After yesterday’s post which had some examples of messages students sent me through the old WikiStudent contact form, I thought again about my idea of getting rid of it… I mean, not giving any means for people to contact you is a very drastic measure!
And I actually would like to get some messages, such as feedback which helps me make the site better. I really do need some way to communicate with users, but something like a contact form is no good when 10 different people send you the same message, and you have to reply to each one individually.
That’s where this blog comes in! Originally I started it to let everybody know what was happening with the re-design/development, but I now want to keep it up even when the site is complete. There will always be stuff to blog about because the maintenance will never stop!
I was thinking now that on the new WikiStudent, instead of having an FAQ or contact form, it would be better on each section of the site to have a link to the relevant category on this blog. So, for example, if you’re on the downloads page and have a query, you’ll find a link at the bottom of the page that takes you to the downloads category on this blog, where you can read up on the how & why etc. and comment on a relevant blog post if you have questions. I will reply back, and everyone can benefit from our correspondance.
I think it’s a great idea, and it’s one of the reasons why blogs can be so valuable. Here is a pic of me holding a useful book on blogging: What No One Ever Tells You About Blogging And Podcasting.
It has a lot on business blogs, and why they can be such excellent communication tools for companies. I’m going to treat the WikiStudent blog as one of these business-type blogs, that keep ‘clients’ informed about the ‘products’ and respond to their needs.
Tags: Ideas