Posted under forum building on January 13th, 2008 by gas money
I am always asked about Forums and If they can be profitable. So i decided to Blog this whole week about Forum management and Forum Building. The answer to the question in the first sentence is YES , They can be very profitable. If Done correctly , A forum can make a lot of money in different ways.
Well be going over Advertising on forums , Base Software , SEO modifications , How important is the staff , Premium memberships and a lot more. I will start first thing tomorrow on how to get your forum started and what you want to do the first couple of days your online. Ill then go further into managing and generating money from your forum.
So if your interested in starting a forum community? or have one but need a little more help than what your getting on forums? stay tuned for this week and lets talk things over. I have been building successful forums since 2003 and you can learn from my mistakes as well as my success.
Posted under forum building on November 25th, 2007 by gas money
Top ten ways to make your vBulletin forum stand out.
1. Research and discover your vBulletin forum’s niche.
2. Target a specific member base and user groups.
3. Create or obtain a unique vBulletin theme.
4. Make a good first impression.
5. Link-build with similar content related forums.
6. Optimize your forum pages to be search engine friendly.
7. Add incentives for your members.
8. Create room for personalization and customization.
9. Promote it to anyone and everyone. Word of mouth is huge.
10. Start slow and work your way up. Don’t get in to deep.
1. Research and discover your vBulletin forum’s niche.
Everybody has a certain passion and advanced knowledge in one category on the web or another. Search deep inside yourself to figure out what you think would succeed as a popular forum. However, your first thought is usually just like everyone else’s. Try to avoid the “John Doe” ideas that everyone and anyone has already thought of. Chances are there are a couple hundreds of forums on that topic already and it will be extremely difficult to compete with the previously established forums. Aim your sights on a much smaller or hidden niche that has not yet been discovered or developed. (i.e. “vBulletin hacks”, rather than “Web design”) Targeting a more specific topic allows room for search engine placement potential and an easily target-able member base. Once you find that industry niche, go at it 100%. I see hundreds of new forums fail and give up in the first few months because the owner doesn’t dedicate enough time to it. Put in the work and be patient, you will get results.
2. Target a specific member base and user groups.
Take the time to research other forums or websites that you think your potential members would hang out. A key to finding the perfect source is to search Google, MSN, Yahoo, and other search engines for the keywords you plan on targeting. These same relevant internet websites and forums provide the best source for advertisements and partnerships. Since the big guy (Google) looks for relevant content between links you will be noticed faster. For example, don’t advertise a sports forum on a printer repair website. However, Google does seem to be caring less and less for relevancy and more for real content text links.
3. Create or obtain a unique vBulletin theme.
Every forum owner should have a goal this his site can stand out from the rest of the forums in his niche. One step to accomplishing your own identity and recognizable skin is through downloading pre-made vBulletin skins (for example: www.completevb.com) and other resources. Having your own identity is a great way to make your members feel like they are apart of more than something than just another forum. Creating an atmosphere where your members feel at home may be the most important secret to keeping your members active and your forum growing.
4. Make a good first impression.
Everyone knows the first impression could be the make or break it on keeping a member at first glance. Like I just talked about, custom and pre-made skins are just one way to making that first impression better. On top of downloading pre-made skins, forum owners can establish easy navigation, interesting content, and try to portray an active community.
5. Link-build with similar content related forums.
Anyone in the SEO world will tell you that link building is the key ingredient to search engine optimization, and they are correct. Building back links pointing toward your website or forum is essential for search engines to not only find your site, but rank it well.
6. Optimize your forum pages to be search engine friendly.
However, vBulletin and other forum software’s make this a bit more difficult than a regular website. There are sites that have already come out with products to help all of the forum owners out there with SEO, such as vBSEO. These sites do most of the simple things for you, and are worth the small investment. Like I said before, I highly recommend finding related material on similar content websites and forums. Not only will the search engines appreciate it, but you will receive more targeted traffic than on a non-topic website.
7. Add incentives for your members.
We all know that forums can die down and lose interest during the year. Member incentives are very important for keeping your member base interested and active. Some incentives that you can do with your members are: - Throw a forum-wide contest. - Offer rewards for posters that accomplish a certain amount of posts. - Establish a point/rating system.
8. Create room for personalization and customization.
I personally believe that all members should have their own chance to play with the styles that an admin has on their forum. Having a wide variety of styles has its’ perks and its downfalls. Some of the good things about offering a wide variety of vBulletin skins are that members get their own choice. Some members may want a graphically enhanced design while others are just looking for a quick loading skin. The biggest downfall I notice when administrators do this is the lack of identity that is established. One style on a forum is much more easily recognizable and brand able than a bunch of random skins thrown together.
9. Promote it to anyone and everyone. Word of mouth is huge.
Tell everyone about your new forum. Who knows! Somebody you tell may know tons of people in that niche that have been waiting for such a site to come out. I suggest joining relative-content forums and becoming an active member with a signature link. I do not suggest spamming other forums just to get your link out there because you will give off the completely wrong impression.
10. Start slow and work your way up. Don’t get in to deep.
Everyone has heard of the statement, “Slow and steady wins the race.” With forum ownership, this statement couldn’t be truer. I suggest starting with a site you can handle and building it up slowly. At the same time, you need to take the initiative and take risks. Spend some cash on targeted advertising and try to sponsor sites relative to yours. Please don’t dump tons of cash into your forum thinking it will grow right away and lose your entire investment. Make long term goals and stick to them. Spread out the advertising and promotion tactics so that you don’t leave all your eggs in one basket.
Posted under forum building on November 14th, 2007 by gas money
Here are some of the things i’ve learned on creating a buzz on your forum and capitalizing on it. Just a reminder these are things i have done for my own network of forums and its not facts. Everyone has techniques that work differently.
Advertising:
Try not to have so many ads on your forum as it does push members away. When you start your forum try to keep it clean and easy to navigate. Its not worth having a few ads on the site that will make you a few cents than having loyal members coming back. Monetizing a forum is a long term thing and if rushed , it will not work. this is why you see a lot of dead forums with a lot of ads.
Staff/Management:
This is a big deal that a lot of people just dont take much consideration with. The forum staff is one of the most important part of your forum. It can make or break it on several levels. If you have power crazy mods or admins just bullying everyone on the board , it will only drive people away. Try to have a guideline for your staff before they start enforcing rules to the forum. Let them know that being respectful and mature goes a long way as a staff member and will only make your site better and stand out than the rest.
Content:
As you know and have heard. “Content is king” and this is true. especially for forums. If you don’t have something good for people to read or talk about? your forum will go no where. The good threads are the ones that can go either way and cause conversation between members. whether its a thread like ” do you like summer or winter? “ or ” should O-Rod leave the Yankees?”.
Structure:
When starting out try not to have to many forums. If you go crazy and add like 30 forums and each with 1 post in it , it will look empty and boring. DONT DO IT! Pick the important topics and try to keep it between 6-10 forums. Then get those forum populated with the important info or rules you might have for individual forums. Once people start posting it wont look empty and have a fuller look. If you ever need to add more subjects then it wont be a big change when you do and it will be easier t o catch up to the rest.
Design/template
Its always good to have a unique design but definitely not a must. You can get a simple 20-30$ template and have the images modified to your niche. If you want to go all out and get a custom template , you can do so at still an affordable price. If you know where to look you can get a design made for about $180 - $200.
im sure ill add more to this soon. this should cover the important stuff to get it going.
