|
|
|
|
 |
Forums - Should You Have Them On Your Website?
Forums have become a common feature in many websites. With good free scripts available, and paid scripts being relatively cheap, it seems that every new website has its own forum(s). But is it wise to add forums to your website? In this article I'd like to take a look at the pros and cons of adding forums to your website. The largest of my websites, www.TheCatSite.com boasts one of the largest online forums on pet related subjects. In fact I have yet to see a larger forum dealing with pets. As of the writing of this article (Summer 2004), we have over 7,000 members and nearly half a million posts. In the past four years I have struggled with the hardships of community management and learned what works and what doesn't. Let me share a few insights that may help you decide if you want to take the forums path yourself. The Pro Side of the Equation? Forums Generate Content Large, active forums generate content for your website. Google now has literally tens of thousands of pages indexed for TheCatSite.com's forums, and people looking for some of the more esoteric subjects related to cat health and cat behavior are very likely to meet one of our forum pages in their search results. Forums Make People Return to Your Website Forums are truly a "sticky" element. Most people come back, at least to check on developments on their threads. With a good community, you get some real addicts who have to get their daily fix. TheCatSite.com's forums run on Vbulletin Forums, which means members can opt to receive an email whenever someone replies to their thread. Most people use it and that little email sends them right back to the forums? Forums Create a Sense of Community Reaching from behind their computer screens, people from all over the world join together, get to know each other and create a community. This is actually happening! Members connect with each other, offering support in time of needs and some of them even meeting each other in real life. For you as the webmaster, this means loyal visitors that keep coming back to a place they consider to be home. And Now To The Cons Forums Can Take a Lot of Time to Take Off the Ground I remember how I could feel my posts echoing in the empty board four years ago? It can take a long time before your forums pick up. An empty forum can actually drive new visitors away. It's a vicious circle - when they see that no one else is posting, they don't post themselves, and move on to the next website. It can take weeks and even months of hard work to get your forums off the ground. Forums Need A Lot Of Ongoing Management You need to constantly monitor your forums to make sure that they are clean of spam, troll posts, and just keep everything where it belongs. Once your forums are large enough, you have to have a team of quality moderators to help you run the place - the task being too time-consuming for one person. This is the place in this article to say "hi!" to any TCS team members reading this - thank you guys - you're the ones that make it all happen! For the webmasters reading this article, I will say that managing a team is a task in its own right. Finding the good mods can mean the difference between success and failure. And it doesn't end there. You have to put your heart and mind to it - all the time. Forums Take Up a Lot of Resources Forums are database-type applications that generate web pages on the fly. Every time a user views a page, it's being created from scratch. As the forums become more active, this can take a heavy load on the web server's resources. When our forums reached 2,000 members, we had to switch over to a dedicated server. When they reached 7,000 members, we had to upgrade to a new dedicated server? With several other websites stored on our server, the forums are the big resources hoggers, taking up bandwidth, disk space and, most importantly, CPU resources. This brings us to the next point? Forums Do Not Make Lucrative Advertising Stock You think that with successful forums, generating millions of targeted pageviews each month, you would do well financially? Think again. Forums not only cost you a lot to run, they also don't bring in a whole lot of revenue, compared to regular web pages. Advertisers don't like to run ads on forum pages. So much so, that most CPM based ad networks won't even let you place their ads there. Our experience with CPC ads shows that they may have a good point. Click-through rates on forum pages are significantly lower then on other types of web pages. There are ways to make your forums generate revenues, but trust me, it's not that easy. I will be writing a separate article on how we got our forums to pay for their keeping. The Bottom Line Forums are not for every website. Don't just put it up there and hope for the best. If you can't or don't want to put a lot of time and effort into creating a viable community, just leave it. Having no forums is better than having dead forums. Having dead forums on your website may actually drive people away. Research your field. How easy will it be to create a community geared towards the subject of your website? Is it something that people want to talk about with each other? Are there other forums on this subject? How are they doing? Get your feet wet. Join several forums and become an active participant. If possible, become a team member or a moderator in a large forum. Big forums often have secret team forums, where you can learn a lot about community management. Think ahead. Where do you see your website in a year or two? Is this your main project and passion? Will you have the time and energy it takes to maintain a forum? Above all: Will you enjoy it? Copyright © Anne Moss About The Author Anne Moss has been the webmaster of www.TheCatSite.com and www.Meowhoo.com, as well as several other sites, since the year 2000. You can read more advice for webmasters on her webmasters resources website -www.4NetNeeds.com. You may use this article in your website, provided that you leave the "About the Author" bit intact and make sure that the names of the websites mentioned are clickable and lead to the right place.
MORE RESOURCES:
Forums - Google News |
|
|
|
How To Get Free Advertising By Participating In E-mail Discussion Lists Posting messages to e-mail discussion lists is a great way to get free advertising. An e-mail discussion list is a group of people connected together via e-mail that can communicate with one another. 11 Ways To Increase Forums Activities Getting people to post in your forum is probably the hardest thing to do. First, not all of your readers will post messages. Reward Your Forum Moderators If you are a forum administrator and you have moderators on your site who are doing a stellar job, consider rewarding them for their assistance. No, I am not necessarily talking about financial compensation, but other recognizable forms of showing your gratefulness. Forum Software 101 - Why It is Vitally Important to Choose the Best Software to Run your Forum When you go through all of the work and trouble to set up your own forum, you don't want anything to get in the way of its success.. Using Online Marketing Forums to Jumpstart Your Home Business One of the most wonderful things that I have discovered about the network-marketing world during the past few months are online forums. These forums offer so much to enrich both your online working life and your knowledge of this sometimes confusing, often frustrating world of home-based business, internet marketing. Milton Keynes - A City For The Future? The two main features of Milton Keynes which distinguish it from older towns are:1)The town was built with motor vehicles in mind and so has a structured road network.2)A significant amount of land was set aside for green space, from the extensive network of park land to the sizeable margins planted with trees and shrubs by the side of the road system. How to Market on Forums and Message Boards Without Upsetting Anyone Believe it or not, you can market on forums and message boards without pissing anyone off. In fact, not only can you market this way, you SHOULD market this way, and I'll tell you why later in this article. Business Forums Forums are a community where a group of webmasters can post a discussion on different topics, like running an online business, web promotion, marketing, web design, etc. You can post questions asking for advice and learn a great deal of knowledge from others who participate. Whats The Deal With Discussion Lists for Writers? (Part Two) What Are the Advantages and/or Drawbacks of Subscribing to Discussion Lists? "I learn a lot about publishing houses, editors, etc., and we're like one big happy family," says Dotti Enderle, who belongs to several lists - the biggest being the Children's Writers List. 5 Reasons You Should Market Online If you've got a website you'll need to let the world know about it. This is called internet marketing. The Benefits of Hiring Forum Posters There are many business benefits to be realized by including a forum on your website. A forum is an area where individuals can converse on a regular basis about different topics and ideas as well as discuss your services and products. Forum Traffic - How to Get More Members on Your Forum Getting more traffic on your forum can be hard. But don't get discouraged yet! Here are some ways that you can increase traffic, or better yet, keep the people who are already going through your forum from closing out their window. Using Forums To Network Successfully According to one of the entries found at dictionary.com the definition of the word network is as follows: Something resembling an openwork fabric or structure in form or concept, especially: An extended group of people with similar interests or concerns who interact and remain in informal contact for mutual assistance or support. Internet Forums - Six Ways To Avoid Disaster Internet Forums are highly popular, they cater for all tastes and deal with every topic imaginable. People visit Internet forums for a variety of reasons, the most common being the search for information or entertainment. Dont Over Accesorize Your Forums; Give it Community Content Have you been to those forums where when it opens up you are blasted off your seat by the stunning colors? Sure you have. We all have. Forum - A Free Way to Get Traffic Forum is a gathering of people normally have a common interest on certain topic like investing, health etc.People in forum can share ideas, ask questions, socializeget help and give advice. The Importance of Forum Participation in Promoting an Internet Business Many internet business owners are really lost when doing anything with regards to their Internet business and this is sometimes because people try to do it alone without any external help. Contrary to the notion that the internet is an unfriendly place, many online marketing forums and internet business forums are filled with very nice people that help each other out. Promoting in Online Forums Forums can be a useful tool if you`re doing business online. You can learn a lot by reading the content and actively taking part in the discussions. 6 Forum Management Essentials If you are tasked with managing a forum, congratulations to you. If you find yourself weighed down by mundane management tasks, you are not alone. Using Message Boards Properly We all have our own reasons for joining message boards. Maybe its to meet some friends, or find some ideas for your business.
|
|
||
|
2007 © Copyright InstantFileDownload. All rights reserved.
|
