It's been said over and over again. Content is King! Without interesting content even the most selective "niche"-oriented Web site or blog will be hard-pressed to attract and keep visitors. This fact is often overlooked, and underestimated by new site owners to their dismay and frustration.
A number of articles have been written about embedding some form of user entertainment to help increase the interest factor of newly launched Web sites.
They range from the more complex Web 2.0 technology such as the article posted by Michael Arrington Embed Flash Games in your Blog which focuses on multiplayer Flash games with chat interfacing, to the more simple approach illustrated in an article authored by scotty77: Adding Kick Ass Flash Games to FaceBook, MySpace.
Both these articles point out the need for emerging self-publishers to recognize that they may need to swallow their pride a bit and opt for the addition of some entertainment alongside their content. This will not only attract visitors, but also, more importantly, get them to return to their sites.
So just how easy is it to add some "entertainment" content to a Web site, especially if you are not an advanced programmer and your site is not hosted on a server that you have direct access to?
Well it turns out there are several solutions for the novice that are very cost effective. We are talking zero dollars invested. Most of the solutions of "embedding" entertainment in a Web site involve linking to files up on a hosted server. Many new site authors however do not have their sites hosted on services where they have direct access to disc space where they can FTP (upload and download) these special .swf flash files. The FaceBook / MySpace article points the reader to free file hosting services like FileCrunch.
They also explain how the HTML coding is accomplished linking to the files producing a graphic that when clicked on runs a Flash game on the reader's browser. It assumes of course that the user has Flash capability in their browser. These days that feature is virtually universal thanks to Macromedia, as it has become one of the most widely used browser plugins. Both articles also have some additional resource references for the developer to assist them in creating a very simple solution.
Results may vary. We have heard this phrase over and over again in other claims to improve our lives. The same applies here. If you are new to blogging, don't expect instant results. It just doesn't work that way unless, of course, YOU as an author have INSTANT star power and a brand. There is no substitute for interesting content that is focused and tuned for a specific audience. This is perhaps the most difficult aspect of marketing a new Web site for the author to accomplish. We won't go into how here since there are countless posts and articles on this subject. But you can give your site a quick start or maybe a pop by adding something of entertainment value that's simple to create.
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