A User’s First Contribution To Your Forum

Last week we examined 8 Reasons Why People Don’t Contribute To Your Forum. Of course, that research prompts an obvious follow-up question: what steps should you take to increase participation? Readers of this blog know that one of the things … Read More >

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On Boarding Users To Your Private Forum (Diagram)

Yesterday, we examined how to Add Users To Your Private Forum In 4 Easy Steps. As a follow up to that post, we created a diagram to illustrate how our on-boarding process works. Obviously, some users will respond to the … Read More >

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Add Users To Your Private Forum In 4 Easy Steps

When it comes to launching a new forum it is absolutely critical to tell people that it exists and then entice them to participate. The need to on board users effectively is especially true with a private forum. In this … Read More >

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Six Key Topics To Seed Your New Forum

Starting a new forum can be daunting. Your job is to build something out of nothing and creating something out of nothing is not easy. But we know that no one goes into an empty restaurant and no one posts … Read More >

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Does A “Daily Digest” Email Make Sense For Forum Communities?

As a follow up to Thursday’s post about forums and email alerts, we offer some thoughts on the practice of sending “daily digests” that summarize content from your forum from the previous day. On the plus side, daily alerts are … Read More >

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Content Generation For Your Forum: Seeds, Nets, And Spears

One helpful way to think about content generation for your forum is to borrow an analogy from the sales world. “Seeds, nets, and spears” is a phrase used to describe three types of leads that a company might use to … Read More >

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Use The “Circle Of Trust” Strategy To Launch Your Forum Community In 5 Steps

We previously advised site owners to use an ever expanding circle of trust to launch their forum community. We are big believers in the power of checklists so here is a handy guide to using the “circle of trust” strategy … Read More >

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How To Launch A New Forum Community

Jason Fried of 37 Signals once said, “The longer it takes to develop a project, the less likely it is to launch.” Most project managers and software developers understand from first hand experience how true this statement is. From the … Read More >

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5 Strategies For Forums With Paid Memberships

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 >

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