Written on September 10th, 2009 at 12:09 am by Darren Rowse

Forums – How to Expand Your Blog #1

Yesterday I share with readers an exercise to brainstorm 10 ways that they might expand their blog in the coming years.

The reason I suggest the exercise is not that there’s anything wrong with being ‘just a blog’ but because as I look at a lot of top blogs going around today it strikes me that many of them have evolved in different directions and now also include other mediums, areas and features that wouldn’t normally appear on a blog.

By no means is it essential to grow your blog in this way – but it certainly is a trend among many successful blogs.

Over the next few days I want to explore some of the ways that I see blogs being expanded. Hopefully in doing so it’ll give those wanting to grow the potential of their blog a little inspiration in how they might do it.

Expand Your Blog with a Forum

Lets kick things off with a way of expanding a blog that many bloggers will be quite familiar with – adding a forum to your blog. This can be done either as a free area or a paid or premium area where members pay a subscription to join it.

Examples of Blogs and Forums Working Well Together

1. Ars Technica – Major Tech blog Ars Technica has had a forum area operating for some time now.

I’m not sure how many members it has but as I write this it has over 700 signed in members on the forum and over 3500 guests viewing it.

Discussion areas cover most of the topics that the blog covers and in many areas there’s a lot of action (literally millions of posts).

2. Digital Photography School – I quickly added a forum area to my own photography blog not long after I started the site as I began to hear from readers that they didn’t want to just respond to what I had to say – but they wanted to start conversations, ask questions and share what they were learning themselves.

This forum doesn’t get as many unique visitors as the blog area on DPS but it does drive a lot of page views. It also converts pretty well in terms of advertising and over time has been picking up speed as more and more members join and as the site begins to grow in it’s search engine ranking.

Other Examples include:

There are of course many others – feel free to suggest more in comments below.

Advantages of Forums

There are many advantages of starting a forum. Here are four that come to mind for me (and they just scratch the surface):

1. Increased reader engagement – one of the things that I noticed after starting the forum on DPS was that it seemed to hook people into the site for a longer period of time. Most blogs have a life cycle in terms of new readers where the average reader will eventually move on from the blog as their interests change, as their knowledge grows, as they master the topic being explored. However starting a membership or community focused area gives those who might move on from your blog a reason to stay connected – the relationships that they form. I know I have a few members of the DPS community who for one reason or another moved on from being blog readers but who are still central members of the forum.

The key thing is that forums require people to ‘sign up’ or become a member. This requires people to ‘buy in’ or invest a little something into your site which gives you a point of contact (you get email addresses etc) but also creates a point of connection and sense of ownership of your site in your reader. This extra engagement often leads to long term relationships and loyalty.

2. User Generated Content – one of the things I’ve been experimenting with in the DPS forum is to set up a ‘photography tutorials’ area. In this area we encourage readers to share what they’re learning about photography. It’s been a successful area of the forum for two reasons – firstly it creates useful content that other forum members enjoy but secondly it also has created content that I then can use on the blog.

Example: today I put together this post – 21 Great Reader Shots [And How They Took Them]

3. Increase Page Views – as mentioned above – my photography forum doesn’t get as many unique visitors to it as the blog area – but it does drive a lot of page views because each visitor who comes tends to view more pages per visit. This is fairly typical of forums as the way they’re set up tends to drive people to view multiple threads and view a thread multiple times as they interact with others. This can be a good way of making money via impression based advertising (although it can decrease the overall CPM rate if you’re using AdSense as someone viewing multiple pages is probably less likely to click ads).

What I find with having both a blog and forum is that there are some great cross promotional opportunities. In blog posts I’m constantly referring to threads in the forum that have examples of what I’m talking about or that I set up for people to share photos on the topic I’m talking about. Similarly in the forum we often point people with questions to tutorials in our forums. While some people tend to stay in one or the other of the areas – there’s a fair bit of cross over.

4. Appeal to a Different Type of Reader – I discovered a month or two into DPS forums that quite a few of those joining never read the blog area and that quite a few blog readers had little interest in using the forum. While some do use both areas it became evident to me that quite a few people preferred one medium over the other and that the two sections were appealing to two different types of people. I’m not sure if it’s to do with personality, demographic or learning style – but I guess we each find different mediums more appealing and starting a forum gives another option for people to connect with your site.

Challenges of Membership Areas

1. Moderation – most bloggers understand the challenge of moderating comments and protecting their blogs from spammers. On a blog comment moderation can be enough for some bloggers to give up and close comments – but on a forum there’s no such luxury because closing down comments kind of kills the whole purpose of a forum.

There are lots of tools and features of most forum platforms to help with this but in the end moderation takes a lot of time and effort. At DPS we have a growing team of volunteer moderators (lead by a paid community manager) to tackle this challenge. Much of their time is taken with dealing with spammers or trolls.

2. Community Building – our moderation team is not just there to police the negative stuff happening on the blog but also to grow/build the community. Building community doesn’t just happen – you can’t expect to just set up a forum area and automatically have community – it takes work, creativity and time.

3. Critical Mass – one of the biggest challenges with forums is having enough critical mass to be able to kick them off and attract other readers. This is why I didn’t start a forum on DPS immediately – I wanted to grow the blog’s readership first. I also started a Flickr group before the forum to grow a community there that I could then transition into a blog.

The other thing I did to get the forums active before going live was to invite a smaller group of my key commenters from the blog and long term newsletter subscribers to get early access to the forum so there was some activity there when the site went live.

Concluding Thoughts on Forums/Membership Areas

Forums are not easy. While they have many plusses they take a lot of work and time to build. They’re probably best suited to blogs with an established readership or list to help kick things off but also where the topics lend themselves to discussion, sharing of opinions or sharing of something else (eg. pictures).

What next?

87 Responses to “Forums – How to Expand Your Blog #1” - Add Yours

Bryan

September 10th, 2009 12:48 am

I learned the hard way that a community just won’t appear after creating a forum on a previous website project. My current website will hopefully have a forum one day, but I’ll be waiting a year or so to continue building the readership.
Akila

September 10th, 2009 1:10 am

Great post.
Looking forward for http://www.problogger.comMUNITY
Dan Smith

September 10th, 2009 1:11 am

Ok, so how many readers do I need before starting a forum? Don’t laugh, please! haha. I know I don’t have anywhere close to the number of readers right now. I’m just wondering how many you would suggest. Even if it’s not a hard number, what is the point where you think a blog could support it?

Just curious. Thanks!
Typhoon

September 10th, 2009 1:11 am

Having a Forum along with a blog is really a great way to expand the community of any blog but it is really tough to looks on both personally. I thought about opening it but threw that Idea into dustbin as it will require lot of my time..

Regards,
Typhoon a.k.a Sushant
http://www.smartbloggerz.com
Akila

September 10th, 2009 1:13 am

Sorry I missed the space between .com MUNITY
http://www.problogger.com

Problogger.Community
Jannie Funster

September 10th, 2009 1:16 am

I have to admit a forum would not be near the top of my list at this stage, I’m still trying to get the hang of simple things like Twitter for bringing in traffic.

But perhaps someday when my critical mass is really kicking, well — a word that rhymes with mass…
Robert Bravery

September 10th, 2009 1:37 am

Darren,

I suspect that in order for a forum to work successfully, one needs a large audience, as you point out. The difficulty is what is that critical mass. Where is the line? When do you know when it is right.
I have forum software waiting in the wings, but feel that it is still a while before I could use it to it’s full potential.
dreams` box

September 10th, 2009 2:11 am

I think this is a good idea to get more traffic but this forum will

take all the time and it may affect the blog management so the

blogger ourht to appoint a manager to manage the forums.

Thanks,
Dreams` Box
Robby G

September 10th, 2009 2:16 am

I tried this but quickly aborted the idea because my readership wasn’t big enough to have a successful forum. However, I’m working on building a big enough readership and then definitely reinstating the forum, because I really feel it would work great for my blog topic.
Yohay

September 10th, 2009 2:37 am

From my experience, forums can bring nice traffic and build your reputation, but they consume a lot of time.

Question: If you start off with a blog, is it a good idea to add an accompanying forum?
Antti Kokkonen - Zemalf.com

September 10th, 2009 2:55 am

I think it depends on the topic of the blog and the target audience whether or not one should start a blog. And I also think that it’s essential to build up the blog traffic first, as the title says, this is about expanding. Trying to expand when you really shouldn’t be expanding and the forum will probably make it worse (more work for you for little results).

If you do have the traffic and the audience, forum is a great way, just like pointed out in the post, and the DPS forums is a prime example of it.
Joshua Elliot

September 10th, 2009 3:19 am

Yes, starting a forum can be the next step to expanding the blog.

It must at least have a certain readership in the blog first before it can be started.

You can start a tread by asking questions on a particular topic, and then expand it on a blog post, or the other way around.

It’s actually strengthening each other in areas of weakness of blog and forum.

Great post there, Darren. I learned something from you, and looking forward to the next post.
problogger fan

September 10th, 2009 3:26 am

Nice article darren. I’m gonna try it on my own blog as well and see how it works. Which forum software would you recommend ?
5starAffiliatePrograms

September 10th, 2009 3:34 am

Great post, as always Darren!

I have a successful affiliate marketing blog and forum. To some degree they feed each other and one keeps the other active with participation.

But additionally, it seems they each have lots of their own readers that don’t cross over. Some only read the blog and others seem to prefer the interactivity of the forum. But all in all they compliment each other.

I can tell you though that a forum requires A LOT more work!
Dayo Nurudeen

September 10th, 2009 3:39 am

Not yet in my to-do list. Simple.
Gina

September 10th, 2009 3:43 am

There’s a great forum at Blogcoach.org where we ask each other questions, share info about affiliates and monetizing, and share our successes.
Yohay

September 10th, 2009 3:46 am

The big question is: what size does your critical mass have to be in order to dive into the new adventure of a forum…
Rita

September 10th, 2009 4:13 am

Hi Darren,

Thanks for the well-written article. I’m not planning on doing a forum right now, but it’s good to know the pros and cons on forums in case I decide to do one later. I sent your URL to a friend. It may fit with the new Web site he’s planning.

I’m working on signing up for affiliates. What an interesting process.

Rita blogging at The Survive and Thrive Boomer Guide
http://boomersurvive-thriveguide.typepad.com
Dave Doolin

September 10th, 2009 4:28 am

My experience with forums is that they are difficult to run. It’s really helpful if you can attract a few people that sort of “take over” as the local forum personality. Otherwise it’s so time consuming maintaining it, commenting, etc.

This probably means I don’t have enough experience!

7/100
R.W. Jackson

September 10th, 2009 4:40 am

Darren,

The problem I’ve always had with forums is how to get people to participate. In the past I’ve tried content contests, posting contests, starting discussions on my blogs, and more, but all with limited results. At the moment I don’t have a forum because I feel like if I did, it would simply sit there like an empty cupboard mocking a starving man…

Okay, maybe that’s a bit melodramatic. None the less, my previous forums have felt like a torture. I like this idea of a critical mass, but what is it that gets people to engage in discussions and keep going…

Unfortunately, I’ve learned that it is the nasty people who tend to have more to say and then everyone with anything positive to say simply goes somewhere else.

thanks…and when are you going to get around to reviewing my blog ;)

All the best,

R.W. Jackson
Deepak @ BusinessAttitude.com

September 10th, 2009 5:13 am

I have almost decided to put a forum on my blog – http://bikeadvice.in – Only thing remaining is that I have to pull out my credit card and be ready to spend $180 for vBulletin!
DJ

September 10th, 2009 5:44 am

I think forums are a great idea. I thought about putting up forums but I just started my blog and I feel like I should wait for a while. Is it a good idea to have forums immediately with the start up of a blog?
Blogger User

September 10th, 2009 5:50 am

Its really great that you suggesting ideas to build similar things you have done or doing to have a great blog.
I really like the ideas of having an interactive community to flourish blogs and also waiting for your community of this blog.
thanks
Cory Huff

September 10th, 2009 6:01 am

At other blogs that I’ve run, we started forums early and it really paid off. I even have a site where the forums are still active, even though the blog no longer receives new posts. (husbandsanddads.com)

A forum doesn’t have to be really active at first. You can start with just a limited number of topics (3 – 5) and grow it from there.

I’m lucky that in most of my endeavors I have taken the time to partner with enthusiastic members of the community to get things up and running. Quite often I end up running the blog, and doing the technical work on the other community aspects, while community members do the policing and community building.
Lydia, CluelessCrafter

September 10th, 2009 6:03 am

I really agree with the different styles of communication and to have them both is ideal. I do not like forums, but enjoy blogs because they seem to be more thought out.
Matt - Zero 2 Hero

September 10th, 2009 6:09 am

I’ve been contemplating putting in a forum on my pages. It seems like alot of extra work, I was afraid no one would use it.
Carl Coddington

September 10th, 2009 6:41 am

Darren, are you trying to take over the world now? I already spend hours a day on your site, now you’re going to have a forum! I can’t wait.
HazardousPaste

September 10th, 2009 7:00 am

I don’t think starting your blog off with accompanying forums is a good idea at all. For the most part, the discussion can take place in the comments. Only when you get a really large user base (hundreds, if not thousands) do forums become effective; if your forums appear dead, people won’t use them.
Ms. Freeman

September 10th, 2009 7:01 am

This is a fantastic idea. Do you have any forum applications to recommend? How does one go about building a forum page?
DJ

September 10th, 2009 7:07 am

@HazardousPaste

I thought the same thing. I thought I would add forums later on when there are more people participating on the blog.
Wesley Green

September 10th, 2009 8:07 am

I can see the pluses of having a forum (I’ve had a couple in the past) but there are also some negatives as well.

Running a forum can be a time-intensive job at times, dealing with spam and managing the forum itself. One possibility in dealing with this is to outsource the forum management. But this would only be cost effective if your forum generates enough money to cover the cost.

I would suggest if your blog has enough traffic to possibly sustain a forum AND you have the finances to outsource the management of it if it reaches a level where you are finding yourself overwhelmed with managing it- then go for it!

If not…

Wesley Craig Green
The Geek Entrepreneur
Eleni

September 10th, 2009 8:09 am

I have thought about that. If I get a site with good traffic, I would experiment to see how a forum would be on the site.
Samara

September 10th, 2009 9:12 am

One way to handle forum spam is to get a forum plugin and install it on your blog instead of an actual stand alone forum. Theres a new version of WP-Forum that works with the new wordpress. This will eliminate all the set up and users will have to register to comment if you require it etc. Also if you already have the WP-SpamFree plugin installed, this should eliminate virtually all spam.

New Plugin page for WP-Forum: http://www.fahlstad.se/wp-plugins/wp-forum/
Holly Hamann

September 10th, 2009 9:49 am

Hi Darren,

This is a great post on the benefits of adding forums to a blog as another way to engage readers. As you mentioned, there are lots of great ways to add forums (paid and free) and I wanted to point out one that many people might not know about. TheBlogFrog (www.theblogfrog.com) offers social widgets for blogs. The Community didget lets bloggers add an instant forum to their site. It lets readers ask each other questions, discuss posts, start off-topic conversations and even see each others blog posts and tweet streams.

Bloggers can also customize to match their sites and the forum is integrated with their blog. When someone replies or starts a discussion, that person’s profile and blog posts show up on the home page widget. This tells visitors what conversations are going on in the forum (and who is commenting) and motivates them to participate.

A growing number of blog readers are also bloggers themselves and most forums don’t serve readers as bloggers, too. But if your blog posts and tweets showed up every time you participated in a forum, it exposes the reader’s blog, too, and everyone wins.

Blog owners are also given moderation tools so they can manage the culture and rules as they see fit. This is all free via the widget. Feel free to check it out – I’d love to see what you think!

Holly (co-founder TheBlogFrog)
Tom - StandOutBlogger.com

September 10th, 2009 10:28 am

I love the idea of having a forum associated with my blog, but at the moment I am going to direct my attention to building my reader base and mailing list so that I have a better chance at a successful launch!
tim

September 10th, 2009 10:52 am

I had a forum first, then a blog – both follow the 1/9/90 rule
1% generate new content
9% comment
90% passively lurk
Corey Freeman

September 10th, 2009 11:08 am

I personally love running forums, but members are the most important part (especially contributing and engaging ones) so critical mass is probably the most important factor when considering expansion.

Once a forum does get going, it adds intrinsic value to both parts of the site, and fuels posting ideas as well as forum discussion ideas, in a synergistic cycle.

Great post! Thanks for sharing this advice and providing some awesome examples.
Lorraine Ball

September 10th, 2009 11:12 am

I am interested in the idea of a forum. Do you have a suggestion on a software I can use which will interface nicely with Wordpress?
Baishakhi

September 10th, 2009 11:22 am

I would have said forums make sense only after the blog has enough readers, but then the very successful http://www.pagalguy.com/ in India started as a forum, went on to be a blog/website and is now a successful company with other product offerings. The forum was based on preparation for MBA – which lends itself to discussion and sharing very well, and the target market (in India) is huge. Also, as you say above – forums appeal to a different kind of reader. MBA aspirants have individual questions and want to discuss with other aspirants and share experiences and many successful forums around the world are based on exam preparation.

Coming back to using forums as an extension to a blog, it just depends on the blog subject and type of readers as to when the right time is. My blog is to mainly promote my offline business, and I already get leads from there. But once a lot of my customers/followers start reading the blog, a forum would be great to help them engage with each other and share tips. But I still want to build readership before I venture into this…
Darren Rowse

September 10th, 2009 11:55 am

Bryan – very true, unless you’ve got some way to kick it off it can be a hard start

Dan – tough question but I think even a forum with 100 or so committed members could be quite useful if they’re mainly committed to being active, welcoming and engaging.

Robert – one thing I did before starting my forum (and I did it when I had about 1000 readers a day on my blog) was actually poll my readers. I started a ‘group’ on flickr to give people a taste of it and to identify who was into that kind of interaction and then before launching tested the idea of the forum with the wider readership. From memory I had about 30-40 positive responses plus 200 or so flickr group members. It wasn’t massive but it was enough to get started.

Yohay – if you have some traffic already on your blog yes – but if you’re starting from scratch my preference would be to start with a blog and then add the forum. It’s possible to start a form from scratch (it’s been done) but having some readers to kick it off will help.

problogger fan, Lorraine and Ms Freeman – I use bulletin on my forum – it’s a little clunky at times but is solid and works well

RW – it’s a challenge. I found that I was starting a lot of topics, running polls, asking lots of questions myself in the early days. i.e. I modelled the behaviour I wanted and stimulated a lot of interaction. Not easy though

Carl – world domination is not part of my goals but would be a nice bonus :-)
Technology Slice

September 10th, 2009 12:46 pm

Forums are great if you have enough active members.
needmoney.com

September 10th, 2009 2:18 pm

Maybe the solution is to start a forum just for spammers and trolls.
clarky

September 10th, 2009 3:17 pm

I have joined two Internet marketing forums, and I have posted three posts on both of them. Guess what?
Many people discuss with me, that is so sweet. I was worried about nobody would notice me, but it really made me good days during in forums.
Although I didn’t get many traffic, but I think that I am too new in forums. As long as I stay in forums, I believe they will send me tons of long term traffic, wish it will :).
Thanks for your tips, I try to use them in forums.
rajput

September 10th, 2009 4:02 pm

Forums are better for those blogs which already have a high traffic and brand name. But still evolving bloggers can also take the advantage of forums . But make sure that it’s spam free and Moderated properly.
Andi | Web Marketer Depot

September 10th, 2009 4:04 pm

I don’t know…but I think forum takes a lot of your time, except you have active readers or forum participants that actually have the knowledge and willingness to share and help one another.
poorblogger

September 10th, 2009 4:17 pm

Wow.. I don’t know if I’m ready to make forum ..
Maybe if my manga blog is already established, I will build a forum..
Now, I just an active forumer.
moonwalker

September 10th, 2009 4:40 pm

im just three months started in blogging world,,this is a good idea for me to promote my blog as well..thank you..
DJ

September 10th, 2009 4:43 pm

If you have an established blog with lots of readers, a forum would be good. You could also make global moderators for the forum to take some of the work off your shoulders. Maybe make some of the frequent comment users global moderators to show appreciation.
Kevin (strongandfit.net)

September 10th, 2009 4:47 pm

I’ve thought about this, but I’m not ready to create/moderate my own forum. I’ve written a series on using forums for blog promotion:

<a href=Beginner Blogger Tips: Using Forums
Kevin (strongandfit.net)

September 10th, 2009 4:48 pm

Woops–something went wrong with that link. Sorry. I’ll try again:

http://www.beginnerbloggertips.com/search/label/Using%20Forums
SeoNext

September 10th, 2009 5:26 pm

I am totally agree with this post.Having a Forum along with a blog is really a great way to expand the community of any blog…but it is time consuming & takes time in showing results.If your forum would be good then it shows good results.Really a nice & informative post.Thanks for sharing.
Santosh Puthran

September 10th, 2009 7:38 pm

A good forum is a useful way to build the blog and an active community.

We went the other way round on Management Accounting Portal http://cmaindia.informe.com/portal.html . The users are more active discussing on the forum than contributing or discussing on the blog.

One of the challenge as a moderator is about spamming and sometimes discussion going off the track.

Regards,

Santosh Puthran
Cynthia

September 10th, 2009 11:45 pm

Great Advice! I have some plans for expansion that are going to be HOT HOT HOT lol
Rajendra

September 10th, 2009 11:53 pm

Hi Darren!
Its really good post, as most of the new bloggers like me will definetly find useful from this.
I am also from one of them who is looking for an good traffic on my blog http://www.clickblogging.blogspot.com. Its really having an
good stuff to refer and implement these things on my blog.
I just want to ask one of the simple question, as to start an successfull blog we need an piller/solid content, but most of the bloggers who are not so well and good in english and want to start blog in english then what would be the solution to this problem ?. As most of the new bloggers having same problem. So I expect an answer on this question?
Rajendra

September 10th, 2009 11:55 pm

On internet there are so many forums available, so could you provide any suggestion which is best among them.
rick

September 11th, 2009 12:42 am

Nice post. I agree that forums can drive traffic and page views, but they do require significant attention due to spammers and the lot. I recently removed my forum for many of those reasons, but am currently looking for an alternative form of viewer engagement.

Like some of the posters have stated, there are a lot of forums out there. My suggestion is to initiate unique topics to differentiate your forum. If you are interested in a easy to use wordpress plugin forum, I was using simple:press forum.
Crude Oil Trader

September 11th, 2009 1:32 am

Nothing has done more for our success then adding a forum. And it’s not like the old days. Ning has made this easy, it’s free until you want to take it over, then it’s only $19.95 a month. You’ll be able to cover that walking backwards even if it is just with putting adsense ads in place of where Ning had them on your site.

Great post guys!
Renewable Ray

September 11th, 2009 1:35 am

A lot of successful blogs have become forums in and of themselves. Best thing to do is to ask people to leave a comment. Let them know that their input is important to use and your readers.
Kaspersky key

September 11th, 2009 3:43 am

Great post, yes adding Forums to a blog can effect very positively on a Blog.
It can increase traffic, it can connect the current traffic and old traffic.
David Stillwagon

September 11th, 2009 4:00 am

Terrific post but forum building is beyond me right now.
Atul Kumar

September 11th, 2009 4:38 am

Hi Darren, I am silent visitor and enjoy all your tips for bloggers. I maintain blog http://onlineAppsDBA.com for database & applications administrators and was thinking on integrating forum with blog for quite some time.

Can you please share tips for selecting good forum software and how to engage users and motivate them to answer other’s queries ?

Few things in my opinion for forum
1. Point based system and reward system
2. Templates & layout similar to blog
Dedicated Traveler

September 11th, 2009 5:16 am

You never cease to amaze me with your ideas and well executed posts. Thanks for all the great information!
Pete | The Tango Notebook

September 12th, 2009 1:53 am

Moderating is the killer for forums, in my opinion. I guess I better staff up if I want to incorporate one of those into my blog, right? :)

Pete | The Coolest Tango Shoe Contest Ever
Web Marketing Tips

September 12th, 2009 3:52 am

Forum is a place where loyal visitors can come … stay … share their views … see what other people are looking for and give advice and take advice.

If you have loyal visitors that a forum is must segment for you.
Jesse

September 12th, 2009 6:28 am

I’ve definitely had issues since launching my forum. I don’t have enough readers who are willing to be active members of the community, everybody apparently wants to sit back and soak up information.
Ronblogger

September 13th, 2009 9:20 am

Having a big community is really an advantage plus the fact that they generate content on your site
Benny

September 13th, 2009 10:56 pm

I noticed most of the big forums use vbulletin, which seems to have a great user interface. However it’s not free. It’s at least $100 per year or $180 to buy it forever. For a new blog like mine, I’d wait before buying Vbulletin.

However I see that PHPBB is a free forum software. Has anyone used it before?
icantinternet

September 16th, 2009 6:57 am

I must say I tried a few forums, while one was very popular, the other (which I expected to be even more popular) never worked out. Eventually, I had to close them both down. Even the popular one, due to moderation issues…
crastatte

September 22nd, 2009 9:17 am

Hello,

as we all know, it’s important to let everybody know that we have nice homepage.
So, this is mine :)

http://www.crastatte.com

Seeya!
List Building Course Blog

September 23rd, 2009 12:06 pm

I really like your idea. I am glad that you have brought this topic. Having a blog and expand it to a forum is great as long as we do the right strategies to improve it.
Tnelson

September 25th, 2009 4:54 pm

There is obviously a lot to know about this. There are some good points here.
cherry capsules

September 27th, 2009 2:54 am

Amazing tips….thanks a lot for sharing these tips.
Roger

September 29th, 2009 3:23 am

Great post Darren. I think that starting a forum is one of the best ways to accomplish several things, all of which are necessary to expand a blog. This is a very valid point you bring to the table. Thanks!
hokya

September 30th, 2009 9:01 am

do you know which is the best forum for wp developers?
Jesse

September 30th, 2009 9:13 am

@hokya
Try the Wordpress developer forum:
http://wordpress.org/support/

All the documentation, best practices, and most of the big plugin/template developers hang out there and good advice is pretty much everywhere there.
Carl Vandors

October 1st, 2009 2:56 am

Your site is extremely interesting, especially since I was searching for information on this subject last Thursday.
publorgs

October 8th, 2009 9:30 am

Waw. Glad to hear so nice comments. Hope we will have more information soon
Frecos

October 10th, 2009 5:20 am

Hope to see same more information in futere.
Ron

October 10th, 2009 3:43 pm

What if I want to start a forum related to my blog, which is about Legal/Law, is that advisable, and if so how will I start it?

I’m thinking it is a hard niche to start a forum from.
umar

October 11th, 2009 8:17 am

Forum really promotes a blog
Gary Sanet

October 16th, 2009 7:59 am

Hey all,
Can anyone tell me how to start a free forum where we can put our own adsense ads ???

And should we host it ourselves or should we let them do the job ???
boociogue

October 16th, 2009 1:17 pm

May be out of subject but wanted to equity something with you! Got on this online dating web…just a ussualy site. But what really was ipressed is at near indeed geting a change to talk to a Womanizer ideal! And she was close! You gotta appreicate the power of itnernet.!
celiaonegirl

October 18th, 2009 8:55 am

Hi! I am new to this forum.
Hope to learn and share. Thanks!
vivek

October 18th, 2009 6:58 pm

thanks for such a good suggestion but i think forum take time tfor growing our readers but still its a effective way to increase our readers
Adam Radwan

October 21st, 2009 4:03 am

A truly GREAT post with so many details! just love it!
Gareth

October 22nd, 2009 8:27 am

What are your thoughts on building a blog around a forum? Is it also possible for blogs to share a forum?
gerehoors

October 29th, 2009 5:46 am

How many Twitter followers is needed to get lots of traffic and business to your site?

Comments will be closed off on this post 90 days after it is published. Apologies to those this impacts but it's a regrettable and temporary measure to combat a growing comment spam problem. See our most recent posts where you can comment here.

Written on September 10th, 2009 at 12:09 am by Darren Rowse

Forums – How to Expand Your Blog #1

Expand Your Blog with a Forum