Home » Blog » Posts By Mike W.

I Hope This Is Not Your Forum! Three Reasons Why This Forum Might Embarrass You

Posted on November 7, 2013 by Mike W.

From time to time, we stumble across forums on prominent sites that are, shall we say, underachieving. When neutral observers are asked to comment on the design and usability of these boards we hear things like “painfully embarrassing,” “not professional,” … Read More >

Posted in Forum Architecture & Design | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Instill Confidence In Visitors To Lower The Bounce Rate

Posted on November 6, 2013 by Mike W.

Earlier this week, we asked ‘Why’ five times in a row to understand why the bounce rate is high on a forum. We concluded that highly personalized and accurate advice is hard to come by because people with the expertise … Read More >

Posted in Misc. Forum Discussion | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Apply The “5 Whys” To Lower The Bounce Rate On Your Forum

Posted on November 2, 2013 by Mike W.

The Five Whys is a technique for understanding the root cause of a problem. The premise is to ask ‘Why?’ five times in a row to discover the real problem. Let’s apply the 5 Whys to a problem faced by … Read More >

Posted in Misc. Forum Discussion | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

5 Key Takeaways From ForumCon 2013

Posted on October 25, 2013 by Mike W.

We had a great time at ForumCon back in June and were proud to be among the sponsors. We compiled our Top 5 Takeaways from the conference in the infographic below. We’re looking forward to next year!

Posted in Misc. Forum Discussion | Tagged | 1 Comment

5 Strategies For Forums With Paid Memberships

Posted on October 18, 2013 by Mike W.

Regardless if your forum is public or private, you might decide to generate revenue through membership fees. Five strategies are generally available: Supporter Badge. Allow members to join and participate in your forum for free. Encourage users to show off … Read More >

Posted in Marketing Your Forum | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

How A Forum Can Make Your Organization More Like The Knights Of The Round Table

Posted on October 17, 2013 by Mike W.

Legend has it that King Arthur created the Round Table to prevent infighting between his Knights at company meetings. Since the table was round instead of rectangular, everyone at the table held equal status. This allowed King Arthur and the … Read More >

Posted in Misc. Forum Discussion | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

The 2 Second Drill – How Fast Is Your Forum?

Posted on October 12, 2013 by Mike W.

One of our core values is that to provide forum software with the best user experience. Part of providing a fantastic user experience is to make sure forum pages load instantaneously. Nearly half of all web users believe web pages … Read More >

Posted in Forum Architecture & Design | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Private Forums With Paid Memberships: 3 Examples

Posted on October 5, 2013 by Mike W.

When discussing the 5 Types Of Private Forums, we noted that private forums with paid memberships require users to pay a monthly or annual fee to access some or all parts of the forum. However, there are several variations on … Read More >

Posted in Marketing Your Forum | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

5 Types Of Private Forums

Posted on October 4, 2013 by Mike W.

The most common scenario for a private forum is to admit all members of a given organization using a pre-approved whitelist. However, private forums come in several different flavors, described in the table below. Type of Private Forum Description Registration … Read More >

Posted in Forum Architecture & Design | Tagged , | 1 Comment

3 Criteria For A Private Forum To Thrive

Posted on September 30, 2013 by Mike W.

We recently discussed Why A Private Forum Makes Sense For Many Organizations. A forum is a great way to create a knowledgebase that grows with your organization. And like anything else, a forum grows stronger when it is tended to … Read More >

Posted in Forum Architecture & Design | Tagged , | 1 Comment