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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 wise to add forums to your website? In this article I'd like to take a look at the pros and cons of adding forums to your website. The largest of my websites, www.TheCatSite.com boasts one of the largest online forums on pet related subjects. In fact I have yet to see a larger forum dealing with pets. As of the writing of this article (Summer 2004), we have over 7,000 members and nearly half a million posts. In the past four years I have struggled with the hardships of community management and learned what works and what doesn't. Let me share a few insights that may help you decide if you want to take the forums path yourself. The Pro Side of the Equation? Forums Generate Content Large, active forums generate content for your website. Google now has literally tens of thousands of pages indexed for TheCatSite.com's forums, and people looking for some of the more esoteric subjects related to cat health and cat behavior are very likely to meet one of our forum pages in their search results. Forums Make People Return to Your Website Forums are truly a "sticky" element. Most people come back, at least to check on developments on their threads. With a good community, you get some real addicts who have to get their daily fix. TheCatSite.com's forums run on Vbulletin Forums, which means members can opt to receive an email whenever someone replies to their thread. Most people use it and that little email sends them right back to the forums? Forums Create a Sense of Community Reaching from behind their computer screens, people from all over the world join together, get to know each other and create a community. This is actually happening! Members connect with each other, offering support in time of needs and some of them even meeting each other in real life. For you as the webmaster, this means loyal visitors that keep coming back to a place they consider to be home. And Now To The Cons Forums Can Take a Lot of Time to Take Off the Ground I remember how I could feel my posts echoing in the empty board four years ago? It can take a long time before your forums pick up. An empty forum can actually drive new visitors away. It's a vicious circle - when they see that no one else is posting, they don't post themselves, and move on to the next website. It can take weeks and even months of hard work to get your forums off the ground. Forums Need A Lot Of Ongoing Management You need to constantly monitor your forums to make sure that they are clean of spam, troll posts, and just keep everything where it belongs. Once your forums are large enough, you have to have a team of quality moderators to help you run the place - the task being too time-consuming for one person. This is the place in this article to say "hi!" to any TCS team members reading this - thank you guys - you're the ones that make it all happen! For the webmasters reading this article, I will say that managing a team is a task in its own right. Finding the good mods can mean the difference between success and failure. And it doesn't end there. You have to put your heart and mind to it - all the time. Forums Take Up a Lot of Resources Forums are database-type applications that generate web pages on the fly. Every time a user views a page, it's being created from scratch. As the forums become more active, this can take a heavy load on the web server's resources. When our forums reached 2,000 members, we had to switch over to a dedicated server. When they reached 7,000 members, we had to upgrade to a new dedicated server? With several other websites stored on our server, the forums are the big resources hoggers, taking up bandwidth, disk space and, most importantly, CPU resources. This brings us to the next point? Forums Do Not Make Lucrative Advertising Stock You think that with successful forums, generating millions of targeted pageviews each month, you would do well financially? Think again. Forums not only cost you a lot to run, they also don't bring in a whole lot of revenue, compared to regular web pages. Advertisers don't like to run ads on forum pages. So much so, that most CPM based ad networks won't even let you place their ads there. Our experience with CPC ads shows that they may have a good point. Click-through rates on forum pages are significantly lower then on other types of web pages. There are ways to make your forums generate revenues, but trust me, it's not that easy. I will be writing a separate article on how we got our forums to pay for their keeping. The Bottom Line Forums are not for every website. Don't just put it up there and hope for the best. If you can't or don't want to put a lot of time and effort into creating a viable community, just leave it. Having no forums is better than having dead forums. Having dead forums on your website may actually drive people away. Research your field. How easy will it be to create a community geared towards the subject of your website? Is it something that people want to talk about with each other? Are there other forums on this subject? How are they doing? Get your feet wet. Join several forums and become an active participant. If possible, become a team member or a moderator in a large forum. Big forums often have secret team forums, where you can learn a lot about community management. Think ahead. Where do you see your website in a year or two? Is this your main project and passion? Will you have the time and energy it takes to maintain a forum? Above all: Will you enjoy it? Copyright © Anne Moss About The Author Anne Moss has been the webmaster of www.TheCatSite.com and www.Meowhoo.com, as well as several other sites, since the year 2000. You can read more advice for webmasters on her webmasters resources website -www.4NetNeeds.com. You may use this article in your website, provided that you leave the "About the Author" bit intact and make sure that the names of the websites mentioned are clickable and lead to the right place.
Latest News:Site: Yahoo! News Search Results for news JCDecaux in talks for News Outdoor Group in Russia (AP via Yahoo! News) French outdoor advertising firm JCDecaux SA said Thursday it is negotiating to buy Russian rival News Outdoor Group from global media company News Corp. JCDecaux and News Corp. in talks to combine outdoor ad groups (International Herald Tribune) The News Corp. chief executive, Rupert Murdoch, has recently expressed nervousness about investments in Russia, where News Outdoor generated the bulk of its revenue last year. News Corp tightens grip on Premiere with new CEO (Reuters via Yahoo! News) Rupert Murdoch tightened his grip on German pay-TV broadcaster Premiere by appointing News Corp executive Mark Williams as CEO in a move to get the company back on track. News Corp says Mark Williams interim Premiere CEO (Reuters via Yahoo! News) News Corp. executive Mark Williams has taken over as chief executive of German pay-TV broadcaster Premiere in an interim capacity, News Corp. said after the move led to renewed takeover speculation. News Corp. says Mark Williams interim Premiere CEO (Reuters via Yahoo! News) Mark Williams, a News Corp. executive named late on Wednesday as chief executive of German pay-TV broadcaster Premiere, has taken over in an interim capacity, a News Corp. spokeswoman said on Thursday. UPI NewsTrack Entertainment News (UPI) Kanye arrested in paparazzi scuffle ... Report: Critic smacked Ebert with binder ... Cafe Tacvba nominated for 6 Latin Grammys ... Groban to perform TV songs at Emmys ... News from United Press International. United shares climb after news debacle (UPI) CHICAGO, Sept. 11 (UPI) -- A computer program assigning dates to news stories was partly to blame for a sell-off of United Airlines stock Monday, a Google spokesman said. JCDecaux in talks for News Outdoor Group in Russia (San Francisco Chronicle) French outdoor advertising firm JCDecaux SA said Thursday it is negotiating to buy Russian rival News Outdoor Group from global media company News Corp. In a statement, the global seller of outdoor advertising said it was in exclusive talks with Rupert... Column: Palin's Nomination Good News Even For Democrats In Alaska (CBS News) So, John McCain picked Sarah Palin to be his running mate. Let me just say, wow. That's not exactly what I repeatedly shouted out when I first heard the news, but it's close enough for publication. Like everyone else, my astonished reaction wasn't due to the event itself being inconceivable - I've heard pundits debating the likelihood of a McCain / Palin ticket for months. Get the latest news in racing (Daily Racing Form) In order to read Daily Racing Form's free daily news stories it is required that you have a DRF.com free membership. If you do not have a DRF.com free membership, please register here . You will NOT need to be logged in to read each day's free news stories. Site: news - Google News New Voices in Congress Will Change the Tone of the Democratic Majority - New York Times
MORE RESOURCES: Site: Yahoo! News Search Results for forums Three candidate forums slated in Oct. (Cape Cod Times) The Cape Cod League of Women Voters, the Martha?s Vineyard League of Women Voters and the Cape Cod Times are sponsoring candidate forums this fall. Watch Mo. Candidate Forums Live Online (KCTV 5 Kansas City) Candidate forums are scheduled Thursday in the races for Missouri attorney general and Missouri governor. Click here for a link to watch them online live. Forums Set To Discuss Next West Hartford Schools Chief (Hartford Courant) The last time the school board sought input on the town's next superintendent, a handful of residents showed up at two public forums. Forums on for N.H. candidates (Portsmouth Herald) CONCORD and#8212; The Business and Industry Association of New Hampshire announced recently that business forums featuring candidates for governor and U.S. Senate are confirmed for early October. Attend TGI political forums (The Garden Island) The Garden Island will host political forums for Kaua?i?s mayoral candidates on Sept. 25 and for County Council candidates on Oct. 16 at the Kaua?i Veterans Center on Kapule Highway. Doors open at 6 p.m. The forums start at 6:30 p.m. Expect a question and answer format with an opportunity for those attending to ask questions as well. Candidates to participate in lunch forums (New Hampshire Union Leader) Early October dates have been set for two midday business forums featuring candidates for governor and U.S. Senate. Gubernatorial and U.S. Senate business forums planned (Foster's Daily Democrat) CONCORD ? The Business and Industry Association of New Hampshire announced that business forums featuring candidates for governor and U.S. Senate are confirmed for early October. Forums Offer New Hope For Homeowners (Eyewitness News 3 Hartford) The state is offering a series of free forums to help homeowners with sub-prime mortgages convert them to 30-year fixed-rate loans. Public forums planned for candidates (MPC Newspapers) Public forums, organized by the Benton County Task Force Government Relations Committee have been scheduled in the coming weeks. The first will be held Wednesday, Sept. 17, at 12:30 p.m. at the Belle Plaine Community Center. Crime forums give ethnic groups a say (The New Zealand Herald) Auckland's ethnic groups are invited to have their say on crime and listen to a police "action plan" for keeping them safe at meetings on the North Shore and at Greenlane tomorrow. Site: forums - Google News Louisville residents provide input for Obama at healthcare forum - WAVE
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