A Forum or a Blog?

[vagabond90]

Hi
Does anyone know which would be better on a website, a forum or a blog in relation to getting links & rankings.

Thanks

 

[djbaxter]

Probably a blog. And it's a lot less work than a forum.

 

[Niche48]

Too Broad

it really depends on what niche you are in and how active your content generation is. In a really good forum, you get a lot of threads that rank well in the search engines. Probably because the forums have a heavy weight of content behind them

I honestly think that the focus when deciding if you want to go with a forum or blog should be based on what medium would best appeal to the potential market you are targeting

 

[EmpyreAndrea]

I think a blog would be a lot easier than a forum. I would recommend starting with a blog and if it is very successful, then develop a forum. A forum, with the right traffic and niche, would be great for SEO, but it would be unfortunate if you put a lot of work into it and it didn't end up going anywhere.

 

[djbaxter]

And most forums don't ever go anywhere, really. With a forum, you need to work patiently for 1 to 3 years to build to "critical mass" where it becomes a sustainable community, and it won't pay any SEO dividends until that point.

In contrast, a blog can provide SEO benefits to your main site almost immediately.

 

[raider23]

I would agree, a Forum is really a lot of work, while a Blog is fun !

No contest

 

[Finch]

It'll take you a hell of a long time to get to a point where a forum pays you a single penny of profit. They're incredibly draining to run.

I've run several forums in the past and the only thing that kept me interested was the fact that they were built around topics I had a strong passion for. From a monetization perspective, it's just so much easier to strike success with a blog.

 

[JeffCasmer]

Hi,

I have had both and a forum certainly is some work but there are many benefits to having both. The key thing is many people start jumping on getting a forum when they dont have enough traffic and then the forum becomes useless. Do a blog first, work on getting traffic to your main page, blog, and then in the future look toward a forum if it fills a need in your niche.

Take care
Jeff Casmer

 

[yanamk]

Blog is much more personal and less problematic. You post your thoughts and ideas, comment on replies and that's about it.

Forum is much more complicated to run. It takes time to attract the visitors, yet alone those who actually would want to participate in the discussions.

 

[arenee]

blogs are definitely less work than forums. both need to build up traffic so users want to interact though. but since blogs allow comments and people to participate in a discussion in some way, i'd go with the blog.

 

[Affiliate Master]

With a right approach forum might be more successful. But forums require much more time spending for posting, monitoring, moderation. Most certainly blog is much easier in maintenance and also may be successful.

 

[ppc coach]

I do both, but my forums are all paid forums so monetizing them is not a problem.

I usually set up a big network of blogs under different hosting accounts all pointing to my money site, which is usually a paid forum.

Don't limit yourself to just the IM world either, a lot of non IM niches are STILL ripe for the picking.