You want to create an amazing website that soars to the top of its niche, so you download a CMS (such as WordPress), install it, and begin writing excellent content. Surely, you are on your way to fame and fortune. Right?

Most of you would naturally answer that question with a simple “Wrong,” and you would be correct. There is so much more that goes into building popular websites. You need to differentiate yourself from the competition. One way to do this is with a rigorous marketing and promotion plan. If executed correctly, a simple blog can become very popular. You have seen this done and know of enough examples.

Another way to increase the popularity of a website is to simply build it into amazing online destination. This can be done by going beyond the simple blog trend and extending your website into a full-fledged internet property. This article outlines 23 things you can add to your blog/website to differentiate from the others in your niche.

Why You Should Have Multiple Features

A blog with compelling content is great, but it is rarely enough to bring visitors back continuously throughout the day. Have you ever noticed how much time people spend on sites like MySpace and Facebook? The reason for this is that there are tons activities available for them to do. With a blog, the reader can browse your archives, read your latest post, or add comments. That’s basically it.

Once a reader becomes familiar with your blog, do you think they are going to be visiting for anything other than to read the latest post? Not unless they are a very dedicated commentator. You can change this though. There are plenty of things you can add to your site to turn it into a hot destination that people enjoy “working” on, using for reference, getting entertainment from, and recommending to their friends.

Types Of Features You Can Add

Note: The first few points can easily be part of a blog as well, but the idea here is to separate your blog, making it only one feature within a much larger website.

1. Lists of Resources: Links and descriptions to many different resources including authority sites, sections within authority sites, lesser know sites, and basically anything that your niche market would be interested in.
2. How-To Guides: Put together a large collection of tutorials showing your visitors how to do things that they are interested in.
3. Articles Instead of Posts: Treat your more detailed content as articles and separate them from regular “blog” posts.
4. Reviews: Be the first to get your hands on and present a detailed review of any related products that surface within your niche. Physical or downloadable, your readers are sure to appreciate first-hand reviews before making buying decisions.
5. News: Even though news is a tough concept to sell for the main feature of a website, it can provide an easy stream of content for a supplemental feature.
6. Audio Content: Not everyone likes to read. Offer audio content, even if it is the same as your written content, so that people can listen on the MP3 players or in their cars.
7. Videos and Screencams: There’s nothing like actually seeing how something is done. Having a large library of videos will help your visitors immensely and keep them coming back for more.
8. Ebooks: Provide written content that can be easily downloaded for offline reading or for sharing with friends.
9. Databases: If suitable for your niche, providing a comprehensive database can help users on a regular basis. It could be a product database, a species database, a restaurant database, or anything else. Make sure to tie other content into it to make it even more resourceful.
10. Content Channels: Divide your content into specialized channels, as long as you can produce enough content to support them. This was just done at eMomsAtHome and is common on sites such as AskMen and IGN.
11. Newsletters: This gives you a way to connect with readers who have forgotten about your website and keep everyone updated on news and happenings.
12. Tools: Either develop them yourself or hire someone to do it for you. These can be as simple as specialized calculators or as complicated as the tools from SEOChat. As long as they are useful, your visitors will use them.
13. Marketplace: Allow your visitors to conduct transactions with each other through your website. Make sure you keep it themed so that it is a unique trading resources that cannot be found in a generic marketplace.
14. Personal Accounts: Let users register on your website and give them extra benefits for being a registered member. You could give them the ability to save their favorite content and interact with the community in other ways.
15. Mini Blogs: Give users the option to have their own mini blogs within the larger site. You can syndicate and feature the newest posts on your homepage to give them a sense of importance. Not everyone writes content with the intent of making money.
16. Store: If you have a unique brand, sell items that can’t be purchased anywhere else. You could also recommend related retail products that they might be interested in.
17. Hot Deals: Instead of just a store, keep your visitors up to date on the hottest deals to hit the internet. Don’t do it just for commissions, but you can put your affiliate links in there when applicable. Some great deals sites to get concept ideas from are SlickDeals and Hot-Deals.
18. Wikis: Create a repository of information about your niche that all members can edit and improve upon. If you manage to attract a few knowledgeable members, you could end up with an authoritative resource.
19. Downloads: Maintain a database of downloads that relate to your market. Drivers for a computer site, related shareware applications for niche sites, or documents and forms for a legal site. There has to be some kind of downloadable content for your niche.
20. Competitions: Participating in competitions is fun. If you can find something in your niche for your visitors to compete with, make it a regular feature. It will bring them back time and time again to enter and view the results.
21. Forums: The staple of any community site. Difficult to get going, but can entice visitors to stay on your website for hours on end. Use vBulletin if you want the best forum or phpBB for a free alternative.
22. Social Networking: This can be complex, but there are plenty of scripts out there now that can automate all aspects of it. I’ve read a lot of articles in business magazines about how big “niche social networking” is going to be, so here’s your chance to get in on it.
23. Volunteer Staff: Is there anything better than having people work for the best interest of your website at no cost to you? People do this all the time for recognition, to help out their community, and to feel important. Make sure to thank and reward them periodically for all their hard work.

There are plenty of other features you can add to any website, you are limited only by your creativity. Many of these ideas take time and money to implement properly, so you might want to start out with just a blog. As you begin making profits, use this list as inspiration for how to reinvest your profits into the expansion of your site.

All The Popular Sites Are Doing It

Take a look at some of the largest websites on the internet and see for yourself if they are using this multi-feature concept. I know for a fact that Yahoo, the most popular website, has been practicing this for years. Their search engine might not be as good as Google’s, but they sure do have the upper hand when it comes to engaging features.