Why Would You Add A Message Board To Your Site?

By Richard Lowe
Posted Friday, June 25, 2004

One of the things that I like to do every single day is surf the
internet. I love finding new sites which have interesting
information, graphics or other useful or merely entertaining data.
It's a normal part of my routine, and I make it a point to visit
at least a dozen sites each night.

When I visit a site, I make a point of looking for some standard
features which increase the value of my stop. One of these things
is a guestbook - why? Because I want to sign it and let the
webmaster know that I appreciate his or her efforts. This is
important to me, as someone went to some trouble to communicate,
and I like to communicate back, even if it's just a "nice site,
thanks". Sometimes I have to spend an extra few minutes to find
something to compliment, but I usually am successful.

I also look for a link to send an email to the webmaster. This
allows me to send private messages, which are more useful for
feedback not appropriate for a public forum such as a guestbook.
I don't always send an email or make a comment, but it's useful
to know that I can if necessary.

It's always a huge delight to find a message board, and it's
even better to find that the board is active and in use on a
regular basis. You see, this means that I can have discussions
with people about a subject, knowing that most of them have some
interest in the conversation.

An example of my own message board can be seen if you click the
link below.

(http://www.internet-tips.net/cgi-bin/discus/discus.cgi)

A good message board allows people to register (as does mine),
lets people set up profiles with information about themselves
(all voluntary), and informs people (optionally) of updates via
email. Additionally, people should be able to post replies and
add messages anonymously (at the discretion of the board master).

What does all of this do? It allows people to have conversations
about specific topics with a group of interested individuals.
What is the value of this? Well, suppose your site is all about
the X-Men comic series. It has some great stories which you have
written, some graphics and a few videos from the movie (all with
permission, of course).

Think of the value you could add by allowing others to have
conversations about the X-Men as well. You could let people post
questions (which you or anyone else could answer), give advice on
where to find the rarer comic books, submit stories and do any
number of other things.

This not only has value to you, it has value to your visitors
and improves their perception of your site. People will tend to
come back to a message board, as long as it is active, in order
to find out what's happening, get answers to questions and keep
in touch. This, of course, increases the traffic to your own
site.

And if you sell a product or service, then a message board takes
even a higher value as it gives your visitors a way to
communicate their concerns, questions and experiences with
your company and your products in a public forum. It's far
cheaper than a telephone number, and it's free and easy for
your customers.

The moral of the story? Include as many ways for your site
visitors to communicate as you can. Put in a guestbook
(carefully monitored), an email or form to give communication to
the webmaster, and a message board. All of these things give a
way for your visitors to communicate, and this gives them reasons
to come back.

Additional Information

Free stuff Headquarters
(http://www.internet-tips.net/Freestuff/Freemessageboards.htm)

Message Boards Message boards are a great way to add value to
your site and to get visitors to come back again and again.

Message Boards - Ethics
(http://www.internet-tips.net/Msgboards/ethics.htm)

Nothing is more sad than a once proud message board
being reduced to rubble by a malicious moderator.

Message Boards - Contributor
(http://www.internet-tips.net/Msgboards/contributor.htm)

Message boards thrive on contributions. In fact,
without contributors there is no board at all.

Message Boards - Promotion
(http://www.internet-tips.net/Msgboards/promotion.htm)

Message boards are very useful in getting people to
return to your site, but they must be promoted in order to be
of maximum benefit.

Message Boards - Moderator
(http://www.internet-tips.net/Msgboards/moderator.htm)

The best message boards are wonderfully and
expertly moderated. The worst are frequented by nothing but
spam robots.

Sticky Sites - Message Boards
(http://www.internet-tips.net/Sticky/msgboards.htm)

You can add a message board to your site to get
people to want to come back over and over.
About the Author
Richard Lowe Jr. is the webmaster of Internet Tips And Secrets
at (http://www.internet-tips.net) - Visit our website any time to
read over 1,000 complete FREE articles about how to improve your
internet profits, enjoyment and knowledge.