Let's see if Pat Flynn has any useful advice for the GFY Post-Bots
http://www.smartpassiveincome.com/ho...-forum-active/
"I?ve always been a big fan of forums.
Even before I started running my own online business 5 years ago, I was always participating in forum discussions centered around several different topics ? from architecture to college football, and even Magic the Gathering cards.
Within these forums I learned a ton of information, I made a lot of long-lasting virtual friendships, and one particular forum in the architecture industry became a major factor in the growth of my LEED Exam study guide business.
Recently, however, I?ve been experiencing what it?s like from a forum owner?s perspective, having created two different forums within the span of a single month:
The public discussion forum on NicheSiteDuel.com (powered by VanillaForums); and
The private discussion forum within Breakthrough Blogging (powered by phpBB).
Both forums are alive and well, however managing the forums has definitely been a new experience for me.
Running your own forum can benefit you and your audience in a number of different ways:
It brings your audience together in a central location where they can interact with each other.
It increases brand authority, since your website is where all of the discussion is happening.
It adds additional content to your website.
It can reduce the number of overall questions directed at you.
It can be an incredible resource for market research.
It increases retention rate across your community.
A great forum ? one that helps you and more importantly, your community ? is an active forum, and I?ve seen a lot of forums come and go simply because no one was using them anymore.
They became ghost forums.
My forums are brand new, but down the road I don?t want any of my forums (and any of yours) to follow the same path, which is why I?ve asked for advice from a number of experts about how they keep their forum communities engaged and thriving.
Even if you don?t have a forum yet, these are great tips for increasing overall engagement and interaction on your website.
Here?s are the experts and what they had to say:"
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http://www.smartpassiveincome.com/ho...-forum-active/