become registered members
13. Allow people to personalize your site to their needs

In the final analysis, stickiness will depend on the relationship you build with your audience, and the desired result you wish to achieve out of each visitor. If you offer your site visitors the kind of value propositions and an enjoyable experience that keep them coming back for more, it is only a matter of time before you can maximize your revenues from either advertisements or eCommerce.

Success online is all about building sticky relationships.