Plugging Into a Community That Clicks

Because e-mail lists are often one-way communication vehicles, Chamberlain found them time-consuming. "I put notices out, but the responses all came to me," she said.

She switched Hallcrest to a Yahoo groups e-mail message board where residents can freely correspond with one another, but under a password-protected umbrella. It's easy for residents to get quick responses to such postings as "My dog got out! Have you seen her?" or "Does anyone know a good plumber?"

Time-Saving Possibilities

If done right, a community Web site avoids having residents play phone tag with community leaders for basic information, Boulter said.

Consider:

Increasing participation in polls or surveys with online voting. Last year when Chantilly Highlands residents were facing school boundary changes, Jeff Parnes, the community's webmaster, posted a survey online so they could indicate preferences.

Making association forms available for downloading.

Guiding residents to assistance outside of the community. Virginia Hills has a "problem help" section that zeros in on which concerns are handled by local, county, state and federal offices, with links to key officials.

Providing a street map on your site and links to public transportation options -- particularly useful if you have a sprawling community.

Posting seasonal info, whether it's pool hours, gypsy moth information, pollen counts or school emergency announcements.

Posting links to schools. Are you near a college? Park West's community association, near George Mason University, has a college page for students living off campus.

Linking to the surrounding community. Jefferson Manor, south of Alexandria, has a "Where's the nearest . . . ." link to various retail businesses, farmers markets, recreation areas, veterinarians, places of worship and 24-hour emergency care.

Children and pets. Landsdowne near Springfield has a page where residents can post photos of their pets. Greentree Village has a nice rainy-day page with crafts and games for children.

Other Concerns

Several Web site minders pointed out that you want a domain name that is useful and easy to remember. Places such as http://www.registry.com let you search to see whether your choice is available.

A site must load quickly. Whether you handle your site in-house or farm it out, be mindful of the computer capabilities of your readers. Not everyone has high-speed broadband. In places such as Montgomery Village where DSL isn't available, many residents still use dial-up services. Heller advises not to go crazy on graphics. PDF files can also slow a system down.

Should you accept ads or not? That's often a financial decision, but remember, a cluttered page is an unread page. Greentree Village has a separate sponsors page for ads. Viewers can click on ads if they wish but aren't bombarded with things that don't interest them.

The Bottom Line

An attractive Web site doesn't guarantee good community interaction. One Germantown association site that serves more than 300 residences had only one message in its e-mail archives. In the past 12 years, the same handful of names appeared on the minutes of board meetings, with the latest annual meeting having notations that "Tim called the annual meeting to order at 7:42 P.M." followed by, "The annual meeting adjourned at 7:43."

The Web site's attractive Williamsburg blue and peach colors didn't seem to translate into community participation.

There has to be something else that binds a community together. "The magic isn't all in the Web site," Heller said.

Freelance writer Ann Cameron Siegal has profiled more than 100 local neighborhoods for the Where We Live section of The Washington Post.