Do have or are you starting a "membership" type site?
I get a lot of questions about "seeding" sites that have "memberships" such as forum sites, community sites, dating.....
Lots of these sites have really good concepts but when the initial few visitors see tha low memberships, they go elsewhere instead of registering.
anyone have some ideas to share about getting through this initial period?
Al
JeevesBond posted this at 10:23 — 11th January 2007.
He has: 3,956 posts
Joined: Jun 2002
Personally I wouldn't bother setting up a forum unless there's a companion content site that already has a strong user base. The competition in forums is massive so chances of getting through that initial period of no users is very difficult, if you already have an established site with lots of regular visitors then this isn't a problem.
Many people want to setup a forum just for the sake of it, this never works, they need to have a solid idea that no-one has had before to make it work. When this forum started in 1998, there were no other Webmaster Forums (maybe one or two) so it became successful, now webmaster forum competition is fierce.
Even we are having to create a content site to remain successful and competitive. Well, we're also doing it for fun of course!
a Padded Cell our articles site!
Megan posted this at 14:05 — 11th January 2007.
She has: 11,421 posts
Joined: Jun 1999
And to provide much needed content to the community!
The first thing I think you need with sites like this is a unique value proposition. Market yourself to a specific audience, or use some sort of theme that will set you apart from the competition. Other sites have the general markets covered - the way to differentiate yourself is to corner a specific market that wants soemthing more tailored to their needs.
Take Facebook as an example. When they started out, they were only available to students attending certain universities. They gradually expanded, but remained exclusive to university students. This was attractive to students who only wanted to interact with other students. They had more privacy and less creepy random strangers looking at their profiles. So facebook built up a loyal following among students, became really popular, and was then able to open it up to everyone.
Megan
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alhefner posted this at 17:54 — 11th January 2007.
He has: 11 posts
Joined: Nov 2006
Thanks folks! I value the opinions I receive to posts in forums such as these. The wealth of experience is beyond price.
Since both responses are from admins who have taken the issue face on, that lends a great deal of weight.
Other than forums, there are many niche market type of sites that rely heavily upon having a membership of regular users. The lessons learned by forum owners can often be applied elsewhere or adapted to bring a membership type site into a good position.
Al
skint posted this at 17:39 — 16th January 2007.
They have: 23 posts
Joined: Jan 2007
Theres a site called member generator where you can pay for new members or you can sign up with on other sites and they sign up on yours.
andy206uk posted this at 20:23 — 16th January 2007.
He has: 1,758 posts
Joined: Jul 2002
Don't even bother... these users never stick around because they only sign up to get whatever reward is at the end of it. Total waste of time.
Andy
skint posted this at 20:37 — 16th January 2007.
They have: 23 posts
Joined: Jan 2007
It overcomes the problems of no members at the beginning though, If your site interest them surely some will stick around.
void posted this at 08:46 — 18th January 2007.
He has: 39 posts
Joined: Oct 2006
Yea skint that is actually true in real sense as any forum won’t look good without any members in it; at least there must be someone whom a visitor can converse to. It is better than having no genuine members at all in the starting phase which could also affect the credibility of the site/forum.
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