Social Networks
I started a basic social networking site where people can create groups and start forums. I used buddypress. It isnt the best setup, but it has actually been popular. We are at 98 members so far, and 8 groups have been started on topics from fitness, website design, to general discussions and a sound off board where you just let loose on what is bothering you.
As a website owner looking for traffic starting a social networking site is a very positive experience. People are constantly posting and discussing things. The search engines love this because it is fresh content being created all of the time. Already my site is ending up in first place on google in various places. Also this content is created by other people. I don’t have to site there and write and write all day long, it just happens all by itself.
You can create this kind of user generated content through various venues. You could have a forum. A blog can do the same thing with people commenting on your posts. The social networking site is really a blast because your members have more control over how they want to set up their own groups. This is why sites like myspace, face book and all the rest are so popular. It ends up being a win win situation for everybody involved.
I am going to create another social networking site just because it is so fun seeing people talk about different things. A niche specific forum is also in the works due to popular demand , and requests by those who have gotten alot out of the group.
One thing that is absolutely necessary is a captcha or something to stop the spam bots. If you start up a forum without one you might wake up the next day with your forum filled with spam posts. It can really damage a forum, and even bring them to a complete halt. I have had to close several forums due to spammers. Same thing with blogs make sure you get the askimet plugin installed. It works really well.
Captchas do get cracked, and bypassed. Also a captcha will not keep out the human spammers. You have to stay on top of posts and delete any that are inappropriate. Turn your most active members into moderators. These members are invaluable to your success. Most of them love what they do so they do it for free, but they really deserve some sort of compensation. Show them your appreciation as much as you can. If you can think of ways to reward them that is even better. Rewards could be allowing them extra privileges like promoting there products, maby giving them ad space. You could give them free enhanced content like ebooks, videos or podcasts. Use your imagination and you will come up with more ways to show your mods how much you appreciate what they do for your forums.
