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Best way to start a new community forum

Discussion in 'Search Engine Optimization' started by kektex, Sep 20, 2008.

  1. #1
    Hello everyone,

    I am going to start a new community site based around a particular hobby of mine. What I really want to do is start a forum, but I have tried to do this before and actually getting people to post and interact is not as easy as it sounds.

    Basically,I was thinking of starting a blog to post a few articles and from there,move the discussion and comment posting on to the forum. I have had good experiences generating traffic with blogs before so I think this is my best shot at getting initial traffic coming in from the search engines.

    Eventually, I would simply stop posting to the blog and move everything over to the forum definitely, once I get the forum indexed and some nice SE traffic.

    This is where I started to come up with a couple of doubts:

    1) Is this a good idea to get initial traffic and potential forum members?

    2)Directory structure. How should I do it?
    Keep in mind that if I host the blog in the root of my domain I will eventually stop posting. The ideal thing would be to have my forum in the root.
    Maybe blog.example.com for the blog and forum in the root of the domain? Or example.com/blog and example.com/forum?
    Host the blog in the root of the domain and then 301 all the content to example.com/blog and move my forum to the root?

    Any ideas and tips you could give me are greatly appreciated. I have only tried starting a community forum once before and failed hard,but that was ages ago.

    Thank you!
     
    kektex, Sep 20, 2008 IP
  2. smallone

    smallone Banned

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    #2
    I would have the forum on the root of your domain and the blog on a subdomain. But that's only my opinion. You also should look at getting backlinks via signatures in forums, submitting to directories ad doing any sort of promotion you can.

    Also look at paid posting options to get content on your forum to start with. There are lots of people who offer these services at quite good prices and its great to build up content early on.
     
    smallone, Sep 20, 2008 IP
  3. kektex

    kektex Peon

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    #3
    Thanks smallone!
    I've been thinking about going with the blog on a subomain or on example.com/blog
    If I build links to example.com/blog , even if it is on a subfolder, it should "raise" the entire domain? I've read that SEs tend to treat subdomains as separate domains.
     
    kektex, Sep 20, 2008 IP
  4. zexy

    zexy Guest

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    #4
    Why don't you just post some interesting content in the forum itself. No need of blog, just post in the forum.
    Get a few friends or pay someone that is interested in that hobby to write a lot in the beginning.
    Use PPC (AdWords is a good choice) when you have a good amount of interested articles, etc. to bring new members.
    Sponsored reviews on niche blogs are a good idea to drive targeted traffic for cheap.
     
    zexy, Sep 21, 2008 IP
  5. poseidon

    poseidon Banned

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    #5
    kickstarting a forum is one of THE most difficult thing to do unless you have some topic which attracts peoplenaturally like porn or warez, it will be hard to push it. No one wants to post in a blank forum.

    If your topic is a dull topic than may be you are better with a blog.
    Pushkar
     
    poseidon, Sep 21, 2008 IP
  6. zurpit.com

    zurpit.com Peon

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    #6
    try to get all your friends to post comments so the forum looks lively, than that will get people to join when you promote it
     
    zurpit.com, Sep 21, 2008 IP
  7. adiian

    adiian Well-Known Member

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    #7
    It's really tough to start a forum. I know because I failed once miserably. You have to post yourself a lot and to find interested people. Start with your friends and people having the same hobbies. I don't see paying someone as a good solution because you need good content to attract people and usually payed content is low quality.

    I don't know is I'm the right person to give you advices, I already failed once :).
     
    adiian, Sep 21, 2008 IP
  8. ShaukatSDGuide

    ShaukatSDGuide Guest

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    #8
    Get as many friends and relatives as you can get to sign-up... you may be able to drive traffic to your forum but who would want to be a part of the forum with almost no members and no activity. Post a lot and ask your friends to contribute as well every single day.
     
    ShaukatSDGuide, Sep 21, 2008 IP
  9. saleelm03

    saleelm03 Well-Known Member

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    #9
    Hi, Really good. we will be with you. i will get my friends to your forum!!
     
    saleelm03, Sep 21, 2008 IP
  10. kektex

    kektex Peon

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    #10
    Thanks everyone for your input.
    Since this is going to be a forum in spanish it's hard to find some paid to post services.
    I'm gonna stick with the blog idea and report back on how it does.

    I can generate some traffic to blogs pretty quick. If I can get a couple of interesting (or even controversial) articles in the blog and move the discussion to the forum I might be able to get some members.
     
    kektex, Sep 21, 2008 IP
  11. angel007

    angel007 Peon

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    #11
    I don't think you should give up on your plans to start a community forum. There are ways to get people to start posting, you may want to look for it through Google search.
     
    angel007, Sep 21, 2008 IP
  12. MikeWatts

    MikeWatts Peon

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    #12
    Interesting thread title. I'm in the process of building my site and including a forum. I opted for Joomla. but now I'm having second thoughts reading about all the problems associated with getting a forum going.
     
    MikeWatts, Sep 21, 2008 IP
  13. farangkwaiyai

    farangkwaiyai Guest

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    #13
    I have a forum with 18,000+ members, I really should write an ebook about everything from the last two years.

    I will give you 1 pointer.

    I spring boarded the forum, using youtube videos
     
    farangkwaiyai, Sep 21, 2008 IP
  14. adiian

    adiian Well-Known Member

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    #14
    what it means, how you have done it?
     
    adiian, Sep 22, 2008 IP
  15. logan.kingsley

    logan.kingsley Banned

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    #15
    logan.kingsley, Sep 22, 2008 IP