Centering the site around the forum

So, Launched a new site, it's semi successful.

I've used a forum (vBulletin) as the main attraction of the site, when you go to the site, you reach a portal which will then forward you to the vBulletin.

I now ask you this, would it be better to use some non vB CMS like Drupal (though I've been warned off it) or WordPress to get the content onto the frontpage, or would it be better to use some form of vBulletin CMS like vBAdvanced, to get my content onto my frontpage which in turn will get guests interested.

A friend of mine has said that the forum should never be the main attraction, is this true? If so, what else is there, as I've only ever used the forum as a main feature.

 

It depends which is more important to you or your users, are your users more interested in your portal or your forum is what you need to ask yourself. Personally I would never use a portal for a forum unless it would provide updated content which could be useful to the users. In that case I would go for wordpress myself as I dont have much experience with drupal/joomla etc, vbadvanced I personally aint keen on but it does have its uses and is good if youre able to customise it so it doesnt look like vbadvanced.

If you dont offer any great content you would want people seeing first which is extremely beneficial for your users I wouldnt bother adding the cms/portal.

 

The main attraction of your site depends on which one of the both, forum or main page, the users are more interactive with. If the users enjoy going to your main site then discuss what they see on there in the forum, then I would say that your main site is the main attraction, though the only reason I would do such thing is if you have blogging material and would like other users to input on it, or if you have some unique content/news that the users might find very interesting.

Forums usually bring bring more interaction than a CMS, blog what ever since it lets you interact with the users a bit further than a CMS or blogging software would.

My views on CMS and Blog software is:
From me to you

My view on a forum is:
From me to you and everyone, from you to everyone and me.

I personally have used wordpress and I like it, it's very flexible and if you would also like to interact with your users easily from your main page, wordpress is the way.

Think what you would like your users to do and think what you would like to achieve, maybe that will get you a clearer mind on what the main focus of your site should be, maybe even split the focus equally.

And your friend is wrong, by the way, as I said, depending on what you want to achieve with your users, the forums will be the main attraction of the site.


Edit: Remember that in a Blog or CMS your users can't make their own content unless you use something like wordpress Mu so they make their own blogs, doesn't seem like a good idea if you plan to interact with ALL your members.

 

I think that's a really good answer, especially this part, as I want the content to be OUT THERE, easy to find, in one sense, but in another sense, It'd be cool if the CMS could pull some sort of description and link to the discussion thread.

That way, it could be beneficial to potential members, as they'd hit the main site, and see all the great content, click the links and hit the forum.

So now, what CMS would you reccommend?

 

First, I would like to point out one thing. vBAdvanced is a nice little portal but it a rudimentary CMS at best. If you're actually going to use it for content, it is a poor choice.

Drupal's only problems lie in the fact that it if you want to go beyond their basic node content type, you will eventually need to know PHP. There are addons that allow you to create content types and views for those content types but they aren't very efficient until you get in and tweak the PHP code.

Wordpress is a fast up and coming CMS system. With versions 2.6 through 2.8 it has moved strongly past the "Blog Only" solution it used to be.

With that out of the way, we would need to know what your site is about and what your goals are before we can tell if centering around a forum is a good idea. Many sites do quite well as a forum with some secondary content.

If you just want to provide a place for people to hang out and discuss your topic than a forum is probably the best focus. You don't need to generate content and can attract some experts to help out with well written topics.

If you want to establish yourself in the niche as an expert and provide information without necessarily requiring feedback, than you probably want to center around a CMS of some sort.

Other things like target audience, monetization plans, your subject also play into this. For instance younger audiences will tend to have shorter attention spans (generalization) while older audiences are more willing to read longer articles but need larger type (another generalization). Video also works better with younger audiences where older audiences may respond better to step by step tutorials. Younger audiences also respond better to forums and are more open to interacting with people they can't see.

If you don't know these things then you would need to sit down and do a little research on where you want the site to go so you can plan appropriately.

 

Again, BRILLIANT Post. I am aiming for it to become the second of your options, the;

I honestly didn't think of Wordpress as a true CMS, do you have to get a special package, or is it all the same as the blog package?

 

Depends on how you want to use that page.

• A collection of recent posts I can find by clicking new posts on a forum.
• A collection of RSS feeds from other places makes me want to go to the source of the feeds if they are of interest.
• Sometimes there is a joke of the day or slide show, which are usually nice.
• But where that page can really come in handy is to be a very high level of information about the site. Almost a forum wiki where the real basics are always in one place. In general forums are not the best way to organize information for quick and easy access. www vbulletin com is an example, that always has static slow moving information that is of interest to everyone that is thinking about buying vB. It also has links to the download area, downloadable reference manuals, how long a support ticket might take to get answered, etc. That page serves a purpose.

 

All depends on the theme you use really. Download the package from wordpress.org and use a nice CMS theme like those available at StudioPress Premium WordPress Themes. Though that is just one example.

As your site grows you might look into some plugins but they aren't necessary.

This is a site that I am bringing back online using Wordpress: http://avgreenliving.com/

It uses the Lifestyle theme from Studiopress. I have the featured thread showcase turned off currently. Though, I am going to see this weekend if I can convert it to vBulletin 4's CMS and have the integration with forums and allow users to create their own blogs.

 

ThemeForrest.com also has extremely nice WP CMS like themes, and I would recommend Wordpress, it's a blog system that can work/look like a CMS.

Personally, I used and edited business planet that I bought from themeforrest, but at the moment we are makin' our own.[Wordpress system] It's more powerful than I thought....seriously.

 

The site is actually WordPress Themes, HTML Templates - ThemeForest.

 

Oops! Yes, thank you, Wayne.