How to Build a Forum That Doesnt Fall Apart Two Months Later, Part 1

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How to Build a Forum That Doesnt Fall Apart Two Months Later, Part 1

How to Build a Forum That Doesnt Fall Apart Two Months Later, Part 1

If you can get a big enough following from customer lists and newsletters you might want to start your own forum. But I always see people trying to start a forum and it falls flat on their face, mainly because they make it too big and they never promote it.

The main reason is because nobody eats in an empty restaurant. Don't setup a "multiple topic" forum like phpBB where it allows you to partition the thing off into different subjects. You have to start small, get enough traffic to that forum for THAT type of forum to become self-sustaining before you build bigger.

By that I mean start off with a blog.

This blog (and eventually your message board) HAVE to have a niche. You can't just have a general purpose hang-out message board, or have it based on something really vague like "Marketing," or "Finance," or "Computers." Instead go for something specific like a Copywriting message board. Or a message board about home loans. Or a message board about digital video.

You supply all the posts, and any user "posts" will just be comments to this journal. Don't require any sort of signup in order to post.

Give people an option to sign up for e-mail updates but DO NOT use the autoresponder built into the blogging software. Instead use a separate autoresponder script. Why? Two reasons:

1.) You can write a quick teaser message that will entice more subscribers to read your posts than any boring automated notice could. 2.) This way it will be easier to move subscribers over once you graduate from a blog (keep reading).

(WordPress works great for this and is free.)

Start off allowing anyone to post, but once you start getting traffic to that page and the blog spam starts rolling in you will either have to require approval by you for a comment to go through or require the poster to type in a code to prove they are human (you've seen the kind).

It will be easy to get SOME traffic to the blog, if you keep most of your entries to it in article format, because then you can submit these articles to ezines and the article directories with a link back to the blog.

Keep the blog format going, be SURE to post regularly and if possible write content in advance (Post To Future) so that if you miss a week your content will still be updated as if you never left. If you feel ambitious setup RSS feeds for the blog and submit to the feed directories.

Continue posting until you reach the point where after you make a post, you receive comments from 10-20 different people within a day or two of the post. This 10-20 has to happen without any e-mails being sent out, or any kind of active promotion.

Until you reach this point stay with the blog, it means you haven't reached critical mass yet and any attempt to change over to a more complex kind of site will never work.

Once you've got those 10-20 spontaneous posts you can go ahead and make the move from a blog to a forum. But be very very careful. There are a lot of things that can go wrong, especially if your forum doesn't "unfold" properly, which is a technique I'll discuss with you in Part 2 of this article...

Free (humorous) video for you about how to promote an affiliate program without seeming spammy. Take a look: http://www.affiliatebattleplan.com/Rewrite.ht ml

In The News:

Yahoo! News: Top Stories

Obama economic plan aims for 2.5M new jobs by 2011 (AP)

AP - President-elect Barack Obama promoted an economic plan Saturday he said would create 2.5 million jobs by rebuilding roads and bridges and modernizing schools while developing alternative energy sources and more efficient cars.

Kin outraged, distraught over teen's cyber suicide (AP)

AP - The family of a college student who killed himself live on the Internet say they're horrified his life ended before a virtual audience, and infuriated that viewers of the live webcam or operators of the Web site that hosted it didn't act sooner to save him.

Carter, Annan, others refused entry to Zimbabwe (AP)

AP - Zimbabwe has refused to let Kofi Annan and two eminent colleagues visit the impoverished African country for a humanitarian mission, the three said Saturday.

Obama moves quickly to fill Cabinet positions (AP)

AP - President-elect Barack Obama has moved with unusual speed to select officials for his administration, and senior Democratic officials say he intends to name Timothy Geithner as his treasury secretary as soon as Monday.

Army wife accused in arson that killed her 2 kids (AP)

AP - An Army wife accused of setting her apartment on fire botched an attempt to collect on her husband's $400,000 insurance policy when he survived and her two children died instead, a federal prosecutor said.

Astronauts face hardest spacewalk to finish repair (AP)

AP - Astronauts up on the international space station faced the longest and hardest spacewalk of their mission Saturday, a seven-hour-plus excursion to wrap up repair work on a gummed-up joint.

Bush urges countries to avoid protectionism (AP)

AP - President George W. Bush said Saturday that the pursuit of free trade should not be abandoned in the face of a worsening global economic crisis. "One of the enduring lessons of the Great Depression is that global protectionism is a path to global economic ruin," he said.

Hollywood actors guild to seek strike (AP)

AP - The Screen Actors Guild said Saturday it will ask its members to authorize a strike after its first contract talks in four months with Hollywood studios failed despite the help of a federal mediator.

Panda in China zoo bites student who wanted a hug (AP)

AP - A college student in southern China was bitten by a panda after he broke into the bear's enclosure hoping to get a hug, state media and a park employee said Saturday.

Big day for Knicks ends with Marbury controversy (AP)

AP - With two moves, the New York Knicks created salary space for a premier free agent and playing time for Stephon Marbury.

Obama says long haul ahead (Reuters)

Reuters - President-elect Barack Obama said on Saturday he was crafting a two-year plan to fight an economic crisis of "historic proportions" and Chinese leader Hu Jintao said his country was ready to play a big role in the global effort.

Annan, Carter barred from Zimbabwe (Reuters)

Reuters - Zimbabwe has barred former U.N. secretary general Kofi Annan, former U.S. President Jimmy Carter and other prominent figures from visiting the country to assess the humanitarian crisis, the group said on Saturday.

Citigroup talking to U.S. government as shares dive: source (Reuters)

Reuters - Citigroup Inc has begun talks with the U.S. government as its plummeting share price raises doubts about the bank's ability to survive, a person familiar with the matter said.

Somali rebels take steps to attack tanker pirates (Reuters)

Reuters - MOGADISHU (Reuters) Islamist militants in Somalia took steps on Saturday to attack pirates behind the world's biggest hijack and rescue the captured Saudi Arabian supertanker, an Islamist spokesman said.

GM cuts output, jets as U.S. demands turnaround plans (Reuters)

Reuters - Detroit automakers began work on turnaround plans demanded by Congress in return for $25 billion in aid as General Motors Corp said it would cut production more and give up two of its controversial corporate jets.

General Motors board weighs bankruptcy option: report (Reuters)

Reuters - The board of directors of embattled U.S. automaker General Motors Corp is considering "all options" including bankruptcy, according to a report on the Wall Street Journal's website late on Friday.

U.S. eyes "surge" of over 20,000 for Afghanistan (Reuters)

Reuters - The Pentagon is considering a plan to send more than 20,000 troops to Afghanistan over the next 12 to 18 months to help safeguard elections and quell rising Taliban violence, officials said on Friday.

Iran hangs Iranian convicted of spying for Israel (Reuters)

Reuters - Iran has executed an Iranian businessman convicted of spying on the military for the Islamic Republic's arch foe Israel, the judiciary said on Saturday.

Terror plot mastermind killed by US missile in Pakistan: officials (AFP)

AFP - The alleged Al-Qaeda mastermind of a 2006 transatlantic airplane bombing plot was killed in a US missile attack in northwest Pakistan early Saturday, officials said.

Carter, Annan denied entry to Zimbabwe (AFP)

AFP - Former US president Jimmy Carter accused Zimbabwe's government Saturday of being "immune" to the hardships of its people as he and ex-UN chief Kofi Annan were denied entry on a humanitarian mission.

How to Build a Forum That Doesnt Fall Apart Two Months Later, Part 1

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