Online Communities | Articles

Community Spark Redesign

Welcome to the re-designed Community Spark. I am very excited to launch this new design; please bear with me for the next few days whilst I get things running correctly.

Feel free to leave your comments and feedback.

Feedback wanted: New Community Spark blog design

Community developers should always involve their members in decision making. As regular readers will know, I consider this blog to be a community; therefore I would like to give you all the opportunity to give me your feedback on a new blog design.
A couple of weeks ago I asked for your help choosing a new [...]

Help needed: A new logo for Community Spark

As regular readers of this blog will know, I strongly believe that online community developers need to involve their members when it comes to decision making. I am currently working on a complete redesign for Community Spark, and the first step is designing a new logo.
I have ten concepts for you all to look at, [...]

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 [...]

Never miss another community building article!

Never miss another article published here at Community Spark - now you can not only subscribe to new articles in the traditional way (via RSS), but you can also have every new article delivered directly to your email inbox.
To receive new articles direct to your inbox, simply enter your email address in the box that [...]

Think of the end result to stay motivated

Developing an online community is tough. Really tough. You need to constantly work hard at creating content and promoting your site. After working for weeks without a break and only seeing a handful of new visitors, you may struggle to remain motivated.
The feel good factor
Your body rewards you for getting things done. Remember the last [...]

Birthday cheers and feedback

Well today is my birthday so I decided to treat myself with a day off from blogging! I don’t want you readers to do any slacking, though!
Do you run an online community? Do you feel it is stuck in a rut? Is it growing out of control? Do you want any specific advice about your [...]

Powerful posts 12 August 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 an article entitled ‘How to advertise your website or business: 8 paid advertising models‘. If you are interested in understanding the options [...]

Powerful posts 29 July 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.
Shane Navratil from Zoomstart wrote an interesting article entitled ‘What Mentors Can’t Teach You, Anti-Mentors Can‘ - remember you can learn from everyone, not just the experts!
Mani [...]

Community Spark blog redesign

On many occasions I have written about the importance of listening and responding to feedback. Since launching this blog back in March, I have been lucky enough to receive a lot of feedback on the blog’s design and structure.
Feedback from visitors is extraordinarily valuable - if you are not pleasing your visitors, they will go [...]

Powerful posts 1 July 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.
In May I wrote an article entitled ‘Writing content for your community‘. Alex Yang really goes one better over at Michael Kwan’s blog, Beyond the Rhetoric, in [...]

Reduce your email spam

As with most things, prevention is better than cure. Minimising email spam is just the same - follow the advice in this article and you should prevent those spammers from grabbing hold of your email address and bombarding you with junk emails from the beginning.
Why you should reduce email spam
Email spam affects your productivity. If [...]

Mentions in the Blogosphere 25 June 2007

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.
My article [...]

Powerful posts 17 June 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.
Mitch from HarpzOn wrote an interesting article entitled ‘Why Coke pays billions just to show you their logo‘. In this article, Mitch talks about the importance of [...]

Mentions in the Blogosphere 10 June 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.
Brown Baron [...]

What are your contingency plans?

A few months ago, I wrote about the importance of backing up your site so that should your hosting fail, you have a copy of your site to restore. This article will go through the additional contingency plans that we should all have in place.
The importance of contingency plans
If one component of your site fails, [...]

Uncertainty is OK

I recently received an email from Andras, who told me he was an educator at a dormitory in the Budapest University of Technology and Economics in Hungary.
In the email, he asked me what one thing I wish I had been told when I left school. I had to think about this for a while, but [...]

Powerful posts 3 June 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.
Shane from Zoomstart has written an article detailing ‘The art of balance‘ - in this post Shane writes about why there has to be balance if you [...]

Giving back to the online community

If you are making money online or otherwise benefiting from the opportunities the Internet offers, I feel it is only fair you contribute something in return.
This doesn’t have to be money; there are many ways you can contribute to the Internet’s future development.
I am a strong believer in the concept that if you receive, you [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

Online chat is not dangerous

I was going through some of my old files the other day and came across an old article I had written for Just Chat in response to MSN’s decision to close its chat rooms back in 2003. MSN claimed this move was in response to concerns about child safety in online chat, although many suspected [...]

Whose blog should I Live Bookmark?

I am a great fan of Firefox’s Live Bookmarks - I add all the blogs I read daily to the Live Bookmarks panel. This allows me to keep an eye on when the blogs are updated with new articles. When I see they are, I click the article name and surf over to read the [...]

No posts today

There will be no new article posted today - yesterday I ran the Flora London Marathon for charity, and needless to say that today I am extremely tired and a little stiff!
Normal service will resume tomorrow; thanks for your understanding!

Is Google becoming too dominant?

Google recently announced its acquisition of DoubleClick in a $3 billion deal. Whilst this may open new opportunities for both publishers and advertisers, it has me a little worried.
Google established itself with the mantra ‘Do no evil’ – it is becoming increasingly important that Google stays true to this as it becomes ever more dominant [...]

Read your contracts

You hear it time and time again - do not sign anything unless you have read it first! In this digital age it is all too easy to forget this and scroll past terms and conditions and click the ‘I Accept’ box. I will be the first to admit complacency in this regard and decided [...]

The importance of backing up!

My apologies for the lack of posts on Thursday and Friday - I had the power to my home cut off completely the whole time. It meant I could not work, could not watch TV, could not enjoy the luxury of hot water and heating, and could not even go online!
This did give me time [...]