K, you have a Web page. It has a background, it has pictures, it has text. But it's lacking something. It needs a little more kick. So now it's time to spruce things up with some extra gizmos. How about a counter that tells you how many people are visiting your site? Or a guestbook? Or a chat room? These can help personalize your page and give it the oomph it needs to make it dy-no-mite.

The counter is a very popular little gizmo. It counts the number of people that visit your site, so every time a new person arrives, the counter will tell him or her how many people have visited before them. You can choose from a variety of shapes, colors, and sizes. There are a lot of sites out there that will provide you with a counter for free, like BoingDragon, JCount Counters, and LookSmart's BeSeen.

To get one of these counters, you fill out a form where you put your user information (your email address, name of your Web page), how many numbers you want your counter to show (are you expecting hundreds of visitors? Thousands? MILLIONS?), and what your site is about. Just follow the instructions, say "abracadabra!" and, like magic, a custom counter is made for you. Then all you have to do is copy and paste the HTML code (which will be automatically created for you) into your Web page. And just like that, you'll have a lovely counter on your page. Ever better, you'll be ultra cool because everyone will see the huge number of people that come to your site.