For information on free Internet phone calls visit the website at Skype

Instant Messaging & Chat 

The Internet is an amazing tool for genealogy research. Everyone is using the web and e-mail, but many people overlook IM, Instant Messaging. Consider the important issues of;

● keeping costs down and
● ensuring proper communication between the professional genealogist and the client.

These two ideas can be in conflict but instant messaging can help. In many cases Instant Messaging can be used to avoid long-distance telephone fees. Instant Messaging provides a chat facility that allows for more interactive exchange of messages than e-mail. In addition to the chat facility, Instant Messaging programs allow you to use your computer's microphone and speakers to talk to someone else anywhere on the Internet. You can replace expensive telephone fees with this free voice service.

Two programs that provide Instant Messaging are;

● Microsoft's MSN Messenger web site is at http://messenger.msn.com.
● The Yahoo Messenger web site is at http://messenger.yahoo.com.  

A nice feature of Yahoo Messenger is that you web page can include a button to initiate a chat session with a customer.

Websearch

eXpertGenealogy.com received a great boost in Internet traffic ranking with the introduction of the web page at http://expertgenealogy.com/websearch.  You can add this search form to your web site to increase the number of visitors to your web site. Get the code at http://expertgenealogy.com/websearch