Building A Community

Visitors are more likely to come back to your site if they feel like they are part of your site, or have had an influence on it somehow.

Step 1. Members area

A good way to start a community is to create a member's area. Visitors have to signup and sometimes pay a small annual fee to access the members area. In the members are you can include content and resources that aren't available to the average visitor. A good place for freebies, promotions and special offers.

Step 2. Community message board

It is vital to include a message board or forum so that the members can communicate. Visitors can read previous peoples' comments, add to the messages if they wish, share useful tips and hints or just have a chat about anything. A BBS (Bulletin Board System) is the easiest way to create this. A simple free bbs script is available from CosmicScripts.com. If you want a more complicated forum then phpBB is quite popular. Keep your board monitored for SPAM and abuse. Make sure you post regularly to your board.

Step 3. Live chat

Once your community has grown you can add live chat. This will let your members talk to each other in real time. Don't add live chat until your community has grown as this will only put people off. You can get a free java chat room from FreeJavaChat.com.

Step 4. Feedback

It is essential to have a feedback page on your site. Here your visitors can tell you what is great about your site, and what they think needs improving. This is the best way to keep your website fresh and new, and give visitors what they want. If they enjoy visiting your site, they are more likely to return or tellafriend, which will increase your traffic. Another good aspect of having a feedback form, is that you can also capture email addresses. Increasing the size of your mailing list can only mean one thing - more traffic. If you choose this method make sure it's opt-in!