Learn,How,Build,Big,Forum,Comm DIY Learn How to Build a Big Forum Community: Advanced Tips from
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Inthe first article "ForumBuilding Tips Part 1",we shared tips for forum owners still in the early stages of settingup and launching their new discussion boards. This guide was writtenas a follow up and focuses on helping forum operators build largercommunities using more advanced marketing tactics.Onceyour forum has been officially launched and is open for discussion,it's time to focus on the day to day promotion and continued growthof the community. Below are a collection of proven marketing tipsleading forum operators recommend for growing a robust discussioncommunity. Some suggestions will bear fruit right away, others willtake time:Rulenumber 1: Never pass up free advertising. If you're a member ofother forums that have Advertise your Site sections, don'thesitate to post links back to your forum. Submityour forum URL to the big search engines. While obvious, manyseasoned forum operators fail to do this. This is a mistake. Searchengines love forums for their volumes of rich content and ease ofindexing. Google, Bing, Yahoo!, and Ask.com are the largest. Getyour forum listed with all the top forum directories. Start withyour host's directory (for hosted forums) and continue withindependent directories which can be found with a Google search. Don'tforget Twitter: Whether or not you have your own Twitter page, youcan still use Twitters' search feature to find discussions relatingto your main forum topic: Engage in these discussion and invitepeople to join the conversation at your forum. Be careful not tospam!Createa Facebook group. If you're like most of us and already have aFacebook page, you can create a separate Facebook group based oncommon (forum related) interests and invite those folks to continuethe discussion back at your forum. Postin relevant, high PageRank venues: Blogs, forums and a variety ofother online communities are generally appreciative of thoughtfulcontributions and can be a great opportunity to direct visitors toyour forum. If the community's publisher allows it, include asignature file in your posts with a link back to your discussionboard. Remember, self promotion is acceptable but only if you areon-topic and have proven yourself as a contributor to thediscussion.Whileemploying some or all of these strategies doesn't guarantee instantsuccess, not using them may hinder the growth of your discussioncommunity. Let's take a look at a few additional suggestions topromote interest in your forum:Includea signature link to your forum site in every correspondence you sendso that more people can be made aware of your forum; while thispractice is obvious, is does sometimes get overlooked.Also,make sure to put a link to your discussion board in the signature ofall your email accounts.Askmembers to lend a hand. If you have engaged, dedicated members inyour forum, ask them to assist with promotions. Further, ask them toextend an invite to friends that might be interested in joining thediscussion. Invitean expert: Once your forum has momentum, consider inviting an expertin your niche to contribute to your forum.Considertrading links withwebmasters in your niche who don't have a forum of their own. Thiscan benefit both of your websites with additional, relevant traffic.Withthat said, stay tuned for the nextinstallmentin our series on building a successful, self sustaining forum wherewe'll present tips, tactics and strategies for moderating aharmonious community. As a reminder, a collection of basicsuggestions for setting up and launching your forum can be found inour previous article ForumBuilding Tips Part I.Thanks for reading!
Learn,How,Build,Big,Forum,Comm