How to Market a Forum
- Thread starter tattoo
- Start date
D
djbaxter
Guest
It takes time and consistent effort to build a forum community.
First, what NOT to do:
None of these practices look real and they don't attract "sticky" members.
Instead, start populating those threads yourself, with content you have written that will be of interest to your target audience. When you do start to get members, respond to them.
A forum is not a "set up and let it go" enterprise. If you want to attract and sustain a thriving forum community, you need to be present and active as the owner-administrator. You need to post threads which invite responses. And you need to invite and listen to suggestions from your members.
First, what NOT to do:
- Do NOT create fake users.
- Do NOT use paid posters.
- Do NOT try and populate threads with RSS feeds.
None of these practices look real and they don't attract "sticky" members.
Instead, start populating those threads yourself, with content you have written that will be of interest to your target audience. When you do start to get members, respond to them.
A forum is not a "set up and let it go" enterprise. If you want to attract and sustain a thriving forum community, you need to be present and active as the owner-administrator. You need to post threads which invite responses. And you need to invite and listen to suggestions from your members.
- Be present.
- Be active.
- Be responsive.
Last edited by a moderator:
D
djbaxter
Guest
Here are some excerpts from an article I wrote a few years back:
Basic forum SEO: Start with the simple things<!-- google_ad_section_end -->
David Baxter
April 2007
Contrary to what you will read in most forum threads on this subject, the starting point for forum SEO is not in rewriting URLs or other add-ons or SEO packages. It's not that these cannot benefit your forum. It's more that there are a number of basic things you can and should do before you even begin to think about more advanced SEO strategies.
The most neglected part of forum SEO, regardless of the specific forum software employed, that I see when reviewing or happening upon new forums is in what I see on the main forum index page. Remember this:
First, look at your home page, if you have one that's different from the forum index. Bear in mind that all spiders can "see" and index is text. What is there on your home page to index? Make sure that your most important search terms are included in the forum description on this page, in the page title, and in the meta description tag.
Then go to the actual forum index page. Look at your category and forum titles. Look at your category and forum descriptions. How much do you see written there for search engine spiders to index that will constitute search terms people will actually use to find your forum? Do they also include your most important search terms? Fix those descriptions. Make them descriptive and informative not only for logged in members who already know what your forum is about, but for searchers who will only see what the spiders see.
Now go to the individual forum pages where you'll find a list of threads. Start by looking at the structure of your title. It should have the following basic format:
Forum title :: Name of your forum
Most forum software will do it the other way around out of the box, but this is generally easy to fix with a quick template edit.
If you are using vBulletin, there is a built-in standard option for displaying forum descriptions at the top of the forum listing pages. Enable that.
Now go to the individual thread pages - the ones where you see the actual posts in sequence. Again, ensure that the structure of your title has the following basic format:
Thread title :: Forum title :: Name of your forum
or
Thread title :: Name of your forum
Beyond the Basics
If, and only if, you have completed the basic steps outlined above, you can start to consider other options for improving your ranking in search engines.
The number one step, and not only for Google, is to get your link out there. Submit to directories containing appropriate categories (start with the free ones - there are many of those - staying away from those that look spammy or thrown together). When you are posting in forums like this one, use your signature options to include a link to your forum. And make sure that those signature links:
This is an example of a link without anchor text:
This isn't very helpful from an SEO standpoint although it does provide a link for spiders and some small benefit as an incoming link to your forum.
Here is an example of a link with bad anchor text:
It's bad because no one is likely to search for the phrase specified in the anchor text (i.e., "visit my forum").
Here is an example of a link with better anchor text:
If you can find other forums or websites dealing with the same topics, inquire about exchanging links with them. Be warned that many of your inquiries will be rejected, either because webmasters and forum owners worry about assisting the competition (a short-sited vision, in my opinion) or they worry about the myth that reciprocal linking is bad (it isn't - that's another one of the many Google myths that we see repeated endlessly - the key is to make your incoming links, and for that matter your outgoing links, consistent with or related to the theme or themes of your forum/website).
If you have other websites or subdomains on related topics (e.g., a blog), include links to your forum in the navigation links or in a "related resources" section.
Other Measures
Go to Google and set up a Google Sitemaps account. Look for a sitemap generator and install that for your forum - for vBulletin, there are several free sitemaps add-ons available at vbullletin.org, including this one.
Then create a robots.txt file (using a plain text ASCII editor) which includes the following line:
A basic robots.txt file, located in the root of your website, would then look like this:
For more information about "universal sitemaps", which are now recognized by Google, Yahoo!, and MSN Search, see http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?answer=64748&topic=8496
Basic forum SEO: Start with the simple things<!-- google_ad_section_end -->
David Baxter
April 2007
Contrary to what you will read in most forum threads on this subject, the starting point for forum SEO is not in rewriting URLs or other add-ons or SEO packages. It's not that these cannot benefit your forum. It's more that there are a number of basic things you can and should do before you even begin to think about more advanced SEO strategies.
The most neglected part of forum SEO, regardless of the specific forum software employed, that I see when reviewing or happening upon new forums is in what I see on the main forum index page. Remember this:
- If search engine spiders can't see it, search engines can't index it.
- If Guests (or non-logged in members) can't see it, neither can search engine spiders.
First, look at your home page, if you have one that's different from the forum index. Bear in mind that all spiders can "see" and index is text. What is there on your home page to index? Make sure that your most important search terms are included in the forum description on this page, in the page title, and in the meta description tag.
Then go to the actual forum index page. Look at your category and forum titles. Look at your category and forum descriptions. How much do you see written there for search engine spiders to index that will constitute search terms people will actually use to find your forum? Do they also include your most important search terms? Fix those descriptions. Make them descriptive and informative not only for logged in members who already know what your forum is about, but for searchers who will only see what the spiders see.
Now go to the individual forum pages where you'll find a list of threads. Start by looking at the structure of your title. It should have the following basic format:
Forum title :: Name of your forum
Most forum software will do it the other way around out of the box, but this is generally easy to fix with a quick template edit.
If you are using vBulletin, there is a built-in standard option for displaying forum descriptions at the top of the forum listing pages. Enable that.
Now go to the individual thread pages - the ones where you see the actual posts in sequence. Again, ensure that the structure of your title has the following basic format:
Thread title :: Forum title :: Name of your forum
or
Thread title :: Name of your forum
Beyond the Basics
If, and only if, you have completed the basic steps outlined above, you can start to consider other options for improving your ranking in search engines.
The number one step, and not only for Google, is to get your link out there. Submit to directories containing appropriate categories (start with the free ones - there are many of those - staying away from those that look spammy or thrown together). When you are posting in forums like this one, use your signature options to include a link to your forum. And make sure that those signature links:
- do not violate the rules of that specific forum
- include appropriate anchor text
This is an example of a link without anchor text:
[noparse]http://www.myforum.com[/noparse]
This isn't very helpful from an SEO standpoint although it does provide a link for spiders and some small benefit as an incoming link to your forum.
Here is an example of a link with bad anchor text:
[noparse]Visit my forum![/noparse]
It's bad because no one is likely to search for the phrase specified in the anchor text (i.e., "visit my forum").
Here is an example of a link with better anchor text:
If you can find other forums or websites dealing with the same topics, inquire about exchanging links with them. Be warned that many of your inquiries will be rejected, either because webmasters and forum owners worry about assisting the competition (a short-sited vision, in my opinion) or they worry about the myth that reciprocal linking is bad (it isn't - that's another one of the many Google myths that we see repeated endlessly - the key is to make your incoming links, and for that matter your outgoing links, consistent with or related to the theme or themes of your forum/website).
If you have other websites or subdomains on related topics (e.g., a blog), include links to your forum in the navigation links or in a "related resources" section.
Other Measures
Go to Google and set up a Google Sitemaps account. Look for a sitemap generator and install that for your forum - for vBulletin, there are several free sitemaps add-ons available at vbullletin.org, including this one.
Then create a robots.txt file (using a plain text ASCII editor) which includes the following line:
Sitemap: http://www.example.com/sitemap.xml
A basic robots.txt file, located in the root of your website, would then look like this:
PHP:
User-agent: *
Disallow:
Sitemap: http://www.example.com/sitemap.xmlFor more information about "universal sitemaps", which are now recognized by Google, Yahoo!, and MSN Search, see http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?answer=64748&topic=8496
Last edited by a moderator:
Just like any other site. You will have to make a lot of work ... but you can do you. First expect only you to post.
I think there are forums that don't attract the core group they are looking to come back again and again. If you have users that only come once and never come back. You won't be able to keep the site up for very long.
bigcat1967
New Member
Agreed. After that, you can take it a step further. If you have a large following on Twitter, FB and LinkedIn - you can post it there. Don't overdo it - just casually introduce the forum to your network of people that may have the same interests that your forum is offering.
D
djbaxter
Guest
On most forums, including this one, that will get you banned and your posts removed. It's called "spamming".
TrafficCaptain37
New Member
I belief that a Forum is one of the most difficult things to do.
You have to have to have content, you need to monitor the forum to keep spams,flames(unless you encourage flames), and all unwanted out. Community Management is a world for itself.
Monetizing a forum is a lot more difficult than making a decent website I think.
This is why not many people talk about it I guess.
You have to have to have content, you need to monitor the forum to keep spams,flames(unless you encourage flames), and all unwanted out. Community Management is a world for itself.
Monetizing a forum is a lot more difficult than making a decent website I think.
This is why not many people talk about it I guess.
D
djbaxter
Guest
As soon as you stop paying them, they stop posting. Not the way to build an online community.
Plus, generally, the posts you get are blatantly low quality.
I wouldn't recommend this to anyone.
Forums can be very difficult to market, unlike blogs. First the forum should have a niche and operate in that niche or other things related to that niche. Most forums I've seen are very specific or specialized. General forums are rare. I could be wrong but that's my observation so far.
Instead of paid posters I would recommend to register your forum in various online catalogues and directories. Also you can post comments with a link to your forum on blogs. Just make sure the theme of the blogs is related to your forum's. And would not recommend to do the same on forums - you'll be considered as if you try to drag visitors from this forum to yours.
J
Joozed
Guest
Having good moderators can often help to market a new forum. Not only do they provide new content and a safety net for the community but you get to leverage there social reach and bring it back to your forum. Also forum topic and design will play a huge role in how easy your new forum is to market.
Similar threads
