SEO, Stickiness and Prison

Sounds like a weird triplet, doesn't it.

Let's start with what each one means:

SEO (Search Engine Optimization)- Driving quality traffic to your web site.

Stickiness - All aspects of converting a "web visitor" to a "web buyer". Includes UI (User interface, Content and others).

Prison - A place where criminals are confined, managed by the prison warden.

How do the 3 of them intertwine?

With SEO you drive the traffic to your web site; using all aspects of Stickiness you persuade the web visitors to stay on the web site and "convert".

But what happens when the conversion is contributing content? Like comments, polls, forum participation etc?

That web site content is managed like a prison; and the web site owner must make a decision, who manages the prison?

Web site Content managed by the Prison Warden:

• All users must be logged in to comment / participate
• All comments go to pending mode and someone (a web site team member) needs to approve them
• Reduces you spammers success rate and keeps the web site clean
• Examples of such web sites:
  • Dmoz.org
  • Best of the Web
  • Business.com

Web site Content managed by the Inmates:

• All content goes live, as soon as it is submitted
• It is up to the community to clean itself. Users tell the warden about misbehaviors
• Spammers take advantage, and sometimes the bad content stays for a very long time
• Examples of such web sites:
  • Youtube.com
  • Yahoo Answers

If you have a web site, where the web visitors contribute content, decide how your web site content is managed - by the Warden or the Inmates.