This is Day 9 of 31 Days to Build a Better Blog, a group project 60+ of us bloggers are doing together in an effort to help each other become better bloggers. You can read an overview here.
Today’s assignment is to join a forum and start participating. Some of you participating may already be involved in a forum which means you are ahead of the crowd. If you already belong to a forum spend 10-15 minutes today on the forum asking and answering questions. If you do not already belong to a forum it is important for you to participate in at least one. We all have to remember that aside from the technical stuff that all of us struggle with, blogging is about relationships, and forums are a great place to build those relationships.
Here are a few benefits to joining a forum:
- You can ask questions. All of us have questions that need answers. We need technical help, we need topics to write on, we need to know where to find experts, etc… Forums allow us a place to ask questions where people are gathered around a common purpose. (Keep in mind not to limit yourself to forums centered on you niche. If you have tech questions join a forum for techies. If you need ideas join a forum that discusses issues related to your topic.)
- You can answer questions. The best way to build respect and gain trust is to help others solve their problems. If you don’t know the answer then help them find someone that does. When others know that you are not just there to score a sale or recruit readers then they will be more open when you have the opportunity to point them to your product or blog for answers.
- You get free ideas. Joining a forum allows you to see the problems and questions that people need answers to. This gives you an unlimited supply of post ideas. If you can solve problems then people will turn to you for answers and also refer their friends.
Discussion
- What are some other benefits of joining a forum?
- If you are already a forum member, how often do you participate and how has it helped you?
- Can you recommend a forum that has helped you with technical support or site development?
The Extra Mile
A few other things you can do to take your blog, other bloggers, and this project even further today…
- Reply & give other bloggers feedback on the little things they do.
- When other bloggers include a link to a new article they’ve posted today, click, read, and comment on it.
- Check previous posts in the series for new comments.
- Tweet, share, & bookmark this post.
Larry Westfall is a husband, father to two children, and serves as a youth pastor near Charleston, WV. His passion is to help those around him to pursue a life of significance. You can follow him on twitter @LarryWestfallJr or read his blog at http://larrywestfall.com.
65 Comments
Great job Larry! Thanks for writing for us.
Believe it or not – forums are a new experience for me. Looking at some and deciding to join one [I chose the OCC Community] has reminded me that one reason I got involved in blogging was for a chance to develop relationships. Tips so far have been very helpful. Thanks everyone!
Now to the task of finding more appropriate forums to explore. Am I missing something about how to find them?
I have only made use of the ourchurch.com's forums. Since I am a customer of ourchurch, it is very helpful to get insight from other web admins. How'd ya do that?, etc.
I may have to try others…
http://www.ronniespoon.blogspot.com
I have looked at OurChurch.com's forums but have not participated. It's another one of those things that looks like it could eat up some valuable time from this busy pastor. I can see how you could get helpful tips for your blog if you are on the right forum. I have already gotten many useful tips just by particiapating in this 31DBBB exercise. (It's almost been like a forum, hasn't it?)
My post is up today: The Gladness of Sadness http://junctionforjesus.blogspot.com/2010/05/glad…
I am part of a couple of online forums. Both have been very valuable for feedback for me on my spiritual journey. I'm amazed at the friends I've made in the process. A few of those friends have become regular readers of my blog and I always appreciate their interaction with me on what I write. At the same time, I'm pretty careful about self-promotion on these forums as it would be very weird for me to be soliciting followers rather than just being a friend. I'm sure if I had a technical blog I wouldn't worry about pointing to my "how to" posts, but since I belong to more relational-based groups, I want to keep my interaction with them based as a friend, not a salesman.
Thoughts?
My blog today is about my wife Jamie who went back to work after a 17 year absence. Yesterday brought up a lot of emotions in both of us:http://is.gd/c7rUB
Oy vey! Only one hour of sleep last night, and much to do today….including mosey on over to the OurChurch.com forums.
When I've got spare time, I sometimes find myself interacting on the forums at coffeegeek.com. I occasionally build websites, and I use jquery a lot, so I've been on those forums (jquery.com).
All of this reading has made me think more about the online community that's always happening out there, and lots of people are able to dedicate a good chunk of time every week (every day?) to blogging and to reading and commenting on other people's blogs and forums, in spite of having families and full time jobs. If that describes you, I'd be interested in hearing how you work that into your schedule on a regular basis. Of course, I'm in an unusually busy period at the moment (see my first sentence) so right now it's hard to see beyond the tip of my nose.
I didn't know you did you programming…perhaps I did and the last week's information overload has had a moving sale on info in my brain.
I have always been more of a mainframe person, but I am learning Java so I can expand my options. I recently joinedhttp://www.dreamincode.net/ to get some java advice and tips.
Yeah, I occasionally throw together a website as a side job here and there. I don't really know any Java, and I know just enough jscript to be dangerous. My focus is more on the HTML and CSS end of things, and I let jquery or other plugins do the work I need.
Good one Larry.
Certainly good to join a forum in your niche, I have been lazy in that of late.
Particularly – it is good to get referrals from the forums – for a while I was involved in Camera and VFX forums and got a lot of visits – it was very cool but also intimidating :O
This one's tricky, because I don't know where to find forums that have the people I'd most want to connect with:
– Non-Christians who would be open to spirituality but are turned off by church
– Christians who are open to rethinking church ways for the sake of the world
Any suggestions?
I'll be your forum. If we get a couple of more to join we could call it a quorum. 😉
Wait 'til we get to Day 15. Then you'll be sorry.
Hey, me too! Maybe we need to learn how to start a forum! If you find one I'd love to check it out..
I used to spend quite a bit of time on forums. However, as blogs and social media tools like Facebook and Twitter have grown in popularity, more of the conversations that use to take place on forums are now taking happening in those spaces. Now I rarely go to forums and when I do it’s to search for an answer or ask a technical question.
I’ll probably do the assignment because it’s the assignment, but I’m really interested to hear if other people find the assignment worthwhile.
Honestly I don't find the assignement all that worthwhile. Like you said a lot of the conversations going on in forums are happening in other places. It does mean that it's harder to create new relationships but it also means that it's harder to develop relationships in forums where the conversation is sometimes….lacking. I don't know, I always feel like the new kid on the block when it comes to forums and I almost ALWAYS get to meet the neighborhood bully first.
I've not found it worthwhile because I already "do forums".
I disagree that a lot of the conversation is taking place on twitter or FB – some of the forums I go to are amazingly busy places and it can be daunting to try and keep up. The trick, as with twitter, is to let life pass you by and dive inw where you can or where you fancy.
The bully unfortunately is prevalant on just about every forum and it is up to the mods to police that properly. However they rarely do as these characters generate so much content. Best bet is just to ignore them – it's not like they can virtually thump you 😉
this one is a little of a bust for me for the reasons you mentioned Paul…twitter and facebook are much easier for me to navigate and get feedback/answers than forums.
Agreed!
(I'm at my parents' place, and can't seem to properly log in to intense debate…oh well)
I'm with you. Forums, for me, are where I go to get questions answered, and not so much for discussion. I remember back in the day when Handspring came out with their competitor to the Palm Pilot, and I ordered one, being on forums discussing it a lot. As I said in another comment, I occasionally discuss coffee stuff on coffeegeek.com, but that's it as far as discussion on forums goes.
The technical forums are often very helpful (and fun to help in, when you know an answer), but that's nowhere near what my blog's about. I've found the more spiritual forums to be short on activity or, um, well . . . not quite my thing. I suppose it's the edgy stuff that gets people talking, but I don't like endless debating and see no real benefit in it.
So I'm interested in hearing from God, walking in the Spirit, book of Acts kind of stuff. Anyone know of a forum for me? I looked for several hours last night and didn't find anything promising.
Blessings, Cindy
Your comment is full of wisdom. I was considering joining a Christian or an Inspirational Forum but I would not want to debate issues. I would hope that it would be a place to share ideas and inspirations. I am part of High Calling Blogs and just realized that is a forum of sorts–at least a community. So that will be my call for today.
Janis
Hi, Janis
Yes, I have a group of friends on WordPress, too. I love reading their blogs and hearing their input on mine. (I subscribed to your blog, btw.) And I love spending time with our ekklesia here (what a blessing!). Not sure the on-line forum thing is going to happen for me, though–at least not with this blog. 🙂
Blessings, Cindy
Thank you, Cindy,
That essence of community support is so important. Thanks for subscribing to my blog. I'm sure we'll have much to share.
In Him,
Janis
I just want to say that More important that a forum is a community. Things have been kinda crazy weird for me lately, and just being able to network with 31DBBBers has made a huge difference for me. For the most part it wasn't even a stated question, just reading everyone elses blogs and comments. http://justapen.wordpress.com/2010/05/13/simple-r…