The importance of a highly engaging and conversion-ready website is not unknown to marketers and business owners anymore. However, simply creating one without the right tactics does little in standing out in today's increasing competition. Top it with the information overload that makes it more difficult than ever to capture and retain user attention. 

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Thanks to interactive website design that makes it a breeze to engage and convert website visitors. Making your website interactive is a smart strategy that allows engagement and interaction with your brand and keeps users coming back for more information.

So in this blog, we'll dive deep into:

• What is an interactive website
• How does it benefit your brand (and your users)
• 7 Tips that make your website interactive

So let's learn the key to successfully creating an interactive website.

What is an interactive website?

Image source

An interactive website is exactly what it sounds like - a web page that allows interaction and engagement with the visitors. Interactive websites give you more control than static ones and use technology to create an engaging and simulative environment. 

Some of the elements of interactive websites could be real-time weather updates, chatbots, conversational forms, and animation. These interactive features are triggered by specific actions, making users feel like they're a part of everything happening on screen. This forms a deeper bond with the visitors, giving them a chance to build an authentic connection with the brand. Indeed, it's integral in today's world to walk an extra mile to make website visits worthwhile and capitalize on the same.

But that's just the tip of the iceberg.

Interactive websites make even the simplest tasks like scrolling and clicking engaging.

An interactive website is a win-win situation for you as well as your visitors. Here are some of the benefits of an interactive website.

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Benefits of an Interactive Website

• Enriches user experience by introducing eye-catching elements like animation 
• Forms a deeper bond by facilitating communication 
• Takes users on a journey with intuitive navigation, helping them find the desired information
• Boosts customer loyalty by taking quick feedback and giving you a chance to implement the same
• Enhances your SEO outputs by lowering bounce rates
• Increases conversion by enriching website design and encouraging taking action
• It makes content sharing easier by allowing one-click shares on social media

Now that we've seen the bundle of benefits an interactive website brings for you and your audience let's look at some tips to create an interactive website.

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7 Tips to Create an Interactive Website

Realize the Potential of Loading Page

Do you think loading pages are boring and make visitors bounce your page? Then it's time to rethink!

While loading pages, admittedly, are one of the biggest reasons for bounce rates, but you still have an opportunity to turn the tables around and capitalize on this page.

Original source: https://dribbble.com/shots/2887008-Loading-Micro-Animation 

Animations can bring life to the loading pages while establishing brand recall value. An example could be a progressive bar that affirms visitors that the page will load sooner than later. It not only makes waiting a fun activity for visitors, but it also shows the quality of thought you put behind each element on the page. 

Here are a few reasons an interactive loading page is a great website addition:

• It makes your brand look authentic
• It makes audiences' wait worth the while
• It humanizes your brand
• It's a chance to show your creativity 
• Build a meaningful relationship with the visitors

In short, the idea is to see the loading page as an opportunity rather than a threat. So let's now see some other ways to make your website interactive

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Animate the Most Intuitive Action

What's one of the most intuitive tasks on a website? It's scrolling. 

Therefore, scrolling is yet another classic feature that you can make creative and capture attention. 

Here are some of the scroll-based animations designers can capitalize on:

• Parallax animation

This type of scroll-based animation reveals elements on scrolling. It introduces viewers to a simulative 3D environment by making the elements interact with their scrolling. You can include a progress bar, reveal graphics on scroll, and a lot more.

• Scroll-triggered animation

Like Parallax, scroll-trigger animation reveals and builds elements on the page based on the user's scrolling.

• Page transition

When the page transitions upon scrolling, it's called scroll page transition. Unlike smooth transitions, this scroll jumps into an entirely new section with a different theme, color, and even animation. This breaks the monotony of scrolling the website, gives a break to the eyes, and makes the viewer feel refreshed at the same time. In other words, this scrolling type provides a clear hierarchy, tells users they've entered a new section, and keeps them engaged with interactive design.

Thus it's clear - scrolling can be made pretty engaging and interactive and give visitors a reason to stay a little longer. But more than that, scrolling makes the organization of your content in a sophisticated manner without taking up a lot of space.

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Reimagine Menu Bars

The menu bar is an important element of the web page. It's a good idea to rethink how your menus work and make them interactive, but also keep in mind that they should be intuitive for users so they can land on what you want without having any trouble navigating through it.

Navigation bars allow your visitors to make intuitive clicks and land on the correct page. While on the other hand, if the navigation bar is hidden or not explicit, it can mislead visitors and lead to high bounce rates.

While traditional menu bars are a no-brainer, there are some other options that you might consider adopting. These are especially helpful for a pleasurable mobile experience. 

Sidebars: adjusted in the right of the left panel of your website, sidebars make for a significant interactive element throughout the web page.

Hamburger: this is a navbar that opens up a drawer of the navigation panel upon clicking. This is especially useful to enhance the mobile experience. 

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One of the best examples of hamburger view can be seen in Neil Patel's blog page on a mobile screen.

Breadcrumb: this shows a hierarchical view of the page and shows where the user is on the website. This is useful for complicated websites with a large number of pages and categories. 

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Microinteractioncan Make a Big Difference

What is often kept as an afterthought can boost a user experience (UX) by leaps and bounds. Often, small interactions can make a significant difference. That's what describes micro-interactions the best. Microinteractions are animations triggered based on cursor movement or clicks, catching the user's attention and adding a touch of elegance. 

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Internal Linking Brings Numerous Benefits

Let's take the example of an electronic store. Imagine you're shopping for gadgets, and there's a friendly salesperson who further suggests options that suit your needs. He gives you alternatives based on pricing and product features, suggests useful add-ons, and patiently answers all of your questions. Isn't that going to make you feel valued?

Suggesting relevant content while readers are already consuming your website content is a smart choice. This way, you can take readers on a journey where they can explore related and relevant content, get to know more about your brand, and get educated or answer their questions. 

Finally, internal linking also boosts your SEO, reduces bounce rates, and brings higher chances of conversion. 

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Social Sharing Buttons

One of the best metrics to measure is the social shares for your blog post. It gives your audience a chance to share your content with their network easily.

After all, everybody appreciates content that helps them alleviate pain points and doesn't mind sharing it with their peers -- that's where your website should offer one-click social sharing buttons.

These buttons don't have to use up a lot of space but do ensure they're visible.  

Social buttons allow your audience to share the content with their network, and you're able to spread the word about your business without lifting a finger -- talk about a win-win situation!

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Make Contact Form and Chatbot Work for You 

Imagine walking into a store and scanning all the beautiful products on the shelf. But, the moment you have a question, there's no one to attend to answer it for you. The same happens when your website does not have an option for conversation.

However, navigating this situation is easier than you think. To begin with, have a chatbot or a contact form on your website. There's no dearth of interactive website forms that you can embed on your website and watch the conversation happen.

Customer questions and feedback are the keys to enhancing your product and website. That's why being present when the customer has a question is inevitable for your business.

Having contact forms ensures your visitors can ask you questions the moment it sprouts in their minds. It: 

• It opens up the communication channel
• Builds trust
• Encourages interaction with the business

Finally, you can take a step up your contact forms with conversational forms as well. Conversational forms are exactly what they sound like -- it encourages conversion by asking one question at a time instead of burdening the user with a bunch of questions.