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Forums - Why You Might Want One And How To Get One... |
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Several people have asked me about setting up a forum on their website
recently, so I thought it might be helpful to cover this topic for the
benefit of all my readers.
But before I explain how to set up a forum, let me cover some of the
reasons as to why you might want a forum in the first place...
For those that don't know, a forum is simply a web page which allows
visitors to interact with each other by leaving messages and responding
to messages made by other users. To see a superb :-) example of this,
check out my own forum at: http://www.traderonlineforum.com
Ok, so why might you want to put a forum on your website?
1. A forum helps to build a sense of community. People, by their very
nature, like to be a part of something and if your website makes them
feel like this, then they will come back time and time again and of
course, the more times someone comes back, the more chance there is
that they might buy something from you :-)
2. It can save you time. I get emails everyday asking for advice on
many different aspects of running a business and I simply don't have
time to answer them all. If I am a bit pushed for time, I often direct
the sender of the email to my forum since I know that their question
has either been answered before or because I know that another member
may be able to help them.
3. A good forum can get your customers/subscribers to love you! Ok,
maybe that is a slight exaggeration BUT if your customers are able to
ask questions, get help, build relationships with other people with
similar interests and even advertise their own businesses on your
forum, it won't do you any harm especially if you offer all of this for
free.
4. Free search engine traffic. Search engines love regularly updated
websites with relevant content. If you have an active forum with a
specific topic of discussion, then you may well find that your forum
postings are soon appearing in the free search engine results on Google
and other popular engines.
5. An excellent source of new ideas. Forums are a superb resource when
you are trying to think of new ideas for products to sell or create or
new services to provide. They also give members the opportunity to
brainstorm their own ideas with other, like-minded individuals. I have
personally obtained numerous ideas for newsletters and other articles
from posts made within my forum.
6. Forums can earn you (and your fellow members) money! Forums are like
any other web page in that you can advertise products that may be
relevant to your visitors, such as your own products or services or
those that you are affiliated with. In addition, if you wish, you can
allow your members to advertise their products and services either by
way of a 'signature file' at the bottom of each post they make or
within a specific forum board provided for the purpose of advertising.
7. Finally, owning or participating in a forum is FUN :-) Discussing
and debating the topics that are close to your heart with other people
that share the same interest is fun and it is amazing how you can pick
up on an individual's personality simply by the messages that they
write. In the impersonal world of the Internet, forums are an excellent
way to get some 'real' human contact.
So how do you install a forum on your site?
There are countless scripts available that you can simply install on
your web hosting server and that will set up and run a forum for you.
All have step by step instructions and the scripts are often available
free of charge (you can usually upgrade to a more advanced version if
you pay a license fee). I will detail a few useful links in a moment.
However, if you are not comfortable installing scripts or would just
prefer to take the easy option, then you should consider buying an
'all-in-one' hosting and forum package.
As I say, there are numerous forum scripts available but here are a few of the more popular ones that you may like to consider: http://www.invisionboard.com , http://www.phpbb.com , http://awsd.com/scripts/webbbs/index.shtml , http://www.vbulletin.com.
Richard Grady has been helping ordinary
people earn online since 1998. He writes a free newsletter which is
published every two weeks. To subscribe (and claim your free gifts),
visit: http://www.thetraderonline.com/newsletter.html
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