Tips for implementing a chat service on a website

Oct 26, 2007 17:45 GMT  ·  By

Communication represents the basis for the transmission and promotion of the information. Chat services enhance the circulation of information. There are many chat applications (clients and servers) available on the Internet, commercial or free, made in various programming languages such as PHP, ASP, Java and more.

When you want to implement a chat service on your website, you have two options: you create your own chat server or you can use other available chat services, provided usually for free. In the second case, you must introduce only a piece of code in your pages. There are many advantages when you have this kind of service on your web site.

In the first place, you must remove the old contact form or method of communicating with your clients or visitors, in case you are planning to assure a full time presence. A free online chat service is a modern and efficient form of customer support. Your online business will gain a lot of popularity if you respond promptly to your customers' questions.

Before you install a chat service on your website, you must select the right hosting package, because you will need certain server support and bandwidth. When you select the chat application, you must analyze its features and requirements. It must be easy to install and customize. You should test it first online using the online demo provided by the producer.

If possible, it should provide also the video conferencing feature, in case you want to have online meetings with your employees for example. Other features you should look for when you select a chat application would be: multilanguage support, built-in templates, members management system and more.

In general, the implementation of a chat service on your website (for customer support or not) will bring you more visitors and - in case of a business website - you'll eventually cash in more revenues.