e-Commerce solutions have really been paving the way for web sites to show their interactive sides.  Today, web sites are changing their look and feel and one of the major assets a site can have is some type of e-commerce solution.  These may include any or all of the following:

* Shopping cart solutions/Store fronts
* Mailing lists
* Podcasts
* Blogs
* Address books
* Calendars
* Forums
and so forth...

Even a simple thing, such as a mailing list can create an interactive feel to your site and upgrade it.  Most sites today are interactive, allowing the client to correspond with the company in many ways.  Shopping carts are a great asset to have, if it's worth the money and there is a demand for your products or services.

Clients like to have the ability to either email you a request or comment, send in a survey, check your interactive calendar and post a request, add comments to your forum discussions, add themselves to a mailing list to learn more about your products and services, view your blogs or podcasts & video emails and also shop around your site for things they might like to purchase. 

It's fine if your web site is simply for informational purposes only, but for those that are looking to get some exposure, really try to upgrade in small ways to interact with your clients.  It really makes a difference and it will help your web site look more professional to compete with your....well... competition!

Another thing to think about that is not considered e-commerce but that is becoming a regular upgrade to web sites are FLASH objects.  These are similar to short clips or movies but they are actually ANIMATION or interactive text and graphics.  These make a world of difference to your viewers.  Instead of a site FULL of text that is endless and no one wants to read all the way through, put a flash banner or short animation clip on the page to not only distract the viewers eyes, but to also give your site some character. 

You may not recognize FLASH if you haven't heard of it before.  If you have ever gone onto a web site that has an area that looks as though its outlined and you have to click a couple of times to activate it... you've experienced flash first hand.  Flash is in the form of animations, moving text and graphics or it can almost look like a short movie clip.  Many times you will see banners that are interactive where it may change scenes every couple of seconds (like you would see on yahoo!).

Visually FLASH looks great... add some pizaz and add a flash object.  DO NOT make a full flash site unless EVERYONE already knows about your company and your company name IS your web address.  Flash sites can be very impressive--but not always practical.  See my blog on FLASH VS. REGULAR HTML DESIGNING for more information regarding flash.

ARTICLE BY:
ANNA DALEA
OWNER OF ERT WEBSITE SOLUTIONS