Here is a cheatsheet/scorecard/checklist/whatever that list tactics, policies and mindsets you should use on any User Generated Content site (review site, forum, help site, hobby, etc…).
This is how you get more participation (aka more content) written by users.
As we all know captchas can greatly reduce conversion rates for legitimate user generated content (UGC).
So how can we use User Experience Metrics, (i.e. clicks, scrolls, active time on site … like those gathered by freetale) in order to fight spam?
Many niches have periodic events such as holidays, quarterly reports, retrospectives, best-of lists, etc… where each period begins/ends with some similar, but updated content.
For instance if you run a dating advice site, you might run a contest every year for free valentines day gifts to give to your significant other.
Many of your readers also have websites or social media sites that they are members of.
With that in mind, if you are generating valuable content for these readers than in addition to trying to convert them into buyers you should also considered looking at your readers as potential organic linkers (people who will link to you).
The word “convert” should automatically trigger your little Internet Marketing brain into thinking conversion funnel.
Catch More Juice With Link Circumcision
Although this seems like SEO 201, I still see many, many sites (including this one) not dealing with ill-formed auto-generated links. By “auto-generated” I mean like links inside email clients, message boards, social sites, etc… which automagically turn URLS into links. This results in 404s on your site and a lose to link love.
Dealing with the most common cases is a pretty easy and I will show how can be done with
mod_rewriteandPHP.As an added bonus I include a handy little tool to write unit tests to check your redirects, even if you don’t circumcise your links.
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