A well-designed website is now an essential element of any prosperous business strategy – and rightly so. An effective online presence offers you a virtual "shop window," open 24/7 – enabling customers worldwide to find, interact and even buy from you without even leaving home.

Now, with the introduction, growth and huge popularity of social media and networking websites, the online emphasis is shifting again. Thousands of businesses are now embracing social media trends in order to engage with their customers in new and innovative ways. So how can your website take advantage of this emerging online social "revolution?"

Use Your Web site to Join the Conversation
Recent figures show that Facebook – one of the most popular social networking sites – has topped 250 million users (If it were a country, it would be the fourth largest in the world). Twitter, a recent entrant to the social networking marketplace, now reaches some 50 million users. While these two media giants are getting all the attention of late, there are hundreds of other successful social networking sites that can be added to the mix - all eager to have you engage them via your Web site.

You may already be on Facebook, perhaps you are a keen Tweeter, but have you considered how your own site – your primary web presence – can be more "social?" Here are five keys to your website to becoming more socially interactive.

1. Share This!
Content is still king. Whether it's an article, image, audio or video, good content is always shared online. Getting your website content personally recommended by other web users is a powerful way to get your message to resonate throughout cyberspace. Your job is to capture your audience's attention and then make it easy for visitors to recommend your content.

To join the social networking conversation, be sure to include some social links to the end of your content. This will enable visitors to share your content with family, friends and colleagues using a few simple clicks. Popular social link services include content-sharing sites such as Digg, StumbleUpon, Reddit and more, which all offer the ability to recommend your content via their Facebook or Twitter profiles.

2. Invite Comments
If you have written an interesting article, or published a thought provoking video, invite your visitors to comment on it. A good comment approval system will enable you to moderate your comments with ease.

Comments not only give people a chance to sing your praises, comments also allow visitors to interact with your company and the content you have provided – inviting visitors to ask questions as they arise. This helps you on two levels. First, it shows your visitors that you welcome genuine participation and it also gives you the opportunity to demonstrate your expertise beyond your initial message.

3. Publish a Business Blog
Adding a blog to your website is very Web 2.0, because it allows you to incorporate the suggestions above with ease. Publishing a business blog is important because it gives your visitors a reason to return and offers information they need. But publishing a blog shouldn't be entered into lightly, as a blog which is rarely updated may not be beneficial at all.

A blog, due to the way it organises and archives your content, is also very search engine friendly, and is an easy way to add value to your online marketing arsenal.

4. Offer Forum Functionality
Unlike a blog, forums may not seem very Web 2.0 – they have been around for a comparatively long time, but forums are still one of the best ways to ensure that your website remains interactive while providing a great way to source and share valuable information. The key to success with forums is making sure your content stays relevant (to your niche) and finding creative ways to encourage participation.

Forums offer not only another way to demonstrate your expertise, but they also allow others to interact with each other and share solutions to questions related to your niche market.

5. Add a Pinch of Media
If your products are visual, consider incorporating a customer-driven image gallery or video library into your website. Offering prizes for the most creative entry is a great way to encourage participation on your site, while driving traffic as well.

Using online media in this way offers your site some key benefits:

• It produces ideal content for viral sharing (users posting your content elsewhere) across social media sites.
• It helps present your company as forward-thinking and innovative.
• It provides a great opportunity to show off your products.
• It makes your website more interactive and interesting for visitors.

Keep it simple, and don't get too hung-up on using professional video footage – some of the most-watched videos on YouTube are produced by absolute beginners.

As the popularity of social networking sites continue to grow, the opportunities to make your site more socially interactive are endless. The key lies in finding what appeals most to your customers, and then integrating it well. If you would like help making your website more interactive, contact us.