Community building: forums only -vs- forums & website

[hstraf]

I have a question about communities for discussion..

What are the advantages and disadvantages of using ONLY a forum to build your community? Is there an advantage to using PHP-nuke (or whatever) as the community "front end" instead of just having the forum software all by itself?

When would it be appropriate to only have a discussion forum, and when is it appropriate to have both a forum AND a content website like php-nuke (or whatever).

Thanks!

[Coomer]

I'd think that the only advantage to just having a forum is that it's less work on both the initial setup and maintenance and updates. Using a CMS such as PHP-Nuke or Postnuke and having some good content on a site will give your site more value and people will like the site more, assuming you actually have useful and original content. I wrote my own CMS for my website and I haven't launched the forums yet, but many people have told me that they love the site setup and how interactive it is already.

I think that some sites can have just forums and be fine, but nearly any site that's pure forums could be made better through the use of a CMS and some good content.

[Megs]

I think it also helps in attracting new members. A lot of people don't often go around specifically looking for a good community - they'll look for content first and end up joining the community later if they find the content area to be useful.

I have seen some communities succeed without a content site to build from, but I think it does take a lot more work (or other favourable conditions such as lack of competition)

[petertdavis]

Kind of a chicken/egg thing. Yes, just a forum makes it easier to get up and running, and to maintain. A forum is real easy to maintain if there's nobody posting to it. The other stuff in a more rounded out site could be what attracts traffic to your forum, or the traffic to your forum could be what makes it worthwhile to develop other stuff on your site.

[mjames]

It can work either way. You could start off with a small community and when it grows, add on to it and add some content and a backend with content. On the other hand, you could start off with a content site and add forums later. Personally, I prefer the second way as having a nice-looking new web site that isn't very popular yet will still attract visitors while a new community with not much participation may not as much.

[kilcher]

I think content is definitely key but I don't know that something like what you're talking about is the best way to go about it. Basically those things just pull in info that already exists on your bulletin board. I don't really see that as being very beneficial but some people might.

Take a look around at the more successful communities and you will see that most have a signifficant amount of content that is seperate from their forums. It's not always necessary though. Maybe if you give some specifics on what type of community you're interested in developing we can give better advice.

[iFroggy]

You can most definitely do it either way, both can work and both can be successful.

Lets take KarateForums.com as an example. We started out as forums - plain and simple. I worked hard, got some things going, formed a partnership with a great (and large) website. And it got rolling and has done very well. Over recent months we have started to work (and are working) on expanding the site into other areas, such as Articles (Content), and School Listings, Classified Ads, etc. and etc.

[miles]

The bonus on having a site with lots of content connected to your forums is that it encourages people to respond to articles, etc by posting in the forums. It's always hard to get good discussion going and keep it going on a variety of subjects unless you can introduce new topics, and a good way of doing this is to have content and encourage people to visit the forums and post.

I have been reading the sitepoint sites for ages and ages, but only recently 'converted' to becoming a forums participant. They do their integration well, with links to forums everywhere, but I suppose it takes awhile for people to respond.

Some of the news sites do it well, with an article and then headlines of responses to that article shown below with links to the forums. This works well, because even if the article has no responses, it's still (hopefully) good content, and doesn't give the impression of a dead forum like a board with no posts for two weeks does.

All you have to do then is post an article that will get people talking.

Cheers,

Miles.

[DPC]

Originally posted by iFroggy
Lets take KarateForums.com as an example. We started out as forums - plain and simple. I worked hard, got some things going, formed a partnership with a great (and large) website.

I think this is the best way to go about starting a forum. It provides you with the interested visitors, you just need to convert (which is not hard if you have many visitors).

[DPC]

By the way, how would you go about something like that?

I know it's a great idea and am considering it, but how would I approach the site owners.

[exhale81]

Having a content-based sister site will definitely boost your traffic as well as motivate the current members to post more.

[iFroggy]

Originally posted by DPC
By the way, how would you go about something like that?

I know it's a great idea and am considering it, but how would I approach the site owners.

Well, first of all, you have to be able to mutually benefit each other. And they can't have existing forums. Or ACTIVE ones. If they have inactive ones, and yours are somewhat active, it may be worth it.

What can you do?

They can link to you as their "Forums" - not neccessarily mentioning your site name. This will actually send you more traffic, in my opinion. You can link to them, if they are a very large site, make it big links. A graphic in the header/in the footer. A text link in the header/footer. (both)

Offer them the ability to discuss articles featured on their website in your forums. Where you don't allow websites to spam - allow people to post as many links to their site as they want and even mention the site in your posts, where it is relevant.

You can also offer them forums for their site. Maybe a suggestions forum or if they want a staff forum - what have you.

The most important thing is to offer a good, beneficial product. Your forums should well moderated and they should professional. If people feel that they could damage their sites reputation by partnering with you - they won't.

And when people first read the e-mail, they will say to themselves "I will lose traffic by sending my visitors to this site, I should just do it myself!" Your job is to be attractive enough to get over this stigma.

Hope this helps.