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Forums - Should You Have Them On Your Website?
Forums have become a common feature in many websites. With good free scripts available, and paid scripts being relatively cheap, it seems that every new website has its own forum(s). But is it wise to add forums to your website? In this article I'd like to take a look at the pros and cons of adding forums to your website. The largest of my websites, www.TheCatSite.com boasts one of the largest online forums on pet related subjects. In fact I have yet to see a larger forum dealing with pets. As of the writing of this article (Summer 2004), we have over 7,000 members and nearly half a million posts. In the past four years I have struggled with the hardships of community management and learned what works and what doesn't. Let me share a few insights that may help you decide if you want to take the forums path yourself. The Pro Side of the Equation? Forums Generate Content Large, active forums generate content for your website. Google now has literally tens of thousands of pages indexed for TheCatSite.com's forums, and people looking for some of the more esoteric subjects related to cat health and cat behavior are very likely to meet one of our forum pages in their search results. Forums Make People Return to Your Website Forums are truly a "sticky" element. Most people come back, at least to check on developments on their threads. With a good community, you get some real addicts who have to get their daily fix. TheCatSite.com's forums run on Vbulletin Forums, which means members can opt to receive an email whenever someone replies to their thread. Most people use it and that little email sends them right back to the forums? Forums Create a Sense of Community Reaching from behind their computer screens, people from all over the world join together, get to know each other and create a community. This is actually happening! Members connect with each other, offering support in time of needs and some of them even meeting each other in real life. For you as the webmaster, this means loyal visitors that keep coming back to a place they consider to be home. And Now To The Cons Forums Can Take a Lot of Time to Take Off the Ground I remember how I could feel my posts echoing in the empty board four years ago? It can take a long time before your forums pick up. An empty forum can actually drive new visitors away. It's a vicious circle - when they see that no one else is posting, they don't post themselves, and move on to the next website. It can take weeks and even months of hard work to get your forums off the ground. Forums Need A Lot Of Ongoing Management You need to constantly monitor your forums to make sure that they are clean of spam, troll posts, and just keep everything where it belongs. Once your forums are large enough, you have to have a team of quality moderators to help you run the place - the task being too time-consuming for one person. This is the place in this article to say "hi!" to any TCS team members reading this - thank you guys - you're the ones that make it all happen! For the webmasters reading this article, I will say that managing a team is a task in its own right. Finding the good mods can mean the difference between success and failure. And it doesn't end there. You have to put your heart and mind to it - all the time. Forums Take Up a Lot of Resources Forums are database-type applications that generate web pages on the fly. Every time a user views a page, it's being created from scratch. As the forums become more active, this can take a heavy load on the web server's resources. When our forums reached 2,000 members, we had to switch over to a dedicated server. When they reached 7,000 members, we had to upgrade to a new dedicated server? With several other websites stored on our server, the forums are the big resources hoggers, taking up bandwidth, disk space and, most importantly, CPU resources. This brings us to the next point? Forums Do Not Make Lucrative Advertising Stock You think that with successful forums, generating millions of targeted pageviews each month, you would do well financially? Think again. Forums not only cost you a lot to run, they also don't bring in a whole lot of revenue, compared to regular web pages. Advertisers don't like to run ads on forum pages. So much so, that most CPM based ad networks won't even let you place their ads there. Our experience with CPC ads shows that they may have a good point. Click-through rates on forum pages are significantly lower then on other types of web pages. There are ways to make your forums generate revenues, but trust me, it's not that easy. I will be writing a separate article on how we got our forums to pay for their keeping. The Bottom Line Forums are not for every website. Don't just put it up there and hope for the best. If you can't or don't want to put a lot of time and effort into creating a viable community, just leave it. Having no forums is better than having dead forums. Having dead forums on your website may actually drive people away. Research your field. How easy will it be to create a community geared towards the subject of your website? Is it something that people want to talk about with each other? Are there other forums on this subject? How are they doing? Get your feet wet. Join several forums and become an active participant. If possible, become a team member or a moderator in a large forum. Big forums often have secret team forums, where you can learn a lot about community management. Think ahead. Where do you see your website in a year or two? Is this your main project and passion? Will you have the time and energy it takes to maintain a forum? Above all: Will you enjoy it? Copyright © Anne Moss About The Author Anne Moss has been the webmaster of www.TheCatSite.com and www.Meowhoo.com, as well as several other sites, since the year 2000. You can read more advice for webmasters on her webmasters resources website -www.4NetNeeds.com. You may use this article in your website, provided that you leave the "About the Author" bit intact and make sure that the names of the websites mentioned are clickable and lead to the right place.
MORE RESOURCES: Best WR groups in CFB Rivals.com Spring 2025 Research Forums at Kennesaw State University: Celebrating Scholarly and Creative Excellence Kennesaw State University Develop Tioga’s community forums express common themes Tioga Publishing E-News | Campus community encouraged to attend public forums during HLC accreditation visit West Virginia University Canyon Courier to sponsor Elk Creek Fire Protection District Board candidates forum Colorado Community Media 2025 ARC Forum Panel Discussion – Driving More Effective/Efficient OT Cybersecurity - ARC Advisory Animated Shorts - Tales Of The Underworld - May 4th 2025 Jedi Council Forums Attorney General launches statewide "Safeguarding Oregon" forums Cottage Grove Sentinel ACA Wraps Up Successful Cybersecurity & Risk Forum ACA International Stop sacrificing the Coastal Bend for corporate profit | Opinion Corpus Christi Caller-Times May 2025 Election Day reminders: Last day to register to vote is Thursday Amarillo Globe-News Pittsburgh students quiz mayoral candidates on public safety, immigration at youth-led forum 90.5 WESA Eric Adams, at candidate forum, insists independent run for NYC mayor won't help GOP's Sliwa New York Daily News UW-Oshkosh names 4 chancellor finalists ahead of on-campus forum series Oshkosh Northwestern Kirkwood, CA April 1-2, 2025 firsttracksonline.com Historian Jon Meacham Says America is in ‘Moral Crisis’ at IOP Forum The Harvard Crimson HLC hosts reaffirmation of accreditation student forums The Daily Athenaeum Community Review Board Seeks New Members, Hosts Open Forum April 18 Syracuse University News FSE To Host School Board Candidate Forums Again To Better Inform Public Ahead Of Elections townsquaredelaware.com Public Forums Set on District Facility Plan Fayette County Public Schools Amarillo League of Women Voters to present two nonpartisan candidate forums in April MyHighPlains.com Open forums announced for finalists for College of Natural Resources and Environment dean Virginia Tech News Brentwood Residents to Hear from Commission Candidates in Two Forums Williamson Scene Forums planned this week with RIT’s 10th president Rochester Institute of Technology China Science Fiction Convention Concludes with Insightful "Sci-Fi+" Forums Exploring Future Frontiers PR Newswire FY 26 Budget Engagement Forums Executive Office of the Mayor (.gov) Call for Applications: World Heritage Young Professionals Forum 2025 UNESCO World Heritage Centre RISD Board Candidate Forums – Apr. 5 Richardson ISD Community invited to forum on opioid settlement funds April 3 Sentinel and Enterprise Protecting Minnesota Community Forums Minnesota Attorney General's Office The Senate analyzes the conclusions of forums to create a new legal framework for water - BNamericas E-News | Campus community encouraged to attend public forums during HLC accreditation visit West Virginia University Teacher diversity, achievement gaps, LGBTQ student support topics at SPS candidate forum Springfield News-Leader Staff Editorial: Protect student forums, immigrant voices, and First Amendment rights - studlife.com China’s back-to-back forums a reminder of how quickly things can change - South China Morning Post China’s back-to-back forums a reminder of how quickly things can change South China Morning Post Capital Link in New York with two forums eKathimerini.com ClackCo public input forums set for Milwaukie, Sandy Clackamas County Baseball - VIDEO/UPDATES: DVH previews Missouri series arkansas.forums.rivals.com Planners’ Forums​ Washington State Department of Commerce (.gov) An Ode to the Old-School Internet Forum The Ringer HIMSS25 Smart Health Transformation Forum and the future of care Healthcare IT News ‘Day in and day out’: Good NAtured’s houseless forum discusses strategies over solutions Argus Leader Breeders' Cup Forum: Bill Nader, President And CEO Of Thoroughbred Owners Of California Paulick Report What good are mayoral forums? Ask the leading candidates who haven’t been to any City & State New York Prosperity for Kazakhstan starts at home eastasiaforum.org BMCC president presents EO Forum on higher education East Oregonian UW-Oshkosh invites public to forums with finalists for chancellor post April 7-10 Oshkosh Northwestern Open Forum, Part 1 C-SPAN My Remarks at the 2024 Obama Foundation Democracy Forum Barack Obama – Medium 2025 Banking & Supervision Forums Kansas City - Federal Reserve Bank Open Forum, Part 1 C-SPAN RISE Town Hall forums, February 25 and 26 Illinois State University News Check out 7 candidate forums for Richardson council, RISD and PISD elections Community Impact | News Sea level rise: Everything you need to know The World Economic Forum AHS Improvement Project Public Forums Andover, MA (.gov) Forums for Strategic Roadmap for CSU 2035 set for Monday and Tuesday Colorado State University News Huffman, House Democrats to Hold Forum on ‘the Escalating Attacks’ Against NOAA Redheaded Blackbelt NATA Forums Bringing Operators Together on SMS Aviation International News Quarterly Resilience Forum Florida Department of Environmental Protection (.gov) Historical forum shares the stories behind Royalston’s waterfalls Athol Daily News OHIO to hold open forums for dean search finalists Ohio University Assisted Living Feedback Forums Ohio Department of Aging (.gov) Kazakhstan-Slovenia Business Forum Strengthens Ties, Boosts Cooperation in Logistics, Energy, and IT The Astana Times Open forums set for Health Professions dean finalists Central Michigan University Agricultural Outlook Forum USDA (.gov) AMPS ClaimInsight Sponsors Health Plan Alliance Spring Leadership Forum, Connecting Industry Leaders to Drive Innovation The Manila Times Converting Opportunity To Wealth In Our Community At The Hungry Club Forum The Savannah Tribune OHIO to host practice open forums for students, faculty and staff in advance of Reaffirmation of Accreditation visit by HLC Ohio University Ohio Department of Aging to Host Statewide Series of Assisted Living Feedback Forums Ohio Department of Aging (.gov) Emerging Leaders in Health and Medicine National Academy of Medicine |
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