Web development can be a hit and miss affair at times. We try our best to provide information to attract visitors and encourage their return. Sometimes we assume too much as to what our visitors want and don't want.

A couple of years of digging through global statistics can give you an overall view of preferences and trends, but if you already have well established site traffic you may find that the "rules" do not apply..

Each established site tends to attract a certain kind of visitor, and perhaps the image we build of our guests is incorrect.

There are many ways of eliciting feedback from visitors, from very personal strategies such as direct email communications, to the impersonal figures and bar charts of our server log reports which identify popular pages and therefore, areas of interest.

An excellent middle ground is the web poll or survey. A well thought out poll can give you a fairly accurate and dynamic snapshot of what your visitors and customers want.

Over recent months I have been observing the CNN polls, especially in regards to the terrorist attacks and Afghanistan crisis. The participation in those polls has been quite amazing. Usually around 250 000 people contribute to each poll. In the first few weeks after September 11, they were putting up a new poll every day. It gave an interesting insight as to how people were feeling and thinking. And I'm sure CNN capitalized on that by gearing it's stories to the mood reflected by the survey results.

Accuracy?

While most web polls/surveys are not totally accurate, most decent scripts have IP address filtering to prevent people from "flooding" responses and ruining the statistics.

Convenience?

A web poll doesn't need to be a 300 question rigorous psychological test. A simple question, regularly changed is all that is needed to begin building up some good demographics of your site visitors preferences. Instead of Yes/No responses, try and give visitors a few options which will allow for grey areas. If these grey areas become prominent in survey outcomes, then further polls can elicit more information on these specific points.

The whole idea is that the poll/survey is not invasive or takes up too much of your visitors/customers valuable time. One well thought out question, a few choices of broad answers - everyone benefits.

The Benefits?

The benefits to you as a web developer through utilizing this simple tool can be immense . The feedback received can assist in planning new site content and design elements. Your visitors will then benefit by having more relevant content and pleasing aesthetics to suit their needs. If you act on the feedback you receive from the polls, your visitors will notice and feel appreciated and respected. This will encourage site loyalty and increase the chances of them recommending your site to others. Even in this age of bleeding edge Internet marketing tools, nothing beats word-of-mouth referrals.

Are Polls/Surveys difficult to implement?

It's all pretty simple. If you are commercially hosted, more than likely you will have access to a cgi-bin folder. These folders are designated and configured for holding and processing scripts. Most commercial servers also run the necessary software to enable the scripting language used, called Perl. Check your Hosting services FAQ pages for instructions on implementing Perl scripts on your site.

If the Perl option is not suitable, many polling scripts are now available in PHP. Again, your hosting service will need to be configured to utilize PHP, and you'll also need provision for MySQL databases to store raw data.

Help files included with the scripts should outline how to configure them. Good scripts will provide a secured web based administration area for creating and editing polls/surveys.

If you aren't commercially hosted, that is, using free web space, the chances are you won't have access to a properly configured area to run this type of scripting. But don't despair, there are plenty of free, remotely hosted services that will give you "plug in" scripts - and they are generally easier to configure than the locally hosted versions.

Remotely hosted services are also an excellent option for webmasters with commercially hosted sites but who have no time or inclination to implement a Perl or PHP script. Remotely hosted free polls may require you to display a small ad, and remember - check the provider's privacy policy - otherwise you and your visitors may be giving away more information than is warranted.

So where do I get them?

There are literally hundreds of free voting scripts on the web. While I haven't tested out many of them, the following links contain a plethora of choices.

Locally hosted free poll/survey scripts

Perl (cgi):

http://www.scriptsearch.com/Perl/Scripts_and_Programs/Polls_and_Voting/

http://www.hotscripts.com/Perl/Scripts_and_Programs/Polls_and_Voting/

http://www.bignosebird.com/carchive/survey.shtml

http://cgi.resourceindex.com/Programs_and_Scripts/Perl/Survey_and_Voting/

http://www.prowler-pro.com/prowlerpoll/

PHP

http://www.scriptsearch.com/PHP/Scripts_and_Programs/Polls_and_Voting/

http://www.hotscripts.com/PHP/Scripts_and_Programs/Polls_and_Voting/

http://www.proxy2.de/scripts.php

http://php.resourceindex.com/Complete_Scripts/Survey_and_Voting/

Remotely hosted free poll/survey scripts

http://www.scriptsearch.com/Remotely_Hosted/Polls_and_Voting/

http://www.hotscripts.com/Remotely_Hosted/Polls_and_Voting/

http://www.bravenet.com/samples/minipoll.php

http://cgi.resourceindex.com/Remotely_Hosted/Survey_and_Voting/

http://webpoll.sparklit.com/

Further related learning resources:

Your visitors: know them, love them!

Ecommerce web site basics

Internet marketing: the common courtesy strategy:

Michael Bloch
Taming the Beast
http://www.tamingthebeast.net
Tutorials, web content, tools and software.
Web Marketing, Internet Development & Ecommerce Resources
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