Afterzed Internet Lessons

Webrings

You've been poking around the web and you've run across these things called webrings. They seemed kind of cool, and it was a fun way to surf to some related sites. It was like following a pathway through a dense forest, moving from village to village.

Now you want to create one of these rings, but you don't know what to do? Sometimes they look sterile and boring and sometimes they appear bright and cheerful and inviting. Which do you choose? What's the best way to go about this.

There are several alternatives available for creating a webring. These systems include:

Yahoo! webrings
Bomis rings
RingSurf rings
Ringlink rings

The first thing you need to do is figure out what you are trying to accomplish.

Do you want to increase traffic to your site? Webrings will do this to a certain extent, but they are far down on the list of traffic builders. If you only want to create traffic, then before you even look at webrings check out search engine submission, ezine promotion and a dozen other things. Once you've done all of that, then you can join webrings. To tell you the truth, if your only goal is to generate traffic, then I would recommend you don't even consider becoming a ringmaster - join some rings yes, but don't bother creating your own.
Do you want to meet other people? You can create a webring similar to Random Acts Of Kindness, which encourages meeting other people. One note of caution: these kinds of rings require an immense amount of effort to organize and operate.
Do you want to create a highly interactive community? You may want to create a ring similar to Garden of Friendship or White Spirit Lights. These types of rings also require an incredible amount of effort.
Do you want to link together sites with similar tastes or themes? This is the perfect application for webrings.

Next, you need to look at your skill level.

How are your HTML skills?
How are your webmaster skills?
Have you ever used CGI?

Another thing to look at is where your site (presumably the home site for the ring) is hosted.

Do you use a free host such as GeoCities or Homepage?
Do you use a better host such as Bizland?
Do you use a paid host such as Addr.com where you have access to CGI?
Do you host your own site?

Finally, look at how much time you've got got available to spend promoting, managing and creating your ring.

You just want to get the darn thing going .
You've got some time.
You've got a job in the real world, but are willing to spend a few hours a week on the ring.
You've got all the time in the world.

Okay, now we will take a brief look at each of the major different types of webring. Click on the ring name for a more detailed tutorial on each type.

Yahoo webrings.These are extremely easy to create and manage. If any of the following are true than this type of ring is for you:

You don't want to spend any time at all on the ring.
Your HTML or webmastering skills are limited.
You have no access to CGI
You only want to generate traffic.
You think the idea of being part of the world in the book 1984 is a good idea.

Bomis webrings.These are trivial to create. In fact, you do not even need to invite anyone to join. You just add sites and viola, you have a ring.
RingSurf - A great alternative if your goal is more than just traffic building, but you do not have access to CGI.

You have some HTML and webmastering skills
You like the idea of creating a beautiful ring fragment and graphic image
You want to create a community on the web
Your site resides on a host that does not support user CGI routines.

Ringlink (hosted by another). A great choice, with all of the advantages of RingSurf without the extra time and effort required by hosting your own Ringlink system.
Ringlink (hosted by your own site). The best choice of all for complete freedom.

You have at least moderate HTML skills.
You have webmastering skills.
You want to create and build a vibrant community on the web.
You found the world depicted in 1984 to be revolting.

There are scripts available other than Ringlink which perform the same or similar functions. You should take a look at these also before making your decision.