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Blog Details for "Online Community Building Blog"
Online Community Building BlogOnline Community Building BlogCommunity Spark is a regularly updated blog offering advice and tips on how to build successful online communities. 
Articles
Five tips every blogger needs to consider
2008-03-07 17:59:00 The explosion in the number of blogs doesn’t seem to be slowing down, and I doubt it will for quite some time. With so many blogs out there, many bloggers will find it a struggle to get their voice heard. In this article, I will offer five basic tips that every blogger should consider. 1 - ... More About: Blogger , Tips
Things I?ve learnt from running a forum for 4 years
2008-03-03 19:49:00 Greg is a Slovenian tech journalist, writing articles about social media, Linux and open source for the tech magazine Software Power. He also maintains his own Web productivity blog and is a big fan of CommunitySpark, whose author quite curiously got his first computer in the same year as Greg. Introduction It seems like it was just ... More About: Running , Forum , Things , Years
Too many rules can damage an online community
2008-02-29 19:13:00 Almost a year ago I wrote about the importance of having clear site rules for your online community. An online community needs rules as they define the expectations you have for your site and its members, and your members will know exactly what kind of content or behaviour is acceptable. However, just as excessive forum ... More About: Community , Online , Rules , Damage
How to respond if a forum moderator goes crazy!
2008-02-27 19:38:00 As a forum grows, it is highly likely you will need additional help when it comes to moderation. Even if your members are fantastically well behaved, moderators are useful to have as they are a reassuring, visible presence in your community. They help encourage conversations and are a reflection of the care and attention you ... More About: Crazy , Forum
How your competitors can make you more money
2008-02-22 20:15:00 Keeping an eye on your competitors is important. Knowing who they are, what they are doing and what their customers (members) are demanding will help you improve your own website. When considered this way, competitors can be a positive influence on your site - they can even help you make more money. How online communities make ... More About: Money , Make , Competitors
How much are online forums worth?
2008-02-20 15:02:00 As online communities become an ever more important part of the online experience, you might expect the value of forums to be ever-increasing. To investigate just how much Internet forums are worth, I undertook a little research. Recent online forum sales By browsing through the SitePoint Marketplace, I collected details of all recent forum sales that were ... More About: Forums , Online , Worth
What is your online community?s added value?
2008-02-15 19:57:00 Making a success of a brand new online community is hard work, not least because you are highly likely to be competing against a number of other sites that are already established. The challenge you face is how to attract people to your site when there are others out there that already cater to the ... More About: Community , Online
Why are active forum members like gold dust?
2008-02-12 00:59:00 Without interaction, you have no community. Your forum may well be attracting visitors and a good number of them may be registering and becoming members, but unless they post and get involved, your site will struggle to be a success. Very often, active forum members are like gold dust - this doesn’t need to be ... More About: Gold , Forum , Active , Members
The best online community: A forum or a blog?
2008-02-07 22:05:00 So you have a great idea for a new community, and the subject of your community is something you are passionate about. Your next decision is what kind of community your new site will be: a forum or a blog? A forum as an online community For most of us, when we think ‘online community’, we immediately ... More About: Community , Blog , Forum , Online
Do you consider your target audience when exchanging links?
2008-02-05 20:19:00 Link exchanges still prove to be a popular way to gain direct traffic, create relationships with other webmasters, improve search engine rankings and create awareness of your site. There is one important factor you should always ensure you consider before exchanging links with another site though: is the site suitable and relevant to your audience? Untargeted ... More About: Website Traffic , Links , Target , Audience
How trigger levels can help you develop an online community
2008-02-02 00:41:00 Online communities need care and attention from their developers. Younger communities, just like younger children, need more help whilst older ones may be less demanding. Regardless of the age or development stage of your community, it is important for you to have what I call ‘trigger levels’ that require you to take action when a ... More About: Community , Online , Develop
Fantastic forum members make fantastic staff members
2008-01-30 14:52:00 *This is a guest article from community developer Zane Friedman* One of the most important factors of your site is your staff ? your administrators, moderators, and in some cases chat operators. In this article we?ll go over what makes a good moderator or administrator, some specific roles that different moderators and administrators should take, and ... More About: Forum , Make , Staff , Members
Online community safety - My BBC radio interview
2008-01-28 14:12:00 The day after I wrote my article on the potential dangers of social networks, I was contacted by the producer of a BBC radio station - they were looking to run a feature discussing the potential safety risks of online communities and wanted to hear my view. I shared my thoughts and opinions with the ... More About: Radio , Safety , Community , Interview , Online
Revealed: My online community revenue breakdown
2008-01-24 13:00:00 I listen to the readers of this blog - an online community will always struggle to succeed if the community developer fails to listen to its members. I consider a blog just as much of an online community as a forum or a social network - all are based around interaction and dialogue sharing. Readers of ... More About: Community , Online , Revenue
Warning: Social networks are a haven for spammers and scammers
2008-01-22 14:29:00 Online communities are a hugely important part of the online experience. I have no doubt that their importance will continue to grow as people look to harness the power of the Internet to chat with friends, network and find new people with similar interests. Advertisers will also become more attracted to social networks and other ... More About: Social , Social Networks , Networks , Warning , Spammers
Building a community: Starting the design process
2008-01-18 22:44:00 This is the fifth article in what I hope will be an indefinite series about the processes involved in developing a brand new community from scratch. I am currently developing a brand new online community and will detail its development on this blog. As I have said before, I think it is far easier to ... More About: Design , Building , Community , Process
The easy way to decide if AdSense is right for you
2008-01-15 23:15:00 Many websites make their initial revenue through Google AdSense for the simple reason that the program is easy to apply to and is easy to implement. The contextual advertising often helps ensure that the ads being shown to your visitors are relevant to your site’s content, making the ads far more appropriate (and likely to ... More About: Adsense , Easy , Easy Way
Should you ever change your domain name?
2008-01-12 01:10:00 I was recently contacted by Smiley, a regular Community Spark reader, who asked me the following question: I’ve bought www.friendlychatrooms.co.uk since I can’t get my hands on friendlychat.co.uk without the hyphen. Would it be more beneficial (search engine wise) to simply forward friendlychatrooms.co.uk to friendly-chat.co.uk or would it be more beneficial to change the site’s ... More About: Domain , Domain Name , Change
Do you make these promotional email mistakes?
2008-01-10 17:28:00 Marketing and promotion is important for every website - after all, if nobody knows about you, how can you expect people to find your site? One way to inform people about your website is through the use of individual, personalised emails - for example, if I find someone asking questions about building a forum I ... More About: Email , Make , Promotional , Stakes , Mista
How to use Google Analytics to identify popular forum threads
2008-01-05 23:58:00 Interaction is the key ingredient of any community website. When your forum is young, it can be hard to determine just what gets your members talking, therefore it is important that you keep an eye on your traffic statistics to understand what forum threads and posts your members like and make more of them! Use Google ... More About: Forum , Popular , Google Analytics , Analytics
The wrong way to redesign a community website
2008-01-02 23:09:00 I have written before about the importance of working with your community members before redesigning your website. By involving your members in any decisions that need to be made over the future direction of your site, you are encouraging their loyalty by making them feel valued. How one online community failed to involve members Hot UK Deals ... More About: Website , Community , Redesign , Wrong , Unit
Building a community: Creating a logo
2007-12-28 16:00:00 This is the fourth article in what I hope will be an indefinite series about the processes involved in developing a brand new community from scratch. I am currently developing a brand new online community and will detail its development on this blog. As I have said before, I think it is far easier to ... More About: Building , Community , Creating , Logo , Unit
Christmas wishes and feedback
2007-12-25 13:00:00 Firstly, I want to wish every single reader of this blog a fantastic Christmas wherever you are and whatever you are doing. Thank you for reading my blog, and thank you even more to all those that regularly get involved and leave comments. Now … onto business! Every now and then I like to gauge how ... More About: Feedback , Wishes
Use Christmas to strengthen relationships
2007-12-22 17:09:00 I have no doubt that over the past few days or even weeks you have seen a substantial increase in the number of emails you are receiving from online retailers. They depend on your custom over Christmas and use the occasion as an excuse to send you even more messages in the name of goodwill ... More About: Relationships , Then
The real purpose of forum moderators revealed
2007-12-18 22:32:00 As your forum becomes popular, you will inevitably need help administering it. Many forum owners understand the need for forum moderators but few understand what their real purpose is. This article will reveal what forum moderators should be used for - follow this advice and you will have an immediate head-start over your competitors. Forum moderators ... More About: Real , Purpose
phpBB launches brand new version 3
2007-12-17 16:00:00 Many readers of this blog will be running forums based on the free phpBB forum software. I am a huge fan of phpBB, using it on all the forums I run. The beauty of phpBB lies in the fact it is open source and free to all. Now, the long awaited version three has been ... More About: Brand , Version
Building a new community: Creating content before you launch
2007-12-15 20:08:00 This is the third article in what I hope will be an indefinite series about the processes involved in developing a brand new community from scratch. I am currently developing a brand new online community and will detail its development on this blog. As I have said before, I think it is far easier to ... More About: Building , Community , Creating , Content , Launch
Do you make these community building mistakes?
2007-12-13 00:59:00 Building an online community is hard work. For a forum to be successful it needs content, members and interaction. Without content, you will get no members. Without members, you will not attract members. It’s a viscous cycle and one that is hard to break out of. With hard work though, it is possible to make ... More About: Building , Community , Make , Unit , Stakes
See how easily you can make more money from your forum
2007-12-10 21:06:00 I often hear complaints from forum developers who say it is harder to generate revenue from forums compared to other websites. This doesn’t have to be the case - as long as you target your advertising to your audience and experiment, you can earn good revenue from a forum-based website. Understand your audience I have harped on ... More About: Money , Forum , Make
Building a new community: Choosing a domain name
More articles from this author:2007-12-07 15:00:00 This is the second article in what I hope will be an indefinite series about the processes involved in developing a brand new community from scratch. I am currently developing a brand new online community and will detail its development on this blog. As I have said before, I think it is far easier to ... More About: Building , Community , Domain , Domain Name , Unit 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 |
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