Create a quiz and you may increase hits by more than 50%
Putting a well-designed quiz on your web site can increase hits, attract buying customers and boost your search engine ranking.

It's As Easy As
Every component that you add to your web site has the ability to enhance it's functionality, but one of the simplest and most effective is a quiz that engages with your audience. You can have an online quiz or a third-party hosted quiz or you can do it all yourself and it will cost you nothing except your time. Let me show you a quiz that I recently created for my site, which has increased visits by about 23% in less than three weeks. Compared with an average of the three previous months' statistics, visits increased by 23% and hits increased by over 50%.

Follow This Technique
Use the "table" function in Word (or similar word processor) to set up a blank table for your quiz. See the example at my site http://www.iconiso.net/Love%20Quiz.htm. Your template should include the basic format with a column for the questions as well as columns for the classifications: "often", "sometimes" and "rarely". You can also us the classifications "disagree", "agree somewhat" and "agree strongly", or any other sequence you prefer. You will also need to include "subtotal" "total" and "scoring".

Draw Customers In To Your Site
Note that there is a link on the home page http://www.iconiso.net, but this is also a great opportunity to direct your customers to the place where you want them to go without appearing pushy. Simply put the answers to the quiz on the page that you want them to explore by hyperlinking it to a link at the end of your quiz. I called my link "learn more". The information I want them to read is the course timetable with testimonials from my students, so that's where the link goes. Note the disclaimer: "For non-commercial use only. Please retain copyright notice.

This quiz may be used on commercial web sites by linking to
http://www.iconiso.net/Love%20Quiz.htm. Most people want to do the right thing, so make it easy for them. If a commercial site uses your idea and links to you then your ranking at Google will go up.

But There's More
Keep being generous. You've given them a great quiz, now give them a way they can share it with their friends, who are also potential customers. Turn your quiz into a standalone PDF. I use Acrobat Professional so that I can insert a hyperlink to my site from the PDF, but if you don't have that program you can either get a free PDF maker, like CutePDF (which I haven't tried but have always liked CuteFTP) at http://www.cutepdf.com
or create a PDF at the Adobe US site online at http://createpdf.adobe.com/?v=AHP.

And There's Still More
While you're at it, give them an email-friendly version as well so they can cut and paste it into an email rather than attaching it as a PDF. Remember to put in the information in that it is a PDF and how big it is in kilobytes. You know how annoying it is when you click on what looks like a link to a page in a website and suddenly it triggers Adobe reader when you were not expecting it. Your customers may also find that annoying, particularly if they are still using dial up. So do the right thing and tell them what it is and how big it is.

And If You Ring In The Next 20 Minutes
This is optional, but if it's appropriate, like it was for my customers, consider also turning it into a card. This is also fairly easy to do and value-adding increases appeal. Just get a card template from the generous people at Microsoft and put the quiz in there as well. You can find yourself a card template at Microsoft Office Templates http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/templates/default.aspx. Remember to add a copyright notice at the end for your content and a hyperlink back to your site as well.

But I Don't Know How To Write A Quiz
Of course you do, just us this simple brainstorming technique, writing down the answers to these questions, to work out an effective quiz for your site:

1. What is the main product that I want to sell to my customers? (my answer: "a three-week course on Intimate Communication and the Chemistry of Love retailing at $82.50").
2. Who are the people who make up my key target audience? (my answer: English-speaking women aged from 16 to 60 years of age).
3. What will interest that target audience the most? (my answer: a quiz about love).
4. What quiz topic relates best to what their interest is and what my product can offer them? (my answer: a quiz about love that gives them knowledge to help them).
5. What is the key question they want answered that incorporates all these elements? (my answer: am I in love?).

And there you have it. The quiz I need to create is titled "Are You Really in Love?" Now all that's left to do is some research to answer that question for your customers. It took me about 20 minutes to find the information that I needed.

In Summary
It's fairly quick, draws in new customers and shows them that you are thorough and generous in your web-based dealings, which encourages trust. It helps them and it shows them that you know what you are talking about. It also gives them the opportunity to assist you with your word-of-mouth marketing campaign, and we all know how much that can add to your long-term success.

About The Author
Shane Hersey is CEO & webmaster of Iconiso, a unique online education provider.