The future of website development will lay in the hands of visitors and consumers. If you provide the platform and opportunity, consumers/visitors will embrace it. Wikipedia has been doing it for years and grew into a power house over night because of it. Now Google.com launches “knol” beta, an attempt to encourage people to contribute knowledge and give wikipedia a run for its money. The difference is that authors with Google knol will be able to generate income for their submissions.

Smart websites and businesses are offering this option to their visitors to contribute content. People love to share knowledge and insight they have on subjects of interest whether thru writing or thru the submission of videos. It is rewarding to an individual when someone finds your advice useful or of interest. There are alot of knowledable people in different fields that never went to college to become a journalist, website developer, etc. etc. that want to express their oprinions and share their knowledge. Most of these people do not want the hassles of developing a website to do so. Allowing these individuals to provide targetted user generated content to the world benefits everyone involved, authors, visitors, and website owners.

Geo domains are prime pieces of property for this type of content because people know their areas very well, take pride in them, and have a way of connecting with consumer/visitor interests. User generated content creates loyal visitors, increases word of mouth advertising for your site as users take pride in their work, increases weblinks to your site, and allows the search engines to do their thing and increase traffic to your geo website(s). One post from a visitor on a subject of interest can start a flurry of activity and popularity to your site, as we all have witnessed in the past. Website owners can not do it alone and often miss topics of interest to visitors, sending them off to another site that fullfills their needs. Make this an option on your developed geo sites and watch your site(s) grow. Adding a blog to your developed geo domain(s) can bring value and increased traffic to your site. The most valuable asset is that this targetted relavent information is archived and will allow people to find your site in the future when searching the internet on topics of interest. The bottomline is visitors/consumers want the option to be interactive and provide their two cents on topics. Give them the option and watch your site grow in activity and traffic.

It’s a proven tactic, so get started! Encourage user generated content to your geo site(s).

Godspeed,
Steve