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Is
your site boring? MAKE IT FUN! Here are 10 ideas on how to make your
site uniquely fun.
Want
to make your website fun or interesting to visitors, so they will come
back? Here are some different ideas... If you benefit from this article,
or use any of the original ideas listed, you just must credit me
(Annamaria Tadlock) and include a link back to www.ultimatehorsesites.com
- Give credit where credit is due! Thanks!
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Articles
You could provide information on your animals or business... for example,
Canyon Blue Farm had me
create a "Pinto Genetics" page for her site with information
on equine color genetics. The website for Mount
Royal King provides an interesting article on linebreeding. If you
breed colored horses and want an article or chart created on color genetics,
let me know.
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Polls
Like Whispering
Pines Walkers does on their "Offspring" page, you could
provide a "Guess The Foal" poll if your horse is expecting...
put a picture of the stallion & a picture of the mare, and have
them guess the foal's color (I can create a poll for you with the possible
outcomes)... Or, have them guess if it will be a filly or colt!
Very fun... you can even keep track of the people that guess and email
them when the foal arrives!
You
can also provide polls on other subjects-- maybe ask which of your horses
is their favorite, or how often they ride, etc.
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Contests
Another idea would be some type of photo contest, or caption contest
(these are always very fun!). Provide a photo and ask people to send
in their captions. Or, ask people to send in the photos & you can
choose. Caption contests are easier to handle because you won't have
to do anything but save the entries & emails to reply to. I ran
a caption contest for a long time and it was very fun... see CAPTION
WINNERS 1 & CAPTION
WINNERS 2.
You
can email everyone back when you've picked a winner, and they came come
back to your site to see the winning caption. The winner can receive
a little award graphic that they can put on their website.
Another
contest I used to have was the "Horse Thought Contest". I
would write a little scene-- such as a person trying to trailer load
a refusing horse-- and then people would write it, only from the HORSE'S
point of view! This was so popular that I had to shut it down because
I couldn't keep up with the entries I was receiving. This is a HIGHLY
original idea, mine was the only site at the time that had it &
as far as I know no one has copied me yet.
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Quizzes
Quizzes are always fun -- and you can set one up so you don't have to
do any work-- your visitor will answer the question & if they get
it right, they will get an award. For example, see my
Guess The Breed contest.
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Links Page
Keep a links page with fresh links on it... For an example, see my
equine link directory. Allow visitors to add their own link (and
request they link back to you of course, as this will help your site!).
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Message / Bulletin Board
This will keep people coming back... you can post contests on it, news
& updates, etc. You could even post a "topic of the month"
for people to discuss.
People
like to share their knowledge... A simple bulletin board can make a
great "Horse Tips" list that people can add on to. Best of
all, you don't have to work... your visitors add content for you!
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Tips, Quotes, Poems, Jokes, etc.
You can provide horse tips, quotes, poems and jokes for your visitors
to read. For an example, see
this page.
Another
example .... here's a riddle:
It
is in the barn, but not in the field;
It is in the horse, but not in the pony;
It is in the grain, but not in the oats;
It is in the trot, but never in the gallop.
Click
here for answer.
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Games - Custom Games!!
You can make a photo of your horse or your logo into an interactive
slide puzzle, like this, or into a jigsaw puzzle, like
I did here. Or provide a horsey version of tic-tac-toe (I've made
this one called Horse
VS Carrot -- a horse twist on the regular X's and O's).
I
also have a version
of Snake that is horsey-- instead of a snake or caterpillar, you're
a herd of horses that grows as it eats apples.
Or,
how about a horse word search, like my Horse
Breeds Word Search? You can use whatever you want for the hidden
words -- your farm name, horse's names, stallions names, etc.! The best
part is that you just provide a list of words, and I can set up a word
search that is new every time!
Or,
two more custom games you can add are horse
hangman & catch
the pony (they could try to catch one of YOUR horses). Custom games
are something people will never forget!! I have people that come back
again & again because they love these little games, they are truly
unique and horse-related.
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Interactive Stories
You can start a horse story & let others add on. See
an example at my site, here. These need to be managed to make sure
people don't post anything inapropriate.
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Run a webring
I run the colorful
horses webring. You can run your own webring for people to add their
sites too. This takes work because you have to manage the ring, add
new sites, etc.
answer
to the riddle: the letter "r"!
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Email
us: Info@UltimateHorseSites.com
Annamaria & Caterina Tadlock
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