One of the things that I like to do every single day is surf the internet. I love finding new sites which have interesting knowledge, graphics or other useful or merely entertaining data. Its 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 assessment of value of my stop. One of these things is a guestbook - why? Because I want to sign it and let the webmaster understand 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 its just a "nice site, thanks". Sometimes I have to spend an more few minutes to find something to compliment, but I usually am successful.

I also look for a hyperlink to send an e-mail 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 dont always send an e-mail or generate a comment, but its useful to understand that I might if necessary.

Its always a huge delight to find a message board, and its even better to find that the board is active and in utilize on a regular basis. You see, this means that I may have discussions with all the people about a subject, knowing that most of them have some interest in the conversation.

An example of my own communication board can be seen if you click the backlink below.

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

A nice message board allows many people to register (as does mine), lets many people set up profiles with information about themselves (all voluntary), and informs all the people (optionally) of updates via e-mail. Additionally, everybody 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 everybody to have conversations about specific topics with a group of interested individuals. What is the assessment of worth of this? Well, suppose your website is all about the X-Men comic series. It has some dazzling stories which you have written, some graphics and a few videos from the movie (all with permission, of course).

Think of the worth you could add by allowing others to have conversations about the X-Men as well. You could let all the 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 worth to you, it has value to your visitors and improves their perception of your web page . People will tend to come back to a communication board, as long as it is active, in order to find out whats happening, get answers to questions and keep in touch. This, of course, adds the visitors to your own page .

And if you sell a item or service, then a message board takes even a higher assessment of worth as it gives your visitors a specific way to communicate their concerns, questions and experiences with your company and your businesses products in a public forum. Its far cheaper than a telephone number, and its free of cost and brain friendly for your customers.

The moral of the story? Include as many ways for your website visitors to communicate as you may. 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 successful way to add assessment of value to your web 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 many 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 website to get everybody to want to come back over and over.

Richard Lowe Jr. is the webmaster of Internet Tips And Secrets at http://www.internet-tips.net - Visit our website any measure to read over 1,000 complete FREE articles about how to improve your internet profits, enjoyment and acquired skill .