I visited a client’s community recently.
The homepage was filled with static content. Much of this content hadn’t been updated in weeks. Too much of it was targeted at newcomers.
For most communities, newcomers arrive via the back door. They search for something and find it in an article or discussion within your community. But they don’t find it on your homepage.
There’s a reason local news websites don’t have a big ‘welcome’ section above the headline for all the newcomers. The homepage is (usually) your returning visitors. This is a very different audience. They need to see something new and exciting every day or they stop visiting every day. So give them something every day. Or, if you can’t manage that, give them something every week.
Write about what’s happening in the community, write about something coming up, get the opinions of 10 top members on a big issue and publish them, announce a new event, review a recent event, set a quiz or challenge, celebrate member achievements and publish their news.
Almost every community has enough content to publish something new every day.
