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

---

Forum Signatures to Build Back Links - Helping Your Search Rankings

Building Backlinks! There are several ways to build backlinks. We have discussed Directory Submissions, Article Submission, & Press Releases. The next simple easy and free way to get a back link as well... Read More

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... Read More

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... Read More

Intro to Health Forums

Health forums are great for gathering information, resources, advice, tips and tricks, business names/information, product reviews, expert advice and much more. Many forums have experts on health subjects that are monitoring the forums... Read More

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... Read More

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. Reading a forum's archives can be... Read More

How to Build a Forum That Doesnt Fall Apart Two Months Later, Part 1

If you can get a big enough following from customer lists and newsletters you might want to start your own forum. But I always see people trying to start a forum and it... Read More

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.... Read More

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... Read More

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. Believe me, it wasn't too long ago that I didn't know a single thing... Read More

How to Sell Your Product on the Forums?

1. Your signature file:Most of the forums allow you to carry a 4 - 6 lines of signature files with your name. So these files appears below your name when you answer a... Read More

Whats The Deal With Discussion Lists? (Part Three)

Why Do People Start Writing Discussion Lists? Angela Gillaspie, who owns Southern Angel, says she created her list for a very simple reason. "I started the list because there were so many folks... Read More

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... Read More

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... Read More

5 Reasons Why Participating in Forums can Benefit Your Business

Did you know that by simply participating in various forums and posting your various views and ideas, can potentially bring new growth and life to your online business?Let's look at some of the... Read More

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... Read More

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. In fact, only a small percentage will post regularly, and... Read More

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... Read More

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.1- Get to Know... Read More

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... Read More

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... Read More

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... especially your forum software. Because... Read More

The Demise of EZBoard

For years, EZBoard was a community that offered relatively cheap and easy to maintain forums for managers. Virtually anyone could register, design, and layout a site and invite their friends to participate. Indeed,... Read More

The Value of Forums

There are literally thousands of online forums that cover a wide range of topics. Forums provide individuals, who share a common interest, with a meeting place for open discussion, and a great gathering... Read More

5 Proven Techniques to Build a Profitable Web Forum

You may have heard that having a web community is a great way to increase sales, customer loyalty and word of mouth for your web business. In fact a web community itself, if... Read More

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... Read More

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... Read More

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... Read More

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... Read More