Day 9 is all about building your blog by participating in forums.
ProBlogger, DPS & TwiTip
The only blog I found so far in a niche close to personal development is worklifecreativity.net. I joined and lurked a bit but despite the high level of posts and discussions, it seemed a little slow in growth. I would be glad if anybody here could point me to a number of great personal development commuities.
Thank you :-)
My biggest traffic generator so far is Zenhabit's blog. Other blogs I frequent all have my blog link in my signature. It certainly generates more traffic.
Sometimes finding a forum is as simple as using google. I didn't join a new forum yet, I'm already swamped with blgos as it is.
Frequent quality postings are the way to go in any online writing endeavour.
Mind the beginner A blog on beginning, it sounds so simple but it’s quite complex
I post a lot of tech/humor/Apple things, so i've hit a gold mine with my signature on the Macrumors boards. Of course, it helps that I've been a forum member there since 2006.
Well I am a long time poster at Name Pros but it is not my niche. As I have said already today.. my niche is a very fine line between Motivation and Making Money Online. I plan on developing the comunity by having forums eventually but not yet.. I do not have enough readers. I have seen too many forums vanish quickly, I have enough experience to know when to start one.
I post on a bunch of forums geared towards my niche, moms. It gets exhausting keeping up though, and seems impossible to be as active as I'd like in all of them. Is it better to expose yourself to a bunch and be only semi-active or be a strong regular at one? Any thoughts?
scarymommy.com An honest look at motherhood: The good, the bad and the scary.
I post on a bunch of forums geared towards my niche, moms. It gets exhausting keeping up though, and seems impossible to be as active as I'd like in all of them. Is it better to expose yourself to a bunch and be only semi-active or be a strong regular at one? Any thoughts?<br mce_bogus="1">
I belong to a ridiculous amount of forums and yahoo!groups and ning communities and linkedin and facebook and xing -and dare I confess, they're all on a semi-organized Mondays are for...Tuesdays are for.. schedule.
I joined these mainly to figure out how they work, which are successful, what problems can occur etc, really because I wanted to start my own community (which I have now - it's a private ning group dedicated to bloggers in ELT (English Language Teaching)) .
Also by spreading myself out this thinly I found that when popping in and out, answering something on a topic I know something about that I've been building relationships -finding others doing similar stuff etc.
To be honest, in the beginning I made mistakes, yelled too much, but pretty soon figured out that when you're nice, helpful (or you try to be) and thankful people end up following your signatures - coming over when you do provide a link to an article on your blog that matches the theme.
And every now and then - let me stressssss the every now and then, (say once a month) I've found that I can even do a 'summary of my latest postings' and instead of annoying people, get thank-you emails back.
I am looking for Small Business Forums.
One that I have found that looks promising is http://www.small-business-forum.com/
Does anyone else have any suggestions?
If you are involved in Internet Marketing, check out http://www.warriorforum.com/
Oh, and if you just want to discuss random things, check out my forum at disscussionspace.ning.com - a great place to bring twitter conversations that need more discussion.
Bradford Shimp is a business writer and consultant. He writes the blog AllBizAnswers.com
My topic is the freelance lifestyle. But while Freelance Switch does have active forums, I feel as if their typical user is into web design/tech stuff, rather than writing (which is what I do). So I created my own forums using bbPress, but it remains empty! I'm at a loss as to how to fill it with conversation, though I suppose I could make a greater effort to actively continue on-the-blog convos in the forums. People, however, seem loath to register for yet another site, especially when it's just my dinky (and empty) forums.
Does Darren (or anyone else) have any advice for me?
Steph Auteri, Freelancedom
Authors write. They write a LOT. Have you ever been on a forum by authors, for authors? Talk about hard to keep up...
Impossible to keep up and still write books, actually. I've been pulling back on forum involvement, somewhat. Besides, it's not fellow authors that I want to buy my books (they're a loyal lot - "you buy mine, I'll buy yours" - but we can all go broke playing that game).
There are ten thousand author blogs, book blogs, book review blogs, writing blogs... (Ironically, I had one of the first writing-related Web sites in 1994, but so many people jumped on that bandwagon and obviously had more time to do it well than I did that I decided to go back to the "Hello, world, it's all about ME" approach I'd deliberately avoided in creating a site about writing.)
But I digress. I think it can be better to get involved in forums that are NOT focused on your topic (think "a whole bunch of SEO 'experts' all talking to themselves, but not to their clients") - get involved in forums where your skills and talents are in demand, and start a dialogue there. Mommy blogger forums are great for me, as a children's book author. It's all about synergy. While I wouldn't mind having guest posts from other writers, I'd rather have guest posts from parents, kids who like to read, librarians, people (especially men) who didn't like to read when they were kids, teachers...
As mentioned by Bradfordsshimp above, The Warriror forum is one to consider. I'm also a public member of Chris Garrett's Authority Blogger Forum. I've been a paid member of several membership sites, but have opted out of most. My niche is blog-related so I'm concentrating on non-paid forums that cater to bloggers. Another forum to check out if your niche is blogging: Bloggeries.
Then there is my own forum (BlogAsReligion) which is free to my email newsletter subscribers: The Upper Room.
BlogAsReligion.com - Blogging sucess without a gazillion readers
I actually got out of the message board arena a few years ago. What a time consuming and addictive format it can be!
Though it will certainly be a great source of readership, I find myself hesitant to actually work this particular directive.
I'm thinking.
I've only found one really good forum for law school and law students, Law School Discussion. I don't know if it's aggressive moderation, the articles and blogs they have (although that stuff seems broken right now), but LSD has managed to avoid becoming like every other law school forum where it turns into at best a lot of prestige-whoring and flaming and at worst racist and sexist (I'm looking at you Autoadmit).
Even so, a lot of the advice there is very repetitive. There's a pre-law section for applicants that's a lot more active that the student side of the forum. It seems that 0Ls (nickname for law school applicants) go in, they post during their admissions cycle, they pop over to the student board for the first couple weeks or month of 1L (first year of law school) and then they stop.
Certainly an opportunity to hook law students early on and keep them around by offering fresh advice for the entire of law school, not just the admissions process.
My blog specializes in grocery coupons, deals, frees and the components encompassed to make these deals work.
I do not post my link on any deal forums because I would be banned as a spammer. I can say this with absolute certainty as I have worked as a deal-forum moderator for seven years now and ban people frequently for self-promotion.
I DO, however, post my blog url and deal pointers on relevant blogs in relevant posts.
This has been a difficult mental transition for me; the move from forum posting and what is allowed/considered spam, and blog posting with the invitation to promote my blog and quasi-spam and advertise my site on competitor's site. I usually post through a Mr Linky widget. This allows for appropriate, pertinent linking.
In case anyone missed it buried in the comments, I wrote a quick post about forum etiquette aimed more at those new to the forum scene. If any experienced forum-ites want to suggest something *please* let me know.
I've been using bloggerforum until it closed down recently, and now I'm into digitalpoint most of time in web design, and css section.
Recommended from fellow blogger.
I try to solve the member problem and sometimes promote my blogpost. Create discussion, and add value in it.
I'm crunched for time, so I'll leave my comment here from Problogger which is that I have joined a few blogs in my niche and two more before the 31DBBB chanllenge. The NING community network has a lot of groups that are broad but also many that have a specific niche like swimming or hiking or topics like that. The downside is that while there are groups with a lot of members, it takes some time to sort through the ones that are not updated frequently and ones that may have members that are not really there to help but are indeed just there to help themselves and spam or harass others.
The RottenTomatoes forum was one that I joined a few years ago but did not post to that forum frequently. That is a huge blog in my niche in a general sense, as it does not cater specifically to independent films but all movies in general. However, I was a little put off one day when I came across a forum thread that had tons of racist remarks on there and it just got longer when I left and came back to visit that forum within the following hours and day.
I thought that if RottenTomatoes would allow racist comments and remarks on their forums, maybe it’s not the type of forum that I want to be on, so I joined another one that was not about movies and more about culture and guess what?
That forum had tons of racist remarks on there and it seemed like the racism. One forum had racist remarks about one ethnicity and then the other forum of the targeted ethnicity had racist remarks about another race.
That is terrible.
So, I’m trying to find a good middle to some of this and figure out if promoting by blog on some places is worthwhile even if some of the practices are not what I would agree to or participate in. I use the Myspace forums sometimes for topics that are immediate and might be dated like news or a recent TV program, but those Myspace forums get spammed so much or either the topic and thread gets moved out quickly by dozens of threads that are on ridiculous topics and not really benefiting the Myspace community.
Madlab Post Discover indie films and entertaining facts!
Hmm. I definitely find this suggestion to be frustrating, as I tend to avoid forums/message boards because they're a huge time-suck. I realize that the point is to connect, to socialize, to try to make it useful to you, but I also know that hours can disappear like minutes when you get on a forum that really interests you!
However, I've been hunting around for some forums that might be of interest to me. I definitely enjoy the Chowhound board for food-related talk, but mostly I've been finding lively comments sections, rather than forums, that appeal to me.
Any suggestions on good forums for literature?
Laura Roberts, Freelance Button Tapper
Hmmn! Searching reveals there are very few fora which deal with my mix of topics which begs the question do I start a forum as well as carry on the blog? This has a lot of ramifications about upgrading my hosting package, learning how to beat MYSQL stuff into submission, PHP fora management, spending even more time on the PC and the inevitable risk of divorce :-)
Regards, Kevin
Web2 and More - Bringing Technology and New Ways of Working Together
http://web2andmore.net/blog
I own a forum, so I participate on that. I do agree with those that say it's a huge time suck so I've scaled back my involvement to concentrate on a couple of subforums. One of them, OFFS I am hoping to develop into a place where funny/creative types can share their best work and play off each other's imaginations.
Before I launched my blog about digital scrapbooking, I wanted to make sure there was a community AND a market surrounding that topic to tap into. I knew there was for paper scrapbooking, but I didn't know a ton about digital. That said, I feel very fortunate that there are several HUGE forums, dozens of smaller forums and a strong industry surrounding my topic.
You may all want to check out http://www.big-boards.com - categorized lists of forums ranked by post count and members. some huge places in there for some huge traffic opportunities.
www.twitter.com/stoneyjackson - find me on twitter
Just Tweeted this: From @unmarketing website, dozens of forums http://tinyurl.com/cpd4vx #31DBBB
I'm a failure on today's assignment! I doubt there is a forum which covers the broad areas I cover in my blog. Then again maybe the Sierra Club would cover most of what I write about. I tend to avoid politics though - not probably a recipe for high readership - and since Sierra Club counts as a political action group I'm not sure I want to go there.
I'll give this some more thought. I've joined several permaculture forums because that's something I'm very interested in, but none of them have been very active so far.
@Allison Kerr, I don't think that the forums you visit necessarily have to be a perfect fit for your niche. For example, many of the subjects in your blog have been threads on one of the forums on my board in the past few weeks. That forum is a general discussion board made up of mostly 30-something moms. Broadly speaking, I think in many cases finding a forum that you are interested in participating in is just as important as it matching your niche. People get to know you and what you write about and you find that they not only start reading your blog, but also pass it on as a resource to others.
ETA I just wanted to add that wasn't a plug for my forums, just an example although all are welcome to swing by!
Whoever mentioned authors above is right, a lot have active forums that won't necessarily come up on a google search by topic. So if you're stuck, check your favorite authors. I know that Barbara Sher (all those PBS specials) and The Artist's Way (aka Julia Cameron) have very active forums with all kinds of topic threads, not just on the books or self-help. Once the like-minded people find each other they just keep talking.
I wanted to recommend a forum called CMF Ads (cmfads.com/forums). I joined a few months ago and have really enjoyed it. There are some great bloggers over there and it is very active. Blogs from all different niches participate. The admins are very friendly and responsive, as are all the other members. Great place to get tips and advice and even technical help with your blogging. There is a great advertising program there as well if you choose to participate in that portion of it.
www.thirtysomethingblog.com - Stories, advice, and random thoughts from a thirty-something female.
http://twitter.com/erin_ts
www.cmfads.com
I contribute regularly to a forum specifically aimed at UK social workers which is exactly what I'm writing about really. I more occasionally contribute to the forums at moneysavingexpert.com which is one of the largest fora in the UK with advice about areas that I have experience of, but I don't leave my blog post in my signature there as it's frowned upon. I do have it in my profile though and have had some hits from that. Occasionally too, there will be a more directly relevant post in the forum that I will have answered in a blog post and in those instances I'll link.
I have to say that even the links I've had from this forum have led to a particular spike in readers. I think the key is providing useful information.
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