Promoting Discussion Forums

[dvduval]

I just started a new discussion forum for my site:
http://www.showtimedanceshoes.com/forum

Anybody have any suggestions about promoting dance forums?
And to rephrase, how do I insure the long-term success of the forums?
To what degree do search engines spider forum pages?
Could I submit a bunch to Inktomi (positiontech)?

Any help appreciated.

By the way, i hope to have avatars up and running shortly. I like the way you have done that here. I also like the way nearly every post gets a response. I plan to use this tactic myself.

[ihelpyou]

I like the way you have done that here. I also like the way nearly every post gets a response. I plan to use this tactic myself.
Nice way to assure yourself of getting a response as well dvduval! ;)

BTW, that url does not work right now. Anyway, with these forums I have virtually did nothing but to submit it to Looksmart and ODP. Editors from ODP and LS have subsequently listed a couple different Url's since then.

Letting a couple past acquaintances know of your forum at the start to get things going is a plus. They end up letting other people know and then it just goes from there. I will not tell you it is easy because I was debating whether or not to start one for awhile, then just dove right in and it seems to work.

[dvduval]

URL is http://www.showtimedanceshoes.com/forum/
sorry

[ihelpyou]

hey, nice and clean dvd. Looks great!

Google should not have a problem following the links. She certainly did not have one with this place.

[dvduval]

Could you show me an example of how Google follows the discussion links. I searched on back links for www.ihelpyouservices.com/forums and found ).

What am I looking for?

[dvduval]

I see,
I searched on pages from your domain and got over 3000. Interesting that there are no backlinks.

Wonder why?

[ihelpyou]

well gee, if I knew the answer to why the PageRank went from a 6 in here to a zero, I would know the answer to that also. :) Very strange happenings right now.

[dvduval]

Sounds like I was the bearer of bad news.
Sorry about that.

[ihelpyou]

oh no. There is much discussion on why Many sites out there had their PR go to zero after the last Google update. Has been known since the end of December.

[WebSavvy]

Hey Doug,

You may be interested to know that in the alexa toolbar your rank is 49,484

Details:
http://info.alexa.com/data/details?url=ihelpyouservices.com/

But, it also lists the forums as having 0 links pointing in.

[ihelpyou]

I don't know about that thing. Is that good? Probably so-so but I am sure we are moving up steadily. :)

[WebSavvy]

Yeah to be < 100,000 is a VERY GOOD thing!

[ihelpyou]

Does that mean less than 100,000 sites? How many web sites are in it?

[WebSavvy]

It means that you have a great rank. Google has a number 4 rank. Some sites have a rank that is 3 Million+ (which is not good)

Alexa ranks by what toolbar users search for, and sites they actually visit from within the results query.

[ihelpyou]

Okay. So Alexa is really a spyware program then, right? This is what I thought and a reason I have not bothered with it.

Does it follow a user to the sites they visit? If so, this is how they judge a site's traffic. To me, 49,000 is not that good but give it a couple more months and we will be up there. :)

Can you only see the ranks with the toolbar or is there a page to view that shows these ranks and info?

[WebSavvy]

I'm not sure how they determine what a site's traffic is, but from my understanding of it they base it on how many toolbar users have requested a certain domain.

You can try this URL to see if you can get rank info:

http://info.alexa.com/data/details?url=

after the "url=" insert whatever domain you want info on (leave off the http://www.)

[ihelpyou]

Okay. Got it now. Thanks!

[WebSavvy]

You're welcome. Hey Doug, with all of the SE's of any kind of importance, alexa is a major engine, why is there not a category for it?

[ihelpyou]

I don't think I could classify it as a search engine when all that is happening is users install a toolbar and then Alexa can follow where the user goes on the net.

[WebSavvy]

Well actually alexa is an SE just like google. Alexa gets it's database from ODP. It's just setup in a manner in which a domain owner can know the rank of their site in ODP as it's such a massive database.

[Alan Perkins]

In the past there have been issues with Alexa and privacy. I'm not up-to-date on what they are doing now. Take a look at the Google search:

http://www.google.com/search?q=alexa+privacy

[WebSavvy]

Thanks Alan. I didn't know that about the alexa toolbar. I guess I will be removing it from my computer tonight then.


:D

[Alan Perkins]

I'm very careful with Toolbars. In fact I only have two: Google and Norton.

Toolbars are a major security and privacy hole in Explorer.

Toolbars are a major security and privacy hole in Explorer.

It was worth saying twice. :cool:

[ihelpyou]

http://www.thestandard.com/article/display/0,1151,9599,00.html

That article is in 2000 so not sure what is going on now. But the thing is, all these toolbars out there could be sending stuff anyway and no one would really know. That article is pretty scary but 2 years ago. Alexa might have cleaned up their act.

[Spider Man]

I'm very careful with Toolbars. In fact I only have two: Google and Norton.

Toolbars are a major security and privacy hole in Explorer.

As I've heard a lot about the Google toolbar lately and it appears to be a hot topic, I was wondering why you seem to be implying that the Google toolbar is somehow safe? What with it's auto update facility......false DNS or IP spoofing could be interesting.

[Alan Perkins]

Welcome back Spidey!

I didn't say I thought it was safe. I need it enough to overcome my concerns. I usually have PR and Category switched off, FWIW (not a lot if they choose to ignore their TOS :) )

As a developer (like you), I've got some great ideas for toolbars. I think these ideas won't have much of a future because IMO toolbars will be clamped down upon. They will have to be. They are inherently unsafe. So I'm just not bothering for the moment.

For users, toolbars should be treated with just as much caution as any other piece of software you install (especially as any software you install could surreptitiously install a toolbar, too, and most spyware does exactly that). You need to trust the provider and need the features enough to justify installing it.

I see the whole thing as analogous to "cool" Outlook features such as being able to interrogate the Address Book and forward e-mails to all of it using script. Could be put to some great uses, or some really awful uses.

[Spider Man]

Cool. You do need to trust the provider. My reason for pointing out for clarity is that in the case of toolbars that auto-update it is not just the provider you need to trust...given enough access or being close enough to you anyone could happily update your toolbar for you. Trusting a company that needs to make a profit is one thing, but trusting Gregor (the spotty little kid in his bedroom) with his shonky knowledge of tcpip and DNS is quite another one. As Google's toolbar users explorer connections to the internet, once Gregor's got a hold of your toolbar you're not going to get rid of him because he can just sit there and redirect all the connections.

That Gregor huh?! he's a wild one.

Talking programs Alan, that 403 custom blocker software is about alpha.

[ihelpyou]

Welcome back from vacation Spider Man! :hi: Good to read you again!

[Alan Perkins]

Serendipity or what?

http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1003-200-8509737.html

In an e-mail sent to employees Wednesday and leaked to the Associated Press, Gates said that the company intends to shift from focusing on features to spotlighting security and privacy.

"When we face a choice between adding features and resolving security issues, we need to choose security," Gates wrote in the e-mail. "Our products should emphasize security right out of the box."

Calling the new initiative "Trustworthy Computing," Gates billed it as the "highest priority" for the company.

Gates also addressed the matter of privacy. "Users should be in control of how their data is used," Gates reportedly wrote. "It should be easy for users to specify appropriate use of their information, including controlling the use of e-mail they send." We shall see. :)

[dvduval]

Looks like you guys have been having some great discossion.

I got a little help from Doug about promoting forums. One of the reasons I have added forums to my sight is to build community (more hits). For example, Doug gets hundreds of hits a day from people like us. I bet people even occasionally ask him for some paid help. So logic would have it that these forums increase traffic and Doug's checking account.

I want to increase my checking account, too!

So...
How do we promote forums or other forms of community. After all, if there is nothing to see when you get to a page, you leave. If there is something to do, even if it is not totally relevant, you might stay a while

[ihelpyou]

You hit the big question on the head. That was exactly my thoughts when deciding whether or not to open this as there are many out there already. It is basically a crap shoot. There are MANY forums out there that have been opened ALONg time and receive little traffic. There is not one good answer as to why some do well and others do not. It is a crap shoot.

"Word of Mouth"

Yes. The most powerful and least expensive form of advertising that Applies to every industry and business in the world is by far the most powerful form of advertising there is. It spreads with very little effort.

What does this mean? It basically means..... it is a crap shoot.


<added>You have to realize that your forum is very targeted as well. This will make a difference in the traffic. Forums such as this cater to a wide range of potential members as there are many web sites out there that just might be interested in getting found by the search engines</added>