8 Tips for Starting and Maintaining a Successful Online Forum
?>
Download eBooks and Software
 The Lotto Black Book
This Radical Approach To An Online Sales Letter Converts In The 3-5%... We've Never Seen Something Like This Since The Early Days Of 2004-2005 And I'm Sure You Haven't Either... We Convert More Than Our Competition And We Pay Out More... Try It!
How To Create An Iphone Or Ipad Apps And Games Succeed In App Store!
Discover How To Create An Iphone Or Ipad App&game And Hit Pay Dirt With It In The App Store! 60% Commission + Bonus. Awesome Member Area With Full Video Course. All You Need To Know On How To Start App Business With No Programming Skills At All!
Legit Online Jobs
Completely Redesigned For 2012! New Pricing = Higher Conversions And Lower Refunds. 24/7 Support Converts Even More Visitors Into Customers. Visit Http://www.legitonlinejobs.com/affiliates To See How Each Visitor Can Be Worth Well Over $200.
Articles > Online Business8 Tips for Starting and Maintaining a Successful Online Forum
by: Vishal P. Rao Nothing promotes a business online better than staying in touch with prospects. The more interactive the continued contact, the more of a relationship that is built with a potential client. This business principle of continued contact and business relationship building has given rise to the popularity of online business forums, and of course, "theme-related" online forums. Online forums quickly establish empathy, set forum owners up as "experts" in the eyes of visitors, and serve as a promotional vehicle for other products and services that forum owners seek to sell. While online forums are popular and the perfect method of relationship building, starting a forum and maintaining one can be challenging, especially in the beginning when members can be "few" and "far between". The challenge for most new forum owners is to get beyond the initial start up phase and move onto a phase where the forum members themselves promote the forum simply by posting. Although each forum is individual and personal, a few general guidelines should be followed or at least kept in mind when starting and maintaining an online forum. These are as follows: 1. Take care when choosing the type of forum and forum script or software that will be used. The forum should be easy to access, easy to use, and come with "visitor- friendly" features. All visitors should be made to feel welcomed and find the navigability of the forum, user friendly. Forum scripts and software, especially "free" varieties, may be overburdened with ads from the parent company and lead to a poor experience for visitors. Some recommendations:
http://www.phpbb.com/
http://www.vbulletin.com/
2. The forum should have a good number of interesting and focused topics. The content should reflect the interests of the target audience, and every care should be made to have well-written and informative content that is updated regularly. This not only helps attract new members, it keeps older members from losing interest and defecting to other forums. 3. The forum should be Search Engine friendly. High activity forums, like popular blogs, provide a great reason for Search Engines to visit them frequently as they are brimming with fresh content all the while. Dynamic urls, session ids, etc. used by most forum software can be very detrimental to the forum health from Search Engine point of view. When selecting a forum software, check if they are Search Engine friendly. Open source software like phpbb, have mods (modifications) developed by third party sources, to enhance the forum in many ways. Here's a great mod for phpbb to make it Search Engine friendly:
http://www.able2know.com/forums/about15132.html
4. The forum needs to have a clear list of rules, a disclaimer, and most of all, good solid moderation. Visitors will quickly become frustrated with forums that have no clear guidelines, or feature rude, obnoxious, or overbearing members. Good manners are required as much online as offline. 5. Promotion, especially in the early days, will take considerable time and effort. Forums can be difficult to start (members generally are "shy" when there are only a few present), and the more posts that take place, the more individuals will join. This is a "snowball" effect of forums, so marketing must be done consistently, day in and day out, until the forum becomes more self-sustaining. 6. The owner of the forum should take an active interest in the forum and SHOW this interest by contributing regularly. Above all else, people join forums where they feel they will learn from the owner of the forum, and if the owner is never present, they quickly lose interest in the forum. 7. The forum should be targeted, yet diverse, encouraging older members to contribute, without making newer members feel uncomfortable. Cliques can form in forums, and this type of behavior should be discouraged by the owner and moderators. Every effort should be made to answer questions or comments by all members as quickly and thoroughly as possible. 8. As with all other Internet related ventures, care needs to be given as to hosting and maintenance of the forum. A forum that is always experiencing "downtime", will lose members quickly, and a forum that has many coding mistakes will quickly frustrate visitors. As with Web sites, "cheap" providers of hosting and maintenance are not always "better". All in all, online forums can be a great way to generate income, develop a good reputation among clients, and provide entertainment and instruction for many individuals. Like with everything else, however, they take marketing savvy, and a great deal of time and attention to detail. The old saying, "You only reap what you sow" really applies to the world of online forums. ?>
News on Online Business
McGraw University Introduces New Online Business Degree Programs to Match Employers’ Needs
McGraw University adds in new courses to the current business curriculum in order to increase the relevance to the current job market trendsArlington, TX (PRWEB) May 25, 2012 McGraw University, an accredited leading online university that has been known around the world for its improved learning services for working adults has announced that it has introduced fresh courses in its Business and ... Online CRM Provider Really Simple Systems Increases Web CRM Adoption With Intelligent Data Import
LONDON, May 24, 2012 /PRNewswire/ ---Innovative data import solution increases usability and simplicity of online CRM, web CRM and small business CRM system-Really Simple Systems http://www.reallysimplesystems.com/ ... A SEO package to help build your online business
What do we offer in websites that improve SEO? Our website packages allow you to feature your business with a customizable webpage built with the latest search engine optimization (SEO) tools. Through these SEO tools, as well as coupons and special deals and premium placement in your local online directory, you can maximize online traffic to your business. Raising Funds for Your Online Business: Show Me the Money!
Tax guru Barbara Weltman explains the options available for obtaining capital for your growing ecommerce business. In Part 1, she discussed the pros and cons of borrowing money (debt) vs. taking in investors (equity) - see Raising Funds for Your Online Business: Debt vs. Equity . Today, she discusses where to look for debt and equity financing and some pitfalls to avoid. Online Advertising Using Purchaser Data Delivers Three Dollars in Incremental Sales for Every Dollar Spent
Consumer packaged goods brands can experience a return of almost three dollars in incremental sales for every dollar spent in online advertising that has been precisely deliv
|
