The best visitor for your site is one who is interested in your subject matter.

One way to get interested visitors to your site is to let your current visitors bring them to you. When someone likes your site and voluntarily recommends it to a friend, that friend is almost certain to be interested in what you have.

And those that are interested in what you have are more likely to recommend your site to their own friends.

It stands to reason, then, to make it easy to recommend your site.

Yet, many webmasters don't do it. Some hide the recommend link deep down the page. Some insert it among a confusion of links. Some don't have a link at all.

Requirements

There are two requirements for a successful "recommend me" implementation:

1. The site must be something visitors want to recommend to their friends.

   If the site is not something a person would want to recommend to their friends, then product or monetary incentives probably won't work either. Unless recommendations are voluntary, quality of recommendations become suspect because the visitor is prone to make recommendations for self-gratification rather than doing a favor for a friend.

2. Making a recommendation must be easy.

   If the visitor has to hunt for a recommend link, then it's not easy.

   Put a prominent recommend link (not imploring, just available) at every point on your site where a visitor might think, "Oh, my friend would want to know about this." If the visitor has to hunt for a link, the urge to recommend your site is likely to dissipate — you lose a potential sale and possibly additional recommendations that could convert to sales.

Abuse Potential

In our experience abuse is rare. We've had two instances in the three years we've been using recommendation forms on our sites.

One was the use of a really nasty term that got by our offensive language filters. We added that term to the list right away! The other was by someone who was harassing a specific individual but carefully avoiding words that might trip the filters. We blocked the destination email address.

Although rare, if it does happen then prevention steps need to be taken right away.

Implementation

There are two ways to implement "recommend me" functionality. By using a third-party service or by putting the software on your server.

Third-party services are the easiest to implement. Often, it is as simple as signing up and getting a unique link to put on your site. The drawback is that you don't control the mail and, especially if the service is free, your visitors and their friends will be subject to other people's advertisements. Probably the most popular third-party service of its kind is http://recommend-it.com/

If your server has its own cgi-bin, I recommend having your own implementation. Install the script and be in control.

If your server is UNIX or Linux, I recommend our own programs:

• Master Recommend from http://willmaster.com/master/recommend/ has been downloaded about 10,000 times since it was released on April 13, 1998. It's still free and probably will remain free.

  Master Recommend has a offensive language filter, customizable outgoing emails, webmaster notification, and a message area for the sender's comments. It supports only one recommendation recipient. The month and weekday names may be in any written language. Visitor gets a thank you note and can also elect to receive a copy of what's sent to friends.

  The script may be modified to alter the list of offensive words/terms. It may also be modified to refuse to send mail if the recipient is a banned email address.

• Master Recommend Pro from http://willmaster.com/master/recommendpro/ is a commercial program for $45 (USD) and features a control panel where you generate recommend forms with any number of recipients you please, list banned addresses, update your list of "offensive" words/phrases, specify which domains the program will recognize as valid, maintain email templates for custom outgoing email, and more. It supports dates and mail in any written language. Dates may be formatted any way you like. Form information can be logged. "Thank you" pages may be personalized, including another recommend form partially pre-filled in. Visitor can get a thank you note and can also elect to receive a copy of what's sent to friends.

  Master Recommend Pro is designed to be very easy for the webmaster to use and administer.

  Master Recommend Pro is also visitor friendly in a way few other scripts are. If the visitor reverses the information for the name and email fields, the program will switch them automatically.

The main differences between the Master Recommend and Master Recommend Pro programs is:

• Master Recommend requires modifying the script itself for configuration and changes. Only one recipient can be specified at a time. The form is created by hand.

• Master Recommend Pro has a control panel for all configurations, formatting, email templates, etc. Any number of recipients can be specified in the form. The control panel generates your forms so all you need to do is copy and paste into your pages.

Master Recommend Pro is easier.

Master Recommend and Master Recommend Pro require UNIX/Linux servers. If your server is NT, then the free BirdCast from http://www.bignosebird.com/carchive/birdcast.shtml is popular. Because BirdCast is not our program, I am not intimately familiar with it. Their site states that BirdCast has unlimited number of recipients, logging of pages referred, and a message area for the sender's comments.

Your site deserves all the recognition it gets. Be a good host and make it easy for your visitors to recommend it to their friends.

Copyright 2001 William Bontrager
Programmer/Publisher, "WillMaster Possibilities" ezine
http://willmaster.com/possibilities/
subscribe-possibilities@willmaster.com
Business Home Page: http://willmaster.com/