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28th December, 2007 | A New Community

Building a community: Creating a logo

This is the fourth article in what I hope will be an indefinite series about the processes involved in developing a brand new community from scratch. I am currently developing a brand new online community and will detail its development on this blog. As I have said before, I think it is far easier to [...]



25th December, 2007 | Online Communities

Christmas wishes and feedback

Firstly, I want to wish every single reader of this blog a fantastic Christmas wherever you are and whatever you are doing. Thank you for reading my blog, and thank you even more to all those that regularly get involved and leave comments. Now … onto business!
Every now and then I like to gauge how [...]



22nd December, 2007 | Online Communities

Use Christmas to strengthen relationships

I have no doubt that over the past few days or even weeks you have seen a substantial increase in the number of emails you are receiving from online retailers. They depend on your custom over Christmas and use the occasion as an excuse to send you even more messages in the name of goodwill [...]



19th December, 2007 | Community Moderation | Forum Development

The real purpose of forum moderators revealed

As your forum becomes popular, you will inevitably need help administering it. Many forum owners understand the need for forum moderators but few understand what their real purpose is. This article will reveal what forum moderators should be used for - follow this advice and you will have an immediate head-start over your competitors.
Forum moderators [...]



17th December, 2007 | Forum Development

phpBB launches brand new version 3

Many readers of this blog will be running forums based on the free phpBB forum software. I am a huge fan of phpBB, using it on all the forums I run. The beauty of phpBB lies in the fact it is open source and free to all. Now, the long awaited version three has been [...]



15th December, 2007 | A New Community

Building a new community: Creating content before you launch

This is the third article in what I hope will be an indefinite series about the processes involved in developing a brand new community from scratch. I am currently developing a brand new online community and will detail its development on this blog. As I have said before, I think it is far easier to [...]



12th December, 2007 | Forum Development | Online Communities

Do you make these community building mistakes?

Building an online community is hard work. For a forum to be successful it needs content, members and interaction. Without content, you will get no members. Without members, you will not attract members. It’s a viscous cycle and one that is hard to break out of. With hard work though, it is possible to make [...]



10th December, 2007 | Community Finances

See how easily you can make more money from your forum

I often hear complaints from forum developers who say it is harder to generate revenue from forums compared to other websites. This doesn’t have to be the case - as long as you target your advertising to your audience and experiment, you can earn good revenue from a forum-based website.
Understand your audience
I have harped on [...]



7th December, 2007 | A New Community

Building a new community: Choosing a domain name

This is the second article in what I hope will be an indefinite series about the processes involved in developing a brand new community from scratch. I am currently developing a brand new online community and will detail its development on this blog. As I have said before, I think it is far easier to [...]



5th December, 2007 | Forum Development

How anonymous should a forum admin be?

I have been asked on a few occasions just how personal forum owners should be with their members. Whilst I have mentioned numerous times the benefits of being approachable and personable, some readers have sensibly questioned just how far they should go in getting to know their members and sharing information about themselves.
Of course, it [...]



3rd December, 2007 | Online Communities

Revealed: The ultimate motivational tool

Developing an online community is hard work – you can slave away on the never-ending task of creating content and wonder if it is all worth it when the fruits of your labour bring less than ideal results. One great motivation tool comes from the most important part of your community – its members.
Keep a [...]



1st December, 2007 | Miscellaneous

Apologies: Yesterday’s post has been edited

Just a quick post to let you know I have edited yesterday’s article entitled ‘Building a new community: Choosing a niche‘ to include an additional step I would recommend you take when researching a potential niche for a new online community.
I have now added a short section describing how you can use Google’s Keyword Analysis [...]

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