Nice people thread part 3- Nice as pie

silvercar

tomterm8 wrote: »

It's not the technical stuff. I can do the technical stuff, to set them up. But I've never managed to get past the technical stuff to actually getting enough people into the forum so it isn't... like empty.

I've tried it a couple of times.

The normal procedure is:

1) Set up a forum
2) ????
3) Wind whistles through trees
4) 2,336,233 spam bots arrive
5) shut down forum

My sites are so niche, people don't tend to actually want to read most of my content. It's a kind of... I came... I saw... I clicked a link out.

I joined a forum about the new car I'd bought. When I joined there were about 10 members, 6 months later there are 630 members, 20k posts on 1.5k topics. The forum creator has even got an official sponsor - one of the dealers, who has an ad at the top and bottom, plus google ads. So someone is making money out there.

tomterm8

Yeah, pasturesnew is making money out of it for one.

lostinrates

A brand of toaster too specific...but maybe...toasters? All things toast related (more product too...breads, spreads, butters and toasters)? I dunno.

tomterm8

Yeah, all those things are great ideas for a site, but not necessarily for a forum... for a forum you need something someone will come back to. So, for example, people really like their cars, and will come back again and again to a site about a specific make of car... less so toast (maybe there are secret toaster out there? I dunno)

That's actually the reason I like these niche sites. There are so few people in the world who care about the dualit toaster, it's not that hard to make the best website in the world about it. And of course, if you have the best web site in the world about a subject, google will point traffic your way eventually.

lostinrates

tomterm8 wrote: »

Yeah, all those things are great ideas for a site, but not necessarily for a forum... for a forum you need something someone will come back to. So, for example, people really like their cars, and will come back again and again to a site about a specific make of car... less so toast (maybe there are secret toaster out there? I dunno)
.

worked for Nigel Slater! I dunno. I think there is more milage in people discussing the toaster in relation to toast...discussing toast toppings...aga toast v dualit toaster toast etc....(think, it would be worse than bulls v bears here...personally...I'm neither, I'm an open fire toast gal, but crumpets are another issue entirely:))

but what do I know...I can only speak from my own position...you have far more tools than I to say what works for you!:D

silvercar

tomterm8 wrote: »

Yeah, all those things are great ideas for a site, but not necessarily for a forum... for a forum you need something someone will come back to. So, for example, people really like their cars, and will come back again and again to a site about a specific make of car... less so toast (maybe there are secret toaster out there? I dunno)

That's actually the reason I like these niche sites. There are so few people in the world who care about the dualit toaster, it's not that hard to make the best website in the world about it. And of course, if you have the best web site in the world about a subject, google will point traffic your way eventually.

For a forum you need something complicated that people need help with or something with problems that people like to moan about or need help solving.

lostinrates

silvercar wrote: »

For a forum you need something complicated that people need help with or something with problems that people like to moan about or need help solving.

But then...problem solved they are gone....how do you keep the people to answer problems, moans etc there? What keeps us here?

PasturesNew

tomterm8 wrote: »

It's not the technical stuff. I can do the technical stuff, to set them up. But I've never managed to get past the technical stuff to actually getting enough people into the forum so it isn't... like empty.

I've tried it a couple of times.

The normal procedure is:

1) Set up a forum
2) ????
3) Wind whistles through trees
4) 2,336,233 spam bots arrive
5) shut down forum

My sites are so niche, people don't tend to actually want to read most of my content. It's a kind of... I came... I saw... I clicked a link out.

Ah, traffic .... easily done. Needs to be all geared up purely on the SEO front then.

My explanation of my income is: I am writing so people turn up and find the adverts more interesting, so leave by clicking on them. It works!

silvercar

lostinrates wrote: »

But then...problem solved they are gone....how do you keep the people to answer problems, moans etc there? What keeps us here?

I dunno. Car forum and everyone is moaning about delivery delays and what accessories to fit and how to get the best mpg and putting up photos of their car. Translate that to toasters?

lostinrates

silvercar wrote: »

I dunno. Car forum and everyone is moaning about delivery delays and what accessories to fit and how to get the best mpg and putting up photos of their car. Translate that to toasters?

Accesories...toppigs?

MPG...toast time and turnaround....ideal for a couple, a single or a family in a shoe...how to get the perfect toast...butter cold v butter hot etc.

I guess photos of toast might be more interesting than photos of the same toaster over and over. Some toast has Jesus on it. But then I'd be bored by photos of cars....

photos of dogs, horses, cats, lipstick, some plants or shoes....I'm trying to think in that sort of term