will using "to be continued..." on a site make people come back?

[dwidmer]

Hi

I'm trying to figure out what kind of content my target group (15 to 23 years of age) would like.

I was thinking of travel reports from people that are currently in a foreign country. This story could be under constant development and have people come back to my site.

What are your experiences with "to be continued" stories on websites? Will people come back?

Dan

[BlueSky]

I don't know about continuing stories but that age range really loves forums...particularly game-type ones. The subject might not even matter as long as you offered forums. They love hanging out and chatting on them.

[jbinbpt]

My experience with this is that it can work only if the content refreshes often. Users will be put off with stale content. Putting up a time element up for users will help hold interest. Such as “last updated on ********” or “More next week” and stick to it. Especially for that age group.

I had a “Hints and New Uses for Widgets” page that I buried because I felt the feed source wasn’t active enough.

News pages should be new news and old news is archive.
My 2 cents worth

jb

[dwidmer]

Thanks for your ideas. I'm not too sure whether a forum would be a good idea. Of course, people love to chit-chat, but this also poses a security risk for my site. (Not technologically, but it's content). Competitors could go to the message board and write false statements about our organization. This could ruin our little non-profit organization in no time. That's why we probably can't put a message board online.

I was thinking of other types of content which could attract young people (16-23):

- free short messages to cell phones (=> would cost us a fortune, but would be great advertising)
- using flash animations to present our programs
- using video streaming to present our programs
- using funny texts (without damaging our organization's reputation)

could you think of any other content to attract young people?

Dan

[Jenstar]

I will also say message boards. Read this thread [webmasterworld.com] on message boards. They are a great way to make your site sticky - keeping people on your site longer, and get them back repeatedly. Hire a moderator or two to keep an eye on things if you are worried about what people might post, or require new members to have their first 10 or 20 posts moderated (ie. have a mod approve them before they go live on the message boards, until they "prove" themselves). You can also make all forums and messages only available to be viewed by approved users, and you can approve each member individually.

For this age group, moderated message boards are probably one of the best things you can do.

To be continued will only work if you say when it will be continued and stick to it. Seeing "to be continued April 8, 2003" when it is August will reflect upon the quality of your site, even if getting the "continued" part is beyond your control. And some might not return to get the continued part. They can work, but you have to make it work.

[lorax]

Re: to be continued.

I think it could work well but if, AND ONLY IF, you publish a schedule (could be as informal as 'next week') and you stick to it.

If I come back next week and the same content is there - especially if I've given you a few more days to get it updated - then my opinion and my interest will drop significantly if not altogether.

[engine]

Yes, lorax is correct, don't take a chance with "free beer tomorrow" messages. Every time someone comes back, the free beer is still tomorrow.

I'd also suggest having a "register for updates" capability and keep it simple and quick. It'll help you capture some visitor details and to communicate when the update is made.

[contentmaster]

If you promise your visitors something new....the next time they visit your site, make damn sure you have something new to offer when they visit...or dont promise it!
Its important to keep your word! Give them something new or they'll find your content stale and boring....

[dwidmer]

Thanks to you all for your interesting suggestions. I agree that a "to be continued" story only makes sense if you actually do it.

It was suggested to use some kind of message board where people (my target group is between 16 and 23 years old) could interact and sort of chit-chat.

Our organization depends very much on trust. People decide to do "business" (well, we're non-profit anyways...) with us, because they feel that they can trust us. A message board could however severely hurt our reputation.

Imagine if a competitor went to the message board and put some horror stories about our org on the board. This could kill our organization in no time. So could you think of any other ways of interactive content that is not as risky as message boards?

(Well, you could have moderators, but they need to constantly monitor the site. Since most people in our organization are pretty lazy, this is not such a good idea...)

Dan

[tolachi]

I am strongly of the beleif that a well run organization that doesn't screw over it's customers has nothing to fear from making user comments public. My boss almost had a seizure when we started linking to 3rd party review sites since we couldn't control what appeared. Public commentary will happen, better to have it in your back yard than somewhere else, and it is something that you can always try and discontinue.

But, what I would suggest would be to ask for their e-mail address. They give you their e-mail address and you send a notification to tell them when the next installation appears. You can really leverage that e-mail address as far as building a relationship goes.

BTW: Imagine if someone writes horror stories about you on site x and there is no group of loyal customers/fans who hang out on your site to discount the malicious site x post.