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Powerful posts 29 July 2007
2007-07-29 20:14:00
There are some fantastic resources out there if you know where to look. Here I will share some great articles I have recently come across in my online travels. Shane Navratil from Zoomstart wrote an interesting article entitled ‘What Mentors Can?t Teach You, Anti-Mentors Can‘ - remember you can learn from everyone, not just the experts! Mani ...
More About: Posts , July 2007 , July

Choosing a name for your forum categories
2007-07-27 17:34:00
As I have said before, you should only ensure you have a large number of categories if your community can support them; there is nothing worse than visiting a forum for the first time to see empty categories. That being said, if you are confident that new categories will be used, you should go ahead and ...
More About: Forum , Categories , Tego

Using RSS feeds to generate content
2007-07-26 20:17:00
Recently, Melissa from GLBTConnect emailed me asking about the value of using third party RSS feeds as content for a website. I always harp on about the importance of creating content if your online community is to succeed, and Melissa was interested to know my thoughts on incorporating RSS feeds into a website to add value ...
More About: Content , Community Development , Rate , Tent

Using polls to understand your members
2007-07-25 16:35:00
One way of understanding your members, particularly if you run a forum, is through the use of polls. This article will discuss the pros and cons of forum polls, and determine whether they are a good way of obtaining the opinions and thoughts of your members. What are forum polls? All the popular pieces of forum software ...
More About: Polls , Community Development , Understand , Under , Stand

Always cater to the tastes of your community
2007-07-23 19:41:00
A few days ago, I wrote about the importance of getting to know and understand your members. Only by understanding your community will you cater to the needs and wants of your members. Different people look for, and expect, different things. It is essential that you always cater to the tastes and personality of your community. Why ...
More About: Community , Community Development , Always , Unit

When to stay quiet and when to get personal
2007-07-21 17:21:00
I have previously written about the importance of being personal and why you should ensure your site has personal appeal. Some may question just how far they should share their opinions with their community - particularly when it comes to areas that traditionally raise emotions. Should you share your political opinions with your community members, for ...
More About: Personal , Community Development , Persona , Stay , Sona

Get to know and understand your members
2007-07-20 16:17:00
You put all the hard work in to developing your community; you would be forgiven for thinking that it’s your own. It isn’t though - your community belongs to its members. They are the people you need to keep happy. They are the lifeblood of your community. Always keep your members happy Keeping your members happy is ...
More About: Community Development , Understand , Under , Stand , Members

The importance of testing
2007-07-19 18:00:00
Back in June, I wrote an article entitled ?Never stop experimenting?. In that post, I wrote about how important it is to always experiment with your website; you should be constantly tweaking and improving your site and part of this process includes experimentation. When you experiment and try out new things on your website, it is ...
More About: Testing , Community Development , Import

Exploit what you already know
2007-07-18 16:00:00
Building a successful online community is hard work. I have mentioned before that I feel it is essential that your community is based on a subject you are passionate about. I also feel that you immediately have a huge advantage over your competitors if your community is based on a subject you have a large ...
More About: Exploit , Community Development , Ready

Will your users be happy tomorrow?
2007-07-17 15:48:00
You are working hard at developing your online community and thanks to your fantastic content you are now converting visitors into loyal members. Everything is going great – your task is complete. Or is it? Just because your members are happy today it does not mean they will remain happy in the future. You must ensure you are constantly developing and improving your online community to prevent these members you worked so hard to attract from leaving to go elsewhere. Always plan for the future It is essential that all your decisions involve consideration of the future – future trends, future features and future tastes. Your community may well be going great guns right now, but how do you plan on developing things further? What if new forum software is released and becomes the next big thing? What if your members move your community in a whole new direction you had not planned for? You should always be planning the future direction for your community. I hate to use such a cliché,...
More About: Happy , Tomorrow , Users , Morrow , Tomo

Always keep advertising relevant!
2007-07-16 16:00:00
One of the reasons for the success of Google AdSense is its relative effectiveness at understanding the content of your site and showing ads relevant to your site’s theme. If you want to make money from your website it is essential that you ensure your advertising is always relevant and appropriate for your audience. Why advertising should be relevant to your content People come to your website for your content, pure and simple. They do not come to your site to see your latest monetisation attempts or your newest and greatest banner ads. Visitors are attracted to your content and return to devour fresh content that is interesting and relevant to them. If your advertising is not relevant to your site’s content, people will be far less interested in the messages your advertisers are trying to get across. Sure, some of your visitors may click through out of curiosity or because they have wide-ranging interests. Why take this risk, though? Why advertising should be appropria...
More About: Advertising , Relevant , Always , Vert

When members request new forum categories
2007-07-14 16:00:00
At the beginning of June, I wrote an article entitled ‘Cut down on the forum categories‘. In the article, I wrote about why there is nothing worse than having too many forum categories if they are not going to be used. I argued that you should keep forum categories to a minimum and only add more once a good quantity of content relevant to them has been created. This way you can set up the new category and move existing, relevant threads to them - this gives you immediate content for the new category and justifies its presence. When members request new categories Your members will often ask for new categories for your forum. Often, they do this without having a full understanding of just how forums and communities work. Much of the time, they feel that if a category is set up based on a specific topic, it will naturally fill with content. Of course, this may well happen - but it rarely does. From my experience, if you add a category based on members requesting a new area ...
More About: Forum , Request , Categories , Cate , New Forum

Always customise your forum design
2007-07-12 16:00:00
So you have finally chosen what forum software best suits your needs, chosen a great domain name, found a reliable web host and gone ahead and installed your forum. What do you do next? I would always suggest your very next step should be customisation. Why customisation is important Your forum needs to stand out from the ...
More About: Design , Forum , Custom , Always

Posting low quality blog articles on weekends
2007-07-11 16:00:00
There are a huge number of blogs dedicated to the subject of blogging. Many of these bloggers argue that posting high quality blog articles on a weekend is a waste of time as their audience will often be reduced and therefore their articles will receive less exposure and attention compared to those posted during the ...
More About: Articles , Blog , Ends , Quality , Posti

Think before soliciting a link exchange
2007-07-10 16:00:00
If you are link building, you need to set yourself apart from all the other link exchange requests that popular sites receive. It is also extremely important that you undertake some basic research on every potential link exchange partner. What you need to research It is essential that you take the time to understand the site you ...
More About: Website Traffic , Link Exchange , Exchange , Link , Fore

Never forget text link advertising
2007-07-09 16:00:00
In this day and age of graphical sumptuousness and ‘Web 2.0‘ it is easy to forget about the humble text link advert as a revenue stream. I find text link adverts are my most profitable revenue stream - never disregard them! Why text link adverts? Visitors come to your site for content. Most of your content will ...
More About: Advertising , Link , Text , Forge , Vert

Can general interest forums succeed?
2007-07-07 16:00:00
Everyone and their dog (including myself) harps on about how important it is to differentiate your community from others. Some feel that because of this, if they have a ‘general’ forum without a specific focus or niche they cannot succeed. General forums can succeed - you are catering to a huge audience by not restricting your ...
More About: Forums , Interest , Eres

Are forum post exchanges beneficial?
2007-07-06 16:00:00
I have seen many administrators talk about forum post exchanges, so thought I would write an article discussing the advantages and disadvantages of using this approach to generate activity and content for your community. What are forum post exchanges? The basic premise of a forum post exchange is as follows: you post on someone’s forum and in ...
More About: Post , Forum , Chang , Chan

The importance of well defined goals
2007-07-05 18:00:00
In this article I will tell you why it is important to have set goals and why they should be properly defined. The importance of goals You should set yourself goals in order stay motivated. Having specific targets which are challenging, yet achievable, will give you something to work toward. Developing websites can sometimes be a lonely ...
More About: Goals , Community Development , Fine , Defined , Import

The basics of web usability
2007-07-04 18:00:00
For your website to be successful, it is important that is stays true to the principles of web usability. These principles include: Simple navigation Optimised graphics Non-linear presentation Ease of use Simple navigation Simple navigation is important as it allows the visitor to successfully identify their way around your website. Simple, easily recognisable navigation that follows current conventions and standards will ...
More About: Usability , Community Development , Basics , The Basics , Sabi

Ensure your community has a brand
2007-07-03 17:44:00
Brands are important - they are what separates one service or product from another. Your website should be no different; it should have a brand and a positive brand association to go with it. The importance of branding There are billions of websites online and this number is constantly growing. I have already written about the importance ...
More About: Community , Brand , Community Development , Unity , Comm

Community Spark blog redesign
2007-07-02 22:40:00
On many occasions I have written about the importance of listening and responding to feedback. Since launching this blog back in March, I have been lucky enough to receive a lot of feedback on the blog’s design and structure. Feedback from visitors is extraordinarily valuable - if you are not pleasing your visitors, they will go ...
More About: Community , Blog , Spark , Redesign , Unity

Powerful posts 1 July 2007
2007-07-01 20:36:00
There are some fantastic resources out there if you know where to look. Here I will share some great articles I have recently come across in my online travels. In May I wrote an article entitled ‘Writing content for your community‘. Alex Yang really goes one better over at Michael Kwan’s blog, Beyond the Rhetoric, in ...
More About: Posts , July 2007 , July

Should you interview potential moderators?
2007-06-30 18:51:00
Back in March I wrote an article entitled ‘How to recruit forum moderators‘. Since writing the article, I have come across many forum posts from forum administrators asking whether they should interview potential new moderators and/or seek references. In this article, I will share my opinions and thoughts concerning this area of moderator recruitment. The benefits of ...
More About: Interview , Community Development , Tent

Reduce your email spam
2007-06-29 18:19:00
As with most things, prevention is better than cure. Minimising email spam is just the same - follow the advice in this article and you should prevent those spammers from grabbing hold of your email address and bombarding you with junk emails from the beginning. Why you should reduce email spam Email spam affects your productivity. If ...
More About: Spam , Reduce , Community Development , Redu

How to effectively moderate forums
2007-06-28 00:30:00
As regular readers will be aware, I have often written about the importance of moderation. Articles I have already written on this subject include ‘The importance of speedy moderation‘, ‘Responding to a community revolt‘ and ‘Personal advice - abusive members‘. In this article I want to be a little more specific and write about the ...
More About: Forums , Effective , Rate , Moderate

Avoid standardised forum rank titles
2007-06-26 20:36:00
Back in April, I wrote about how to use forum ranks to make members feel valued. In the article, I detailed how you can strengthen your community and give your site personal appeal through the use of custom forum title ranks. In this article, I want to talk about the potential dangers of forum ranks and ...
More About: Rank , Forum , Avoid , Stand , Titles

Mentions in the Blogosphere 25 June 2007
2007-06-25 22:35:00
These articles detail mentions of my blog out in the blogosphere. Not only does this recognise those who write about my blog, it allows you to see what other people are saying about Community Spark. Hopefully you will also find mentions of articles you have not yet come across which may be useful to you. My article ...
More About: June , Blogosphere , June 2007 , Logos

Online communities: What is content?
2007-06-24 00:43:00
Regular readers of this blog will know how I often talk about the importance of creating content on your site if your online community is to succeed - this is particularly important during those early days when you are trying to get your community off the ground. Build it and they will come This is one saying ...
More About: Content , Online , Community Development , Line , Comm

Establish a personality for your community
2007-06-22 18:00:00
Being unique is very important. Your website must be differentiated from others - what makes your site different (and therefore more attractive) to all the others out there? Let’s say you want to establish a community about Sea Monkeys - there may already be a large, well established community on this subject. Does this mean there ...
More About: Community , Community Development , Unity , Comm , Persona