Whether you promote a cause, provide a service, or sell a product, people in your target audience all share something in common. You can drive traffic to your site by giving users tools to form an online community based around this common interest.

Welcome to Web 2.0

Websites that simply communicate information from the site owners to the end users are becoming a thing of the past. Modern sites must offer a rich user experience and encourage participation and interaction between users. Industry leaders have coined the phrase "Web 2.0" to describe this new generation of websites. STLi adopted this same philosophy many years ago, realizing that our clients needed to move beyond brochure-style websites and use their sites as a two-way communication tool. We have always believed that interactivity is the key to presenting an engaging, compelling, and lasting message.

Benefits of Community Networks

Why should you form an online community on your website?

• Your users will add value to your site by contributing content, with little effort required on your part. Providing resource builds community, and in turn the community provides additional resource!
  
• When users feel like they are part of a community, they will return to your site frequently, possibly even on a daily basis. Your site should become the central place, online or offline, for your target audience to get information and interact with like-minded individuals.
• Consolidating organizational functions online will cut down on administration time and costs. Have members sign up to volunteer, RSVP for events, download and print their own materials, and quickly disseminate time-sensitive information through the website.
• Asking users to register and create a profile in order to use certain features can help you collect valuable demographic information about your audience, as well as build up a targeted email distribution list. You can use simple (and even free) incentives to convince your users that "membership has its privileges."
• By providing useful resources and a positive user experience, you will build your organization's reputation and brand recognition.

Community Network Functions

STLi offers a wide variety of tools to meet your organization's specific needs. Some examples of popular community network functions are:

• Blogs and video logs — Post daily or weekly updates in the form of text or videos, and allow registered members to comment on them. Allow members to post their own video blogs or responses.
• Photo galleries — Upload and organize photos of people and events. Allow members to contribute photos or comment on them.
• Message boards — Hold moderated discussions on topics related to your organization. Encourage members to use the message boards to brainstorm ideas, ask questions, and organize for events or campaigns. Cut down on driving and face-to-face meetings by discussing issues online instead.
• Document sharing — Create a central repository for all documents related to your organization. Save printing and mailing costs (and trees!) by having users print their own materials only as needed.
• Community calendars — Post upcoming events held by your organization. Allow members to suggest their own community events.
• Surveys — Create online surveys and polls. Quickly view summarized data and individual responses.
• Daily logs — Provide tools for members to keep daily logs or diaries of certain activities. Diary data can be summarized or members can compete with each other individually to achieve certain goals.
• Interactive maps — Overlay Yahoo! or Google Maps with custom information. Post markers and draw areas of interest. Allow members to add their own markers and areas, plot and save routes, and share them with others.
• Online competitions — Let members challenge each other through interactive games or activities, or daily logging of behaviors or achievements. Encourage members to invite family or friends to join the site in order to compete.
• Prizes and incentives — Offer incentives such as downloadable coupons or gift card redemption codes. STLi has created an interactive prize wheel which awards prizes randomly over a specified period of time in exchange for members completing tasks on the site.
• Volunteer sign-ups — Collect and organize volunteer registrations through your website. Build an email list to instantly communicate with all volunteers or specific groups of volunteers.
• Event RSVPS — Ask members to RSVP for local events. Limits may be set on number of attendees, and email reminders will automatically be sent prior to the event.
• E-newsletters — Build targeted email distribution lists based on member registrations or volunteer sign-ups. Create and sent graphic-rich, HTML formatted email newsletters or alerts to your subscribers.