| Before going into the pros and cons of having | | | | |
| a forum on a site let's first explain what | | | | In most forums people who want to post have |
| forums actually are. Most of you are familiar | | | | to register by giving their email address and |
| with them but mightn't have heard the term | | | | names, this allows you to follow up and email |
| 'forum' before. Well forums are just another | | | | them in the future with information about |
| name for discussion boards, message boards | | | | your product or service. They won't consider |
| and other names. They enable users of a | | | | it as spam because they know who you are. |
| website to interact with each other by | | | | |
| exchanging tips and discussing hot topics | | | | Forums allow you to gain creditability with |
| related to a websites theme. | | | | your websites visitors as you can reply to |
| | | | posts that are looking for help and by doing |
| Forums save information posted on a | | | | this you're letting everyone know that you |
| particular topic for other people to see at | | | | are an expert on the topic of your website. |
| any time, this creates a discussion | | | | They're much more likely to buy from you if |
| environment. Everything that gets posted gets | | | | you know what you're talking about! |
| read again and again. The fact that the | | | | |
| discussion isn't real time means that it | | | | Building relationships with your visitors is |
| rarely turns into heated arguments as people | | | | easy with forums. If you post regularly and |
| are given time to research and consider their | | | | actively discuss different topics with your |
| comments before replying, this makes for | | | | forum members then gradually you'll get to |
| mostly high-quality discussion. | | | | know them and more importantly they'll get to |
| | | | know you. People are much more likely to buy |
| Forums allow you to create robust online | | | | a product or service when someone they know |
| communities even with low traffic volumes | | | | sells or recommends it. |
| since people often return to the site on a | | | | |
| regular basis to catch up on whats happened | | | | Onto the downside of having a forum. Creating |
| since then. | | | | successful forums is not by any sense of the |
| | | | word easy, they involve a tremendous amount |
| Now to continue onto the main bulk of this | | | | of work to get them started. Nobody likes to |
| article, forums have five major benefits to a | | | | post on an empty forum so you've to actively |
| webmaster which include: | | | | promote it and create lots of topics for |
| | | | discussion yourself, if these topics are |
| Allowing you to get educational information | | | | interesting then you should get a few |
| on your site. | | | | replies. You've to do this self posting on a |
| | | | continuous basis for months, sometimes weeks |
| Allowing you to increase traffic through | | | | but mostly months before a steady flow of |
| repeat visitors. | | | | topics and replies are posted by your forums |
| | | | members. |
| Allowing you to capture email address and | | | | |
| details of posters. | | | | That's only to get people talking, next |
| | | | you've to administer it or moderate it as |
| Allowing you to gain more creditability. | | | | it's usually called. This means making sure |
| | | | posts are appropriate and that members are |
| Allowing you to build relationship with | | | | not spamming your forum. This has to be done |
| visitors. | | | | on a daily basis and if your forum gets busy |
| | | | it's going to be very time consuming. Once |
| Having a medium to high traffic forum on a | | | | again the main disadvantage with forums is |
| website will increase the value of it as | | | | the amount of time and effort required to get |
| members of forums are very knowledgeable | | | | them started and maintain them. |
| about the topic at hand and they'll usually | | | | |
| try to show this in their posts thus creating | | | | However don't let that put you off the idea, |
| lots of information and tips which visitors | | | | forums are great for increasing your traffic |
| to your site can use. | | | | and increasing the profits you make on your |
| | | | website. |
| With lots of information and discussion being | | | | |
| exchanged in your forums visitors will return | | | | After the initial time involved to start it |
| again and again to see replies to their | | | | up and the time it takes to get people to |
| posts, read others posts and basically to see | | | | talk you'll start to see the benefits that |
| if anything has changed. This creates a | | | | your forum is bringing and the time needed to |
| sticky website which is what every webmaster | | | | maintain it will seem less and less each time |
| wants, as new members join your forum your | | | | you see your traffic and profits going up. |
| traffic will gradually grow week after week. | | | | |