Five Tips to Launching a Successful Message Forum

By: Lisa Irby
Submitted: 2007-01-17 13:21:12
Print this article | Tell a friend | For publisher | Social Bookmarking
Rating:
 

Forums a.k.a. "message boards" can be great marketing tools for your website. They attract repeat visitors and provide a meeting place for them to share their thoughts, ideas, questions and concerns.

Unfortunately many webmasters that attempt to launch a board on their site, end up closing it down due to lack of activity and popularity.

So what's the key to success, you ask?

Below you will find 5 quick tips on creating and promoting a message board for your website.

1. You Need Plenty of Traffic

If your site is receiving small amounts of traffic per day, then it will be very hard to get the conversations going on your board.

Keep in mind not everyone that comes to your site will even notice or visit your board, and those that do stop by may just browse without posting. In fact, the majority of the visitors to your board will only look around.

Your site should be getting at least 1,000 unique visitors per day before you even launch. Don't open it up prematurely because it can make your site look uninhabited if no one posts.

2. Create Some Starter Conversations

Once you've created your board, post a few questions to get the ball rolling. This may coax people to jump in and post some comments.

And if you are using a free board like http://www.phpbb.com, you can create polls to spark participation. People like interactivity and to give their opinion. Post a few polls and allow your visitors to vote on topic.

Also, don't be ashamed to talk to yourself. What I mean by that is you may want to create a few usernames on your own and have them post questions and answers. It may sound silly but if you're lacking activity, this may help get some conversations going. No one will know they aren't real people, except you! ;)

3. Promote! Promote! Promote!

Don't just provide one or two links to your message board. Link to it from every page on your website. Include it in the signature of your emails, and if you have a newsletter, devote a special edition to the launch of your board.

On your "Contact" page, suggest that your visitors post a question on the message board as an alternative to emailing you. This will force some people to browse the board and possibly find the answer they need. If your visitors begin finding the board useful, they’ll return often and hopefully will start posting.

4. Keep The Categories to a Minimum In The Beginning

A big mistake that people make with new message boards is that they create too many categories. Remember that for most new forums, the number of posts are going to be small at first. So if you have 10 categories and only 1 or 2 are being used, it makes your board look scarce.

Try creating just one or two in the beginning and then once the traffic starts coming in you can add new ones.

5. Make The Board Easy to Use

Don't force your visitors to search for instructions on how to use your forums. If they have to figure things out, they will be discouraged and leave. Be sure to use a script that is neat and intuitive.

I recommend http://www.phpbb.com. Not only are they free, but the setup is easy and the layout is nice and clean.

Hopefully these quick tips will help you as you launch your new messaeg board. Again, don't forget to promote it like crazy. If you can build an active community, it can be quite the marketing tool for your website.

About The Author

Lisa Irby is the author of 2 Create a Web Site -- a site that encourages you to plan accordingly before diving into the web site creation process.

http://www.2CreateAWebSite.com

Article source: Expert Articles

Most Recent Articles in Forums category

  • Is the Internet Better than Real Life? - By: Sandra Prior
    Whether it's flirting in chat rooms, blowing people up in online gaming arenas or arguing in newsgroups, the Internet is home to a vast and varied population. With such a range of activities available, is the Net better than real life?
  • Promoting in Online Forums - By: Anna-Marie Stewart
    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 a great way to get a basic knowledge about a topic, and it can also give you pointers about the changes in trends and opinions through time.
  • How To Get Free Advertising By Participating In E-mail Discussion Lists - By: Julia Tang
    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. When you post a message to a list include your signature file at the end.
  • What's The Deal With Discussion Lists? (Part Three) - By: Danielle Hollister
    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 that wanted to read my writing, and I had a hard time remembering everyone's addresses.
  • What's The Deal With Discussion Lists for Writers? (Part Two) - By: Danielle Hollister
    What Are the Advantages and/or Drawbacks of Subscribing to Discussion Lists? "I learn a lot about publishing houses, editors, etc., and we're like one big happy family," says Dotti Enderle, who belongs to several lists - the biggest being the Children's Writers List.
  • What's The Deal With Discussion Lists For Writers? (Part One) - By: Danielle Hollister
    Are they really free? Are they actually helpful? Why do writers subscribe to these lists?
  • Unlock The Power Of Online Groups - By: Corey Morehouse
    Yahoo Groups: I see countless marketers on shoestring budges turn to traffic exchanges for free traffic. If they would spend the time creating online groups rather than clicking for traffic they would see much more quality traffic. By no means am I saying throw in the towel on traffic exchanges as I use a number of them.
  • Get Traffic & Sales Using Discussion Forums - By: Jean Sutherland
    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 the bigger the benefits to you and your website will be.So let's find out how to make this a profitable venture for you.
  • 8 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.
  • Business Forums - By: John Kovacs
    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 advice and learn a great deal of knowledge from others who participate. You can also participate by answering questions that you are well versed on.