Virtual worlds are rapidly proving to be one of the most effective ways to engage kids with a brand. When designed correctly, they can engage kids for longer periods of time than the actual products upon which they are based. Consider this: The average kid spends 100 seconds on an information product or brand website, but they spend hours on virtual sites—all the while interacting with your brand. Even major brands like Beanie Babies, Hello Kitty, Hot Wheels, Barbie and Lego have even gotten into the game. Today, virtual worlds are the marketing medium to beat.

So what does it take to create a virtual world engaging enough to build brand commitment? McHale Design, a branding and design firm for the toy industry, and Centric, a developer of websites and virtual experiences since 1994, recently partnered for the creation of an engaging virtual world. Here are some tips for when trying to do the same:

1. Be realistic about this investment. The potential of a virtual world to build your brand and boost your sales cannot be underestimated. Likewise, you cannot underestimate the budget, manpower, and hardware needed to launch and maintain a high quality virtual world. This includes everything from initial design and programming to a full-time moderator, developing new content, and enough bandwidth and server capacity to keep your vision running smoothly.

2. Ease of use. Your site must be intuitive and simple to navigate. This is especially true if reaching towards younger age groups whose motor skills may not yet be fully developed.

3. At the same time, challenge your audience. Leveling, where a member can achieve a higher status through activity, interaction or creation, helps keep kids coming back. Periodic challenges do the same. Also consider virtual currency, which lets kids build virtual wealth to acquire new objects world.

4. Customization. The ability to personalize your experience is crucial. Personalization begins with the avatar (customized body, face, hair, features, clothing, etc.) but could extend to anything else on the site.

5. Stay true to your brand. The world you are creating should flow naturally from your brand and stay true to your brand character throughout the world. For example, the upcoming Hot Wheels world is exactly what kids dream about—racing their cars.

6. Develop a sense of community. Virtual worlds enable kids to interact with other members, share custom creations and compete against one another. It must be obvious from the onset that there are other people in your world, and you should encourage members to communicate with each other. Finding a friend "in-world" is the best way to ensure return visits.

7. Keep it fresh. To keep kids coming back, constantly refresh your content with new offerings, features and experiences.

8. Members Only! This should go without saying but we're saying it anyway: Make sure kids register to participate. Work with a design agency that is familiar with COPPA regulations to ensure your registration is kosher, but definitely capture as much user information as possible.

Virtual worlds not only provide kids an opportunity for quality entertainment, but they engage kids in your brand in a deep and meaningful way, creating the loyalty that results in repeat sales and long term commitment. The creation of these sites is a major undertaking, however, and should be seriously considered and painstakingly planned prior to making the commitment.