Why a forum instead of a blog? - Printable Version +- Pheeds.com (https://pheeds.com/phorum) +-- Forum: Phorums (https://pheeds.com/phorum/forumdisplay.php?fid=49) +--- Forum: Cash Cow Marketing (https://pheeds.com/phorum/forumdisplay.php?fid=2) +--- Thread: Why a forum instead of a blog? (/showthread.php?tid=119) |
Why a forum instead of a blog? - Kurt - 02-20-2020 Why a forum instead of a blog? I get asked this a lot. First, let me say it isn't either/or. It's like asking me if I want tacos or pizza. Both please. I have a couple of WP blogs. I even have a few WP installs on various domains that do nothing but run WP plugins. My honest opinion is forums are possibly the most underrated free marketing resource and MYBB software can probably be installed on your site in a couple of minutes if you have cPanel with Fantastico or Softuclous. I just like posting on forums more than blogs. I feel like it's much more casual and I don't worry about being as perfect as possible. I've also used a forum to set up private discussions with another person or small group...ON MY OWN DOMAIN for extra privacy. It only takes a minute or two to create a private forum for friends, family, freelancers, etc. But the things I like most about forums is community and User Generated Content. That's you folks. A blog is all about "me" while a forum is about "us". While people can post comments on blogs, it's different. They can't start their own threads/topics so they are not as connected and the topics of every potential conversation are totally up to the blog owner. Forums are better for social... Both WP and MYBB have RSS pheeds. This means it's easy to post your new content on a variety of social media sites. I use www.IFTTT.com (free) to take the RSS from the Pheeds.com Phorum and add the URL to IFTTT. IFTTT then checks the RSS to see if there are any updates. If so, it posts the title and link of every new thread here (in the public forums only) on my Twitter account. Every time time someone starts a new thread on this forum, a new tweet is made to my Twitter account. Think about this...If you post a new thread, I get a new tweet on my Twitter account. And I get a link from my Twitter account back to the forum and your thread. This doesn't have an instant impact. But it does build over time. My Twitter account is pretty old. I got a good part of the followers using automation. It was easier then to get followers, but it's still a good idea now. For a site like Twitter, there's some decent follow/unfollow options available. I don't use them now so I can't recommend any..but put a lot of thought into getting the best sources for followers and take it slow and steady, especially at first. There is a security risk with this. If a spam post gets through here it will also post on Twitter. But this problem is no harder to fix. Fix the spam on your forum. There's a number of things you can do. You aren't just limited to MYBB and Twitter. IFTTT can take your MYBB RSS and share it in a variety of ways, including other social media sites. A forum is the absolute best way to get other people to contribute to your site. While WP can do something similar with forum plugins, this is exactly what a forum like MYBB is supposed to do, make it easy for other people to add content as possible. And every time someone starts a new thread, it also creates a tweet. RE: Why a forum instead of a blog? - Kurt - 02-20-2020 MYBB has a couple of plugins that allow people to log into your forum using their Twitter and FB accounts. I have the FB one installed here and just applied for an app at Twitter. As a marketer, think about the possibilities MY Twitter Connect and MYBB have. I've bolded a few to highlight them: Quote:https://www.mybboost.com/thread-release-mytwitter-connect-3-0 The tweet on the user's timeline is repeated...and it needs to be used carefully. But it's also a great opportunity to expand your reach.
A blog or a forum? RE: Why a forum instead of a blog? - Kurt - 02-21-2020 Here's my Twitter feed...you can see that the tweets match this forum. https://twitter.com/KurtMM RE: Why a forum instead of a blog? - Kurt - 02-21-2020 Another benefit of having a forum are the polling features. Polls can be used for getting info and feedback and even entertainment. If you're just looking for info and don't want people to have to register to vote, just create a new forum for your polls and you can set the forum "permissions" to allow unregistered guests to vote (or not). It's really easy. Since it's your forum, you're in control and aren't reliant on a third-party to host your polls or jacking your voters' data for things like retargeting. MYBB has some good polling functions built in, but there's also a good free plugin to extend the polling power of MYBB. https://community.mybb.com/mods.php?action=download&pid=267 ...and it's free. RE: Why a forum instead of a blog? - Kurt - 02-23-2020 This is a site called SEO Clerks and it's like Fiverr but for IM. A lot of stuff is blackhat and could get you in trouble, but there's some great things too. These services create "IFTTT linkwheels" for you. Basically, for a few dollars they create accounts at a number of social sites and hook them up with IFTTT using your RSS feed. https://www.seoclerk.com/marketplace?s=&displaytype=3&query=ifttt Now every time someone on your forum creates a new thread, you'll have quality, human-written content automatically posted to your entire social network. You can set this all up for $5...or create the social accounts yourself and it's entirely free. Use social sites that allow for automating follow/unfollow and find some software to automate this. Don't over-do it, be slow and steady. Mix automation with being a real human. Check and see where you get traction and focus your personal efforts there and let the rest run on autopilot. I don't automate much on FB. My Twitter is probably 90% automated. The rest are all automated. RE: Why a forum instead of a blog? - Kurt - 02-25-2020 You don't need a public forum for MYBB to be valuable for your business. I posted above that I have multiple installations of WP that I only use for various plugins and not as a web site. A MYBB forum is similar in that it doesn't have to be a public web site to be useful. Some of the IMers recommend that you add a "testimonial collection" system to your sales funnels. MYBB and Pheeders are perfect for this and can be set up literally in minutes. Install MYBB and Pheeders Sell a product using WarriorPlus Set up a private forum When someone buys have Pheeders set up an account for them and give them access to that private forum. Have a thread for their download. Have another thread for testimonials. Other than decorating your forum, this is really all there is to creating a support, download and even a testimonial collection system. Any of you WP fans want to race me doing a fresh install and setting up a similar system? |