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Eve Support Community Forums Resources Community Management The only true way to get members at your board who will keep coming back
Eve Support Community Forums Resources Community Management The only true way to get members at your board who will keep coming backPage 1 2
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Groupee Member |
I agree, all very good ideas.
A board is like any other business/community. Its half getting customers, its half keeping them. To get them there you have to make it interesting, innovative,informative and original. To keep them there you have to keep it interesting, innovative, informative and original. |
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Groupee Newbie |
See, I've done most of this. I post on other boards, with my sig attached. I hold occasional contests. I start discussions on my forums and hold little "games" (like guessing title and artist from song lyrics). And yet I just can't draw members.
You're welcome to check out my forums -- I'm very open to advice or criticism. Escape reality: |
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Groupee Member |
quote: I like!! Your design is clean and neat. It looks good. The black versus blues works nicely as well. Michael |
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 Craftsman |
overall the design looks clean and good. A couple of things. You seem to have nice red highlights throughout the rest of the site. I found myself missing splashes of red on the board.
Any thought of making the board a little skinnier? With it full width your header seems to float. I had that problem with my board as well. at full width it didn't fit my design at all. With yours it still looks really good, mine looked dorky. overall very nice! |
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Groupee Newbie |
Michael and April --
Thanks for the advice. We're redesigning a bit later this year, so I'll probably implement these suggestions. I'm hoping you also have some ideas on how to build a member base. I've tried some of the tactics already posted (for example, posting on other forums). That hasn't worked. Is there some other way to publicize forums? Directory sites (other than Yahoo -- can't afford $300 for one listing lasting one year) or affiliate groups? Escape reality: |
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Groupee Founder |
Have you registered with www.boardreader.com? It's free, and you might get some traction from a listing there.
I notice that you have A LOT of forums...sometimes that can hinder people from diving into the conversation, just from sheer sensory overload on first visit. You might consider trimming down the number of forums. I'm also wondering what would happen if you used the actual game names as forum names...like "Combat" rather than dividing them by genre. Someone who's a "Combat" nut has to drill down pretty far to see that you've got discussion on that. Just an idea... I notice you have a newsletter...have you promoted the existence of the forums in the newsletter? Your reviews are really cool--do you syndicate those? I would also put some direct cross-links from other areas of your site right into forums. For example, in the reviews area, you could link into a reviews forum. If you offer people an immediate path from reading something to commenting on it, you might get some more activity. Those are my initial thoughts--If I think of anything else creative, I'll post here. In the meantime, rock on! I love the look of your site/forums. _____________ |
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Groupee Member |
They main thing that keeps me coming back to a site is something that lets me know it is always being taken care of, being updated. Content that has recent dates, news that is always relavtively current, etc. If users see that you always have fresh content, they are much more likely to return. Hope that helps!
Judd |
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| <Craig Liebendorfer>
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I've found that a board that delivers value, such as http://www.dealofday.com/ (ack! doesn't use Infopop solutions!), keeps me coming back again and again. I've been going there regularly for years and have found loads of great bargains on that site.
It's not too far fetched to think that pretty much any Board could have a Bargains forum, as long as some connection could be made between the Board's theme and the bargains. Bargains forum contributors also tend to get obsessed with finding deals, no matter how small. That adds up to return visits and loyal customers. Craig |
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Groupee Member |
quote: Can you share some good "posting" games? |
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Groupee Founder |
One that's been very popular here is called "Q&A". It's sort of like the old Johnny Carson Amazing Karnak bit, where you get the answer before the question.
Here's an example from our own Just Conversation forum: http://community.infopop.net/6/ubb.x?a=tpc&s=729094322&f=3700965652&m=6623034313 It can be pretty fun! |
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 Groupee Guide |
Yeah, Q&A is one of my favorites. It can get rediculously funny. . . well, usually just rediculous.
 Another good one is the alphabet game - ok, it's kinda cheesy, but it inspires strong vocabulary. Basically, you start it by posting a word and the person following has to post a word that starts with the last letter of your word - for instance, if I posted "antidisestablishmentarianism" (yes, that's a word) then the person posting next could post "melismatic" - my word ended with "m" and the next word started with "m". That word ended with a "c", so the next word would start with "c" and so on. . . Let's see. . .more posting games . . . Another one that was popular in our forums for a few days was the "Create Your Own Airline" game started by PinkJazz. It was pretty hardcore, but that might inspire you to change the topic and start a game closer to the interests of your community. Another fun one that is popular in highschool English courses but adaptable to online communities is the Fairy Tale Game. One user starts a story and writes two sentences, the next user builds on those two sentences with two sentences of his/her own, and so on, until you have stories about trolls hijacking runaway school buses. . . etc.  You can write limericks - one line at a time. A limerick, for those who don't know/remember, is a 5-line poem, with the rhyme scheme AABBA - for example: Miss Farad was pretty and sensual And charged to a reckless potential; But a rascal named Ohm Conducted her home - Her decline was, alas, exponential. (for those of you who think I have a dirty mind, it's about electricity - and get your minds out of the gutter!)  When you write limericks one line at a time, they can get pretty. . . offensive, so you might want to keep a close eye on some of these. One more: the Looping Game. This one's harder to explain, but each person posts a word relational to the last word. Keep in mind - the object is not to stay on topic, it's perfectly acceptable to go off topic, as long as the new word still relates to the last. For instance, I could post "Airplanes", the next person could post post "wings", the third could post "birds" and it's all within the rules because wings have to do with airplanes and birds have to do with wings. . .get it? Oh, I just thought of another: Acronyms. I dunno what to call this one, but the first person types a random array of letters and the next person has to form a sentence out of the letters they were given. For instance, if I typed: "wdcfunm" the next person might come up with "weird dogs clean floors using no mop". Then, they'd of course include something for the next person to try. Likewise, you can turn it around and post real acronyms and let people post what they (think) they mean. Games like this generally inspire creativity. . . Have fun - and let us know if you get any other ideas, and how these work for you!! Kate Sloan Customer Support Infopop Corporation Moderator: Community Management Forum "Barn's burnt down, now I can see the moon." - Masahide |
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Groupee Member |
a late bit of advice to freshmaker, some months back, who asked
quote: fresh, one small criticism is that you have moderators listed for way too many forums each. This gives the impression that there are only a few people at the core of the board. Even if its true, people always like to go to crowded rooms, both online and off! I would disable mods names from your "Categories and Forums" page until you have each mod doing only one or two forums and the page gives the impression of many core members. This is the same rationale that many boards including ours used about displaying registered members count. The number is different for everyone, but we did not start displaying our registered members count till it was over 400. There is nothing more off-putting than going to a board that informs you that there are 22 registered members. Why advertise that? Chi Chi Valenti The Motherboards Alternative Clubs and Culture NYC |
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Groupee Newbie |
Some things we've had some luck with:
The NEVERENDING Story The idea is to get each user to post something that is in response to the previous post. It can be as nonsensicle or crazy as you wish. Then the next user posting has to try to respond to that crazy reply... ect... http://www.glamisdunes.com/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=8;t=000050 Weekly parties/gatherings/Taco Tuesday Our community is fairly local to the Los Angeles/Riverside/San Diego area. We have a small get together every other Tuesday at a local restaraunt. One Tuesday in San Diego and the next Tuesday in Los Angeles. We encourage all new users to come by and "meet the folks". These events have grown so popular that we have to reserve a room every time! Ask a question of all new users Anytime you see a new user posting a "Hi, I'm a new user" post try to respond and try to include a question to that user. This should help alot to get the ball rolling. The new user will feel like you are talking directly to him and since it's a question will hopefully feel like he needs to respond. We also have fairly frequent contests... Slappy's "Riddle me this" Slappy's "Best of the Month" (for best post of the month) Slappy's "Caption Contest" (post a funny picture and ask the users to supply captions) http://www.glamisdunes.com/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=4;t=000209;p=1 Vor |
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Groupee Member |
quote: Wow, great idea to keep a new user active without them even having to think about it. Julie The Swingers Board |
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| <natalia>
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I love the Never Ending Stories.
More great ideas!!! |
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Groupee Newbie |
That Neverending story is so crazy you could go insane just trying to catch up on it.
I generally bring it back whenever the board gets a little slow. It's been going for a couple of years now. We've gotten lots of new characters from that story... Dunetroll... Flipper... The flying Chuck Boardman... and these characters actually get used in other posts and become part of our daily vocabulary. My favorite is the caption contests, though. Not only do you get to see some incredible pictures but most all of the captions are very funny! I'm glad you liked it! Vor |
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Eve For Enterprise Eve Support Community Forums Resources Community Management The only true way to get members at your board who will keep coming back
Eve Support Community Forums Resources Community Management The only true way to get members at your board who will keep coming back