Are you curious how your SharePoint site is doing?  Do you need a way to get valuable feedback from your users?  Now you can!  With the combination of Bamboo Rating and these simple steps, you can receive that valuable, real-time rating from your users. 

In the following example, I will be using a SharePoint 2010 Team Site.

1. Open the SharePoint Site to which you would like to add content ratings.
2. Unlike SharePoint 2007 Team Sites, in SharePoint 2010 Team Sites default pages are stored in a document library called Site Pages. To allow users the ability to rate on individual site pages, we will need to create a new Bamboo Rating column in this document library. You can easily configure this column to meet your business needs selecting from True/False (Voting), 5-Star, and 10-Point rating scales.
3. Go to the site page that you want users to rate and place the page in Edit mode.  This is done opening the Page Ribbon and selecting Edit.
   
4. In Edit mode, select Insert from the Ribbon, then click Web Part.
   
5. A new section will appear which allows you to select a Web Part to add to the page.  In Categories select Bamboo Solutions to display all Web Parts produced Bamboo.  Locate and select the Bamboo Rating Web Part and click Add.
   
6. Notice that the Bamboo Rating Web Part was added to the top middle section of the page.
   
   Personally, that is not where I want the rating control.  I want it to display under the image on the right.  To move the rating control, simply click and hold on the Web Part header bar and drag it to the desired position on the page.
7. Now that you have successfully positioned the Web Part, you are ready to configure it.  Place your cursor over the header of the Web Part and you will see a down arrow and checkbox appear on the right side of the header.  Click the down arrow and select Edit Web Part. A new window will appear on the right side of the screen. Locate the section Bamboo Rating Web Part Configuration and select the Bamboo Rating column in the drop-down menu within this section.
   
8. Click Apply, then OK.  After the page refreshes, open the Page Ribbon again and select the Save & Close button.
   
9. You have successfully configured your site with ratings!  One cool feature of the Bamboo Rating Web Part in combination with Bamboo Rating custom column is that Bamboo Rating Web Part will only display the rating associated with the page where the Web Part resides automatically.  Just add the Web Part to a page, select the Bamboo Rating column in the Web Part toolpane, and you are good to go!

NOTE: Bamboo Rating Web Part only works on pages that are part of a parent (container) document library.  If, for example, you add the Web Part to default.aspx page in a SharePoint Team Site within SharePoint 2007, you will receive an error as the page is not part of a container library.

Ready to let your users rate your sites? Follow these simple steps to download and install Bamboo Rating:

1. Open the Bamboo Rating product page and click the  button.
2. Once you complete the Checkout process, you will receive an email with details on downloading the installation package.
3. For installation, configuration, and usage instructions, view the Bamboo Rating online documentation.

As always, leave us questions or comments below.  We would love to hear what you think!