Bulletin
Boards
One of the most
compelling features of the internet is the abillity of people to communicate,
share ideas, question, debate, complain, boast or broadcast their views,
with relative ease.
Bulletin boards
can add this capability to a small business web site. They can then
act as a draw for repeat visitors to your site, act as value added service
to the users and act as a source of useful customer information for
you.
They may not be
applicable in all circumstances, but here are some examples:
1) if you market
very specialist industrial equipment, you could set up a user group,
so people can share experiences and ideas
2) if run a leisure
resort, you can use the board to post visitor feedback about the area
you serve
3) if you sell climbing
gear, you can use a bulletin board for climbers to exchange information
about new routes, set up activities or ask others about techniques
Clearly this has
to be done with care: there may be bad feedback , your competitors may
be lurking, or if its not kept busy an empty bulletin board can look
a bit sad.
You
can get hosted bulletin boards and other web tools from Bravenet.
This will
enable you to quickly get a bulletin board operational, without the
need for expensive bespoke programming.
