Online Communities | Articles

Link building IV - Creating awareness

This is the concluding article in a series that started on 22 May 2007, with ‘Link building I - Gaining direct traffic‘, and was followed with ‘Link building II - Creating relationships‘ on 24 May 2007 and ‘Link building III - Improving search rankings‘ on 28 May 2007.
In this article I will write about how [...]

Combatting spam - an example

Back on 9 April 2007, I wrote an article entitled ‘Are you a spam fighter?‘. In that article I wrote about how essential it is for you to fight and destroy spam so it does not ruin your online community.
In this article, I will give you a specific example of how I am fighting spam [...]

Link building III - Improving search rankings

This article is a continuation of the article series that started on 22 May 2007, with ‘Link building I - Gaining direct traffic‘, and was followed with ‘Link building II - Creating relationships‘ on 24 May 2007.
In this article I will write about how to improve your search engine rankings through the link building process.
Identify [...]

Mentions in the Blogosphere 27 May 07

These articles detail mentions of my blog out in the blogosphere. Not only does this recognise those who write about my blog, it allows you to see what other people are saying about Community Spark.
Hopefully you will also find mentions of articles you have not yet come across which may be useful to you.
Ali J [...]

Avoid getting swamped with emails

As your site becomes established and more popular, you will naturally receive a larger number of emails on a daily basis.
An excessive number of emails however, can result in you spending all of your time dealing with them rather than working on creating content and further developing your community.
Reduce the number of emails you receive

The [...]

Net Business Blog up for sale

Not long after Mitch Harper decided to throw the towel in on his blog (HarpzOn.com), another blog on my list of daily reads - netbusinessblog.com - is up for sale.
EDIT - On 28 May, Mitch revived his blog. Let’s hope he sticks with it this time around!
I have seen some site owners use SitePoint’s Marketplace [...]

Personal advice - Abusive members

Biddy from TameBay.com left a comment requesting a regular ‘Ask Martin’ feature on this blog whereby readers can ask for my advice/opinion on issues specific to them. I think this is a good idea, and am willing to give it a try.
For this article, I will address Biddy’s specific request. If you would like to [...]

Link building II - Creating relationships

This article is a continuation of the article series that started on 22 May 2007, with ‘Link building I - Gaining direct traffic‘.
In this article I will write about how the link building process can help create and nurture relationships with other web developers and the benefits these relationship can bring.
Link building is not used [...]

Do you know what your site looks like?

Sounds like a ridiculous question, right? Well no, it isn’t. What your site looks like to you is not necessarily how it looks to others. I am not talking purely about web accessibility here - I will leave that for another article.
In this post I want to talk about how different browsers, operating systems and [...]

Link building I - Gaining direct traffic

Starting a community site is a real challenge - without people you have no community, but people don’t want to join a community when there are no other members!
Getting an online community started from scratch is a huge challenge, but I believe there is no more rewarding site than a successful online community.
In this link [...]

Give your site personal appeal

My article last week about ‘The importance of being personal‘ was well received so I thought I would follow up with a post about how to give your site personal appeal.
As mentioned in my previous article, it is important to always make a member feel individually valued - using their name is a great start. [...]

Powerful posts 20 May 2007

There are some fantastic resources out there if you know where to look. Here I will share some great articles I have recently come across in my online travels.

Maki from Dosh Dosh wrote a comprehensive article detailing ‘50 web usability tips that help you attract and retain visitors to your website‘. This post complements my [...]

Always keep your software ‘kind of’ updated

If your site is running any type of software, it will require updating as new versions and security or bug fixes are released. It is always important to keep on top of software updates, but it is not always a good idea to immediately upgrade to the newest available versions.
Always keep on top of security [...]

Use advertising to add value to your site

Advertising. Adverts. Ads. Whatever you call them, for many sites they are a necessary requirement to pay the bills (and hopefully turn a profit). Most visitors accept the odd ad here and there as a necessary evil in order for them to consume your content - however, have you considered that advertising can actually add [...]

Writing safety advice for your community site

If you run an online community it is important that your site contains prominent safety advice. I strongly believe that online communities and online chat forums are not dangerous - as long as users are reasonably educated that the same potential dangers that can occur in real life can also happen online.
Educate your users
You cannot [...]

Be careful who you take advice from

I am amazed by the number of blogs I come across that promise to impart tips and advice on how to make money online. I am even more amazed when I do some digging around and find some of these money making ‘gurus’ are pulling in little more than $50 a month!
Research and ensure credibility
Let’s [...]

The importance of being personal

Have you noticed that when you call up your bank, they address you by your name?
Have you noticed that when you phone for an insurance quote, the operator will often address you by your name?
The reason they do this is because it adds a personal touch and makes you feel more valued.
The same applies with [...]

Mentions in the Blogosphere 13 May 07

I have decided to write an article detailing mentions of my blog out in the blogosphere. Not only does this recognise those who write about my blog, it allows you to see what other people are saying about Community Spark.
Hopefully you will also find mentions of articles you have not yet come across which may [...]

Writing content for your community

As regular readers of this blog will now know, I constantly harp on about the importance of creating content. Without content, you have nothing. With a community site, your members will hopefully be creating most of your content for you. If not, you need to step to the plate and get the job done yourself.
Always [...]

Why I avoid blog link exchanges

In the time that I have been running this blog, I have been approached by a few bloggers requesting link exchanges. I turned them down for the reasons I will outline in this article.
My blog’s design
This blog was specifically designed to be minimalist. I am a great fan of minimalism on the web, and feel [...]

Top 5 Newsletter Design Tips

Further to my articles on the value of email newsletters and common email newsletter mistakes, Javier Marti from Trendirama.com wrote a comment requesting an example of an effective newsletter design.
Whilst I cannot preach the gospel when it comes to good newsletter design, I can use examples of the newsletters I send to newsletter subscribers at [...]

Keep that community feeling

Some argue that the larger a community becomes, the less it actually feels like a community. To some extent I would agree with this - in many cases a community starts off with a relatively close-knit group of individuals, but as the site gains popularity more and more new members join resulting in the community [...]

Responding to a community revolt

Communities are simply groups of people coming together to interact. As community site owners, we have little control over what these individuals will choose to talk about - sure we can define clear site rules and state what kind of content or conversations are off limits, but apart from this we have little control over [...]

Using heatmaps to build communities

Knowledge is power - the more knowledge you have, the more powerful you can be. This is also true when it comes to your website. The more you know about your visitors and how they interact with your site, the more successful your site can become as you tweak and improve your site based on [...]

Use advertising as a motivator

If you are like me, you tend to procrastinate instead of working through that ‘to-do list’. Motivation can be a problem that affects us all from time to time - it often takes me a good few hours each day before I get started on anything productive.
Repetition is something that drives me crazy; if something [...]

Listening and responding to feedback

Last week I wrote about the importance of making your site feedback friendly. By making it easy for your members to offer feedback and criticism, you can improve your website by taking on board their comments. After all, your members are your site’s most valuable asset.
Putting your money where your mouth is
Some readers may think [...]

An interview with Ratko Vidakovic

Today I interview Ratko Vidakovic, owner of CeliSpeed.com and co-founder of ToyotaNation.com - both thriving online communities.

When did you create your first website and what was it?
My first website was one of those free Angelfire sites back around 1997. It was just a personal site with a quick list of my interests and favorite links. [...]

Getting more from your moderators

A few weeks ago I wrote an article about how to recruit forum moderators. In this article I want to talk about how you can use moderators to add maximum benefit from your site.
When it comes to forum moderators, I am a great believer in inviting users to become moderators rather than encouraging applications. If [...]

Avoid unnecessary barriers

If you are responsible for a community website, it is essential that you do not setup unnecessary barriers to user participation. A community website will only be successful if people can easily contribute - if you raise barriers and make this difficult, your community will suffer.
I will illustrate my point with an example - when [...]

Web users are lazy

When developing your site, you should never lose sight of the fact that Internet users are lazy. Just as Web surfers decide whether they like your site in under a second, if they cannot figure out its purpose, cannot figure out their way around, or have to register to view your content, the chances are [...]