Forum running is not easy

Discussion in 'Managing Your Online Community' started by cpvr, Dec 7, 2011.

  1. cpvr

    cpvr Regular Member

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    I thought I'd come up with another topic "Forum running is not easy" and I'll share some of my points.

    I'd say its not easy because A) You need to attract members and establish yourself
    b) Some threads can be a hit or a miss with users.
    C) The costs of running a forum isn't so much, but the ideas coming out your head should take you somewhere.
    D) Post exchanges help, but they do not help you establish your community
    E) Getting ranked on the search engines is hard - especially if you're not building links
    SEO brings in a lot of traffic so if you're building links - make sure you get deep links as well.


    Well, those are some of my reasons why forum running is not easy - what do you have to share? Share your thoughts, and let's see what we can do.

    I also had an article on Community building - so be sure to check that out as well.
     
    cpvr, Dec 7, 2011
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  2. Carlos

    Carlos Regular Member

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    Running forums isn't always easy, I agree. And it's not always fun. Especially when you're trying to build new sites.

    The most frustrating part of running sites is that, even though that you've applied tips and tricks of the trade for social media marketing, it falls on deaf ears most of the time. THAT is the most frustrating part.

    I have found building sites to be extremely hard. Some people in forums, or elsewhere think that buidling sites is particular so easy to build. When you hear that, you feel like physically slapping them.
     
    Carlos, Dec 7, 2011
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  3. Cerberus

    Cerberus Admin Talk Staff

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    I honestly believe that building and running sites are fairly easy. I could build a forum in a week and have it well on its way, but the hard part is maintaining them. Getting people is not that hard, its the keeping people and keeping up traffic and activity. That is what is hard. It is not easy to keep people entertained in a world well everyone has an attention span of a field mouse LOL.. But as far is being hard I think you just need more experience in those things. I have been doing this for almost 15 years now and seems easier as you go to me. I have probably built and run 100s on top of 100s of sites over the years. I currently own 53 domains. Most of which were types in the past year and half.. Now most are not sites LOL.. It is just the way it goes
     
    Cerberus, Dec 7, 2011
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  4. JohnnyM

    JohnnyM Regular Member

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    I personally think it depends on which niche your forum is focused on.

    A forum about web design is going to be alot harder to build up than a forum about hunting in scotland.

    Niche topics are the deciding factor for me when building a forum.
     
    JohnnyM, Dec 9, 2011
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  5. cpvr

    cpvr Regular Member

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    Welll, if you can build a forum in a week - are you bringing your members on over from your other communities?'

    I agree man. It's also very stressful trying to build a new site because you have to work on the content, attract links, and get things following. That takes a lot of work, effort, dedication, and time.
     
    cpvr, Dec 11, 2011
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  6. Cerberus

    Cerberus Admin Talk Staff

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    @cpvr Most of the time I do not bring them over, because they are not relative to the niche. I mean everyone has friends, and of course you get your friends help. But, I wouldnt want my new site like spammed by me and my friends. I just never had problems finiding members for my projects. I guess it is all about how you built and where you show it off. But, yeah building a form is pretty easy IMO. I think the hard part is maintaining it. There was a hobby site I built with a friend about 2 years ago. We opened it up after about maybe a day of setting it up and all. And we had a core group of about 20 people. Maybe 10 were friends of ours. And in one month we had over 1000 members. And I think we had like closed to 100K posts too. Sadly, it got really big and it was his site. He sold it off. They made him and offer he couldnt refuse I guess. Just depends on the people running it I think...

    The biggest thing is not allowing a site to become a moneypit. If you are going in the hole every month, then its hard to keep it open even if it has loyal members. I always set my goal to make money by the 3rd month. If I am not making money after the 3rd month then I have to like evaluate the situation and decided should I keep it open or not. Though, I am not talking about sites that cost you 5 to 10 a month in hosting.. I mean yeah thats nothing.. But if you make a serious site, and you are losing 50 bux a month on hosting + you paid for a license for something. You probably want to move on to the next idea
     
    Cerberus, Dec 12, 2011
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  7. cpvr

    cpvr Regular Member

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    @Cerberus Thanks for posting - I know exactly what you mean. I guess it comes easy the more time you spend on the web doing research and networking. Some things come natural for some people - where it comes harder for others. It all really depends.
     
    cpvr, Jan 26, 2012
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