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
I though I've occasionally submitted things to forums in the past, it is not something I've spent much time or energy doing. I am now going to participate in the Original Writing Forum on https://forums.ourchurch.com/ .
I am looking forward to posting some of my original work and getting constructive feedback on it. I do believe that forums can be useful, but the key is balance. It would be easy for me to spend too much time there, and also to spend too little time there to get the benefit of it.
Not really having anything to do with todays assignment, but new blog up: To Pray Twice
Nothing to do with forums . . . but I wanted to mention that my link post has seriously (well, for me) gotten a lot of attention. I did one awhile back, too, and people are still looking at it. I posted a list of links to other prophetic type blogs in which people were spontaneously addressing the same things as one another. Plus, asked for any additional links readers might know of.
It was a real blessing to me, as I got to meet several new friends who blog along the same lines as I do. We're always trying to find one another, but it's not always that easy.
Cindy, could I get the link to you post with links to other prophetic type blogs? This whole link post and forum thing has left me frustrated finding blogs and people of similar interest. Guess I'm just too new to the ideas and want it all right now with not work! Yeh, I know, that's not healthy.
Hi, Wayne
My blog is athttp://cindyinsd.wordpress.com/ and the post with all the links is on top right now, but it'shttp://cindyinsd.wordpress.com/2010/05/10/if-the-… . Yeah, really long title this time. Usually they're at least a little bit shorter. Have I been looking at your blogs yet? If you post a link for me, I'll check it out.
Blessings, Cindy
Another important thing to do when commenting in an existing thread in a forum is to look and see how old it is and when the last comment was made on it. Today I made a comment on a couple of threads that were older and hadn't seen activity in a couple of months. Chances are it would have been better for me to create a new thread, or comment on one with more recent activity.
The reason I say that is because you don't have time to do everything. You can't answer every question in a forum, so be wise in picking the ones that:
1. Will actually help other readers
2. Build community
3. Expose you to other readers
Thank you for the 3 points on choosing which questions to answer. Those are helpful ideas, thank you!
I've never been into forums. I did a few for some online business adventures, but they all seem so clunky and hard to navigate. And usually are full of too much useless commentary. No offense, but even the Ourchurch forum has too many topics to keep up with..
I've toyed with getting into some car forums since my prime business is in auto shipping. But haven't done that yet. It seems to me social media, blogs and etc are a better use of time..hmmmm
Forums are not really for me, and I don't want to join them just to "pimp" my blog.
Nolan, you shouldn't participate in a forum to pimp your blog. You should do it to meet other people who share similar interests, build relationships, share your insight and perspective with others, learn from others, ask questions, get ideas for blog articles…
In my opinion forums are for more than pimping your blog. But if you don't want to join I'm okay with that. Forums can encourage you and you can encourage others through them. Helping each other out kind of.
Have a great day!
I join a forum, keep up with it for a while and then other things take priority and the forum gets forgotten. Then I'll join another forum and the same thing happens all over again. The pattern keeps repeating itself. So for today's assignment I decided I would go back to some of the forums that I haven't visited in a while and make myself known again.
I visited 10 forums on my list starting with the 1st I ever joined and working my way down the list.
4 out of 10 were completely disabled and not found. 2 out of 10 moved to a new address and were found but my user name and password no longer worked. 2 out of 10 were found but the subject matter was so completely different I was no longer interested. 2 out of 10 were found and my user name and password actually worked. I updated my profile on one and participated. On the other one my profile was completely blank. I'm not sure if I never filled it in even though that seems unlikely or it was deleted for one reason or another. I filed in the profile and participated on that one as well.
I guess the moral of the story is you have to stay active to make it worthwhile.
I did try bbPress and then later buddypress (the same thing). Hopefully to get some interaction. I thought it would make my blog more community orientated. But alas the only contributions were made by people wanting to sell something.
But as for engaging in other forums in your niche – it is a great way to connect and provide help – and not just to promote your own blog – although that will happen in any case – because of your valued interaction.
I've never been to the Ourchurch forums, but my experience in general has been very negative. The stuff that goes on in those forums could hardly be called "Christian." In fact, it's usually pretty awful. It reminds me of the Ghandi quote, "I like your Christ. I do not like your Christians. They are so unlike your Christ."
In any case, here's today's post. It's amazing how business turnaround advice is so remarkably relevant to marriages in crisis!!
http://preparation4eternity.blogspot.com/2010/05/…
I have found forums to be helpful. I do not visit them daily. I only pop in every once and a while to see what is going on. I have found that having people gathered around a common topic is very helpful even if you just read the conversations.
FYI… I have visited and played around with a site called savor chat that allows you to create your own chat rooms for facebook and twitter users. It appears that this might be a good way to invite a few folks to have a focused conversation. Here is the link if you want to check it out: http://www.savorchat.com/manage/chat