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Should You Add A Forum To Your Site?
I was recently reading a message board thread on a popular SEO site and the question came up whether this particular person should add a forum to his site. I appreciated the honest answers from those who replied and I mulled over several points myself that I thought would be beneficial. Combined, these are some of the prevailing thoughts from site administrators: 1. Site Traffic. While there is no "rule of thumb" as to what constitutes a busy site, most administrators felt that a site with at least several hundred daily unique visitors was worthy of adding a forum. One administrator cited that probably 10-20% of the visitors would actually join the forum, while the rest would continue to visit the web pages. Any amount less, the adminstrators believed, would find the forum visited infrequently. Fears were voiced by some that an "empty" or underused forum would send out a bad signal. 2. Moderators. Knowing that a forum can quickly get out of control if not watched regularly, one respondent urged that at least 2 current site visitors be appointed as moderators. The thoughts were that if there were already regular identifiable visitors to the site, at least 2 could be found to help out with the new forum. Across the board, no one felt comfortable with the administrator starting the site without moderators. 3. Development. A side conversation ensued about the development of the forum. We soon learned that the administrator was not well versed in PHP so he was going to have to expend some money by purchasing a license from vBulletin or Invision Boards to set up a site. We did learn that through AdSense and banner display ads his site was profitable, so the financial outlay of $200 or so wasn't a problem for this administrator. Still, he could save himself some money by opting for an open source PHP site if he had the time and inclination. In both cases he clearly had neither, thus a licensed forum made the most sense. 4. Maintenance. Besides having the help of moderators, we all recognized that a certain amount of regular maintenance would need to be performed including: registering people who for whatever reason could not register themselves, resetting passwords when requested, updating forums as required, backing up data on a regular basis, making important upgrades and modifications as warranted, marketing the site via mass emails and advertising, promoting the site via an orchestrated advertising campaign, etc. Nobody felt that the administrator could create the site and basically stand back. By experience, we knew that we had to share with the potential forum administrator that forums are time consuming and require a lot of special care. 5. Time Management. As outlined in point #4, the amount of time involved to successfully launch, maintain, market, backup, and update forums can be huge. I mentioned in my reply that whatever time was allocated to forum management would quickly take away from other administrative tasks including writing articles, updating web pages, sourcing new customers, as well as impacting precious personal time. 6. Niche or Not? Not mentioned by me during the discussion {I thought about this point later} was whether the site was a niche community or one amongst many. Clearly, if the administrator starts a forum that is like many others it may have difficulty establishing itself in a crowded market. As the manager of two successful forums, the Corporate Flight Attendant Community and the Aviation Employment Board, I have learned through trial and error that some forums work, while others do not. I might add, that I have managed as many as one dozen other forums which I eventually had to close or relinquish because of some of the points mentioned previously, e.g. low traffic numbers and time management. In all, forum management brings a whole additional level of responsibility for any site manager. Weigh the benefits against the pitfalls and give due consideration to all the points mentioned above. You may still elect to start a forum and, if that is the case, I only wish you success in your new undertaking. Matthew Keegan is The Article Writer who writes on just about any and every issue imaginable. You can preview samples from his high performing site at http://www.thearticlewriter.com
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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). Forums - Why You Might Want One And How To Get One... Several people have asked me about setting up a forum on their website recently, so I thought it might be helpful to cover this topic for the benefit of all my readers.But before I explain how to set up a forum, let me cover some of the reasons as to why you might want a forum in the first place. 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. 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. 3 Reasons Why PHP Message Boards Rock If you are web designer, chances are you include forums on at least some of the sites you manage. If you haven't explored PHPBB2 you are missing out as this type of message board offers to designers a forum that is well supported, easy to manage, and above all else: free! Let's see why PHPBB2 is a hit with so many web designers. 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. 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. Make Money From Forums If you have a website about a topic you enjoy, you can make money from discussion forums. Talk, post links to your site, get traffic. Join A Songwriting Forum - Its A Good Idea! If you are a songwriter looking to get "plugged-in" to where the action is, consider joining a songwriting forum. This is a great way to meet other songwriters, share your ideas, promote your songs and/or lyrics, find resources and much more! As the Good Book says:"iron sharpens iron," which simply means that we grow and learn from the exchange of new ideas with others. Why You Should Use (Not Abuse) Forums to Increase Your Traffic There are dozens of reasons why you should look up the forums that are related to your market and post to them often. Here are 3 to get you started. 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. Seven Must Follow Rules While Participating In Message Boards Participating in message boards (forums) discussions is a great way of self promotion. It costs you nothing. Some Quick Tips to Easily Improve the Success of Your Forum! It is difficult to define a 'successful forum'. However, all forums deal with information and so the amount of information that is transferred across a forum is an indication of its success. 10 Commandments To Maximizing Your Time In Forum Participation 1) Gain an idea/keep in touch of what is happening in the Internet Marketing scene (strategies, product, news).2) Help others as well as yourself to solve a 'how to' problem whenever it crops up. Get Traffic & Sales Using Discussion Forums Message boards, discussion forums and newsgroups can all produce very profitable results for you and your business. Most of us already participate in one or more of these and the more you participate the bigger the benefits to you and your website will be. Marketing Via Messageboards & E-mail Discussion Lists - An Alternative View One of the most suggested means of getting traffic to a site in the early stages is to get involved in messageboard and e-mail discussions on your topic of choice. The idea is that you can show your expertise and therefore get traffic to your site via your signature file (most discussion lists allow you to include your signature file with your post - a few lines with your name, site address and maybe a very brief description). 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. 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. 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. Using Forums to Promote Your Business When is work not really work? When it's fun!Using online forums, also called message boards, can be a fun way to promote your business in a low key way.Benefits:You cultivate relationships with othersYou learn about all kinds of topicsYour marketing message is presented without screaming advertisementBy answering questions related to your topic, you are positioned as an expert in your fieldHow to Use a Forum for Promotion:First, find a forum that is of interest to you and frequented by people in your target market.
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