Hey Forum Owners…

Don’t forget to enter Meta Keywords, Descriptions and certainly Forum Name in your forum software setup options. Yes, it’s true that there’s a million different ways to do SEO. And there’s tons of online tutorials, books, reports, etc. on SEO. No one thing is likely to magically move you to the top of various search engine results. And even among experts, there’s heated debate as to just what those things are. Still, there’s some basic items that are obvious in terms of needing to be done. And that have value in and of themselves regardless of their SEO juice.

As we index the forum space here at Twing.com, making forum search better and more available to all, we’ve noticed a fair amount of boards / forums are missing this basic information

Most will say things like keywords don’t matter to search engines. Which may or may not be true. But you never know what these will be useful for. Perhaps even for use with an internal search engine one day; or a new search engine. But either way, Meta descriptions are useful. Search engines will often use these as descriptions, even if the content itself only affects relevancy ranking in trivial ways. Some search engines use snippets of text from individual screens as results. In these cases, maybe the description doesn’t mean so much.

But here’s the main points:

• You don’t really know how this meta information may be used.
• In some cases it might help.
• In no cases, (that I’m aware of anyway), will it hurt. (Unless perhaps you do something spammy in there.)
• It does not take much time to implement.

So do yourselves and your users a favor. Take 5 - 10 minutes to re-visit your basic Meta information settings and adjust as necessary. You’ll be glad you did!

As I’ve been talking to more people about Twing, I’m frequently asked for more background about the environment in which the company operates. So I’ve decided to share a presentation we sometimes use when talking to press, investors, etc. It’s not a super in depth business plan mind you; just a basic overview of the online forum space, its history, and where Twing fits in.

Please note: Some of the slides are a bit hard to read in the small format. If you have trouble seeing something, click on the link to view on SlideShare.com, then choose the full screen format.

| View | Upload your own

If you have any questions or comments about the presentation, please let us know.

Thanks,

Scott

In the third and final installment of our best practices blog, we’ll examine the big picture of managing your forum by setting and enforcing policies that govern participation in the forum. 

Guidelines for Your Forum

Typically, a good place to start is with an explanation of why we’re all here. Keep in mind these are just some general guidelines and includes ideas you may want to list on your site. Obviously, the exact nature of your guidelines will depend on your content area and what you believe is appropriate to your community. Once you’ve assembled a set of guidelines, it’s also a good idea to run them by a lawyer just to make sure everything is kosher. From Twing’s perspective, an introductory statement can read as follows: Members of [Forum name] participate here by virtue of our shared interest in [subject]. Whether we visit because we have something to share or a question to ask or just to keep abreast of new developments in [subject], we understand that we have a shared interest, and that interest is best protected by agreeing to the following guidelines for conduct and use of the forum(s). 1.      Everyone has a right to speak regardless of their perspective. 

2. While we believe in free speech, keep in mind that this right is not absolute. Dissent is an essential part of any discussion where people are encouraged to express varying opinions; however, it is equally important to maintain both decorum and topicality as related to the forum’s mission.

3. Obscenity and pornography will not be tolerated. If that’s what you’re after, there are plenty of places on the Internet to find it, and this forum isn’t one of them. Please make sure all opinions are expressed without being obscene or offensive.

 4.      Members will treat each other with courtesy and respect, especially when they disagree. We understand that bright, intelligent and educated people may not always agree, but personal attacks in the form of insults, abusive language or other means of obvious harassment will not be tolerated. 

5. Our focus is on [subject]. While there are numerous sites online dedicated to this subject, this forum is specifically for those who enjoy [general topic areas]. While any discussion is subject to going off on a tangent, we will do our best to consistently maintain topicality. Editing, moving or deleting off-topic content will only occur when it’s necessary to redirect focus to the core topic(s) and values of this community.

6. Commercial messages will only be permitted in specially designated areas. Users may use their signatures to indicate a commercial affiliation, but any barter, trade or sale of goods and/or services will be restricted to designated areas. And even within these zones, goods and/or services offered must pertain to this forum.

7. We reserve the right to respond to violations of these guidelines by blocking and/or resigning members from this forum.

8. Users accept all responsibility for their words. This includes any personal information a user chooses to make public. All members understand that forums may be viewed by non-members. This forum cannot be responsible for the distribution of any information intentionally posted by a user.

9. The forum is subject to a proprietary Terms of Service and Privacy Policy in order to protect our members from unwanted content or violations of their privacy when it comes to non-shared private data.

10. Any individual posting to our forum asserts that he/she has the full legal right to post such content, including copyright, model releases, etc.

11. When you post to this forum, you offer to us a royalty-free, irrevocable, perpetual, worldwide right to use your content as we see fit. We may use, distribute, display and/or create derivative works from this content, in any and all media, in any manner, in whole or in part, without any restriction or responsibilities to you.

12. When using this forum, you agree that we cannot be and are not responsible for the truth, completeness, objectivity or usefulness of any user-generated content, nor do we endorse any content, including, but not limited to, postings or replies to postings made by members who are moderators.

13. We do nothing to verify member identities. You assume all risk in your use of information from other members.

14. While we reserve the right to do so, we do not pre-screen, monitor, edit or review member-generated content. However, we may monitor content and remove it at any time and without notice. We will do this if content violates these guidelines or we believe it will improve our community. We also will suspend or terminate forum access to those individuals who violate these guidelines.

 We hope you’ve enjoyed this series of blogs and found the information useful. Keep checking back as we’ll have new blog entries posted soon.  

Welcome to part two of our blog on best practices tips and techniques for forum moderators. Last time, we looked at the overall approach a forum moderator needs to take to build traffic and keep the conversation on target. In this installment, we’ll review some general guidelines on how forum moderators can maximize the interest in their forum and response for current and potential posters.

General Guidelines

 It’s always best in you have some expertise in the subject area(s) to which your forum(s) are dedicated. Additionally, consider the following guidelines to help drive traffic to your forum – and keep it there. Be Hands On. Have a public presence on your board and tell the story of how your community came to be. Why did you start it? What does it mean to you? How often you participate depends on the subject area of your forum(s). You’ll quickly be able to get a sense of how much your participation will be required to keep things moving along. Be Friendly to Newbies. Just like in high school, forums tend to develop core groups of friends. As long as these groups are helpful and don’t exclude others from a discussion, there’s no problem. As a moderator, you’ll be responsible for making sure new users feel welcome. That means engaging with them if the regulars happen to be ignoring new members.  Regulars. Any groups that naturally form must remain friendly and open to others. You can do this by communicating your expectations for tone and behavior, and by having a set of policies regarding language and treatment of new participants. Your regulars will be the lifeblood of your community, but if they have negative or exclusionary behaviors, then they’re doing more to hurt you than to help you. Provide Real Content. Avoid services that let you buy paid postings. You want real participants. It can be difficult at first and you may feel like you’re running a “ghost board.” Instead of giving up, or giving in to paid postings, work on recruiting quality members who can offer real answers to real questions. Once you have that, the rest becomes much easier. Getting started may require you to seed the content areas. This practice requires some care to ensure you build appropriate content and credibility among users. Failure to generate content and credibility can be the death knell of a forum. Market your community. There’s nothing wrong with promoting your community. Getting it listed in search engines and specialty directories that cover specific subject areas are keys to recruiting quality members. By the way, have you submitted your site to the Twing Forum Directory yet? Engage with leaders and regulars. As your community grows, the regulars will expect you to recognize and engage with them. You should do so enthusiastically because even though you’re providing the venue, they’re providing the content so it’s important for you to listen to what they have to say. They may have suggestions for new topic areas, functional requests, etc. Look at it as if you’re the owner of a professional sports team. You can field a great product, but if the players aren’t happy you’ll probably be out of work pretty soon (except if you’re Isiah Thomas). Foster participation with readers. Every community will have participants of varying levels, including regulars, intermittent posters and a great many readers. Overall, it’s a pretty safe assumption that for every regular, you’ll have 10 intermittent posters and 100 readers. Part of your job is to draw out the readers as best you can and get them to participate.  Allow for dissent. People argue, and forums foster heated discussions of all types – from video game systems and baseball to political and religious debates. In general, that’s what you want. The problem is when arguments turn into personal attacks. And in the pseudo-anonymous world of forums, this can happen much faster than it might in a face-to-face conversation. As a moderator, you’ll need to step in whenever this happens and get the discussion back on track, regardless of your own opinions. If you fail to do so or side with one member over another, you risk your credibility and, in turn, risk alienating your members. Introduce yourself. Create a forum or sticky area where new users can introduce themselves and talk about why they came to the board, share personal experiences and/or knowledge regarding the forum’s subject and grow comfortable with the format. You may even want to introduce yourself and share your vision for the community with new members. Stay tuned for: 

Best Practices for Forum Moderators, Part III – Guidelines for Your Forum

Twing is all about forums, which means we’re also all about forum owners, administrators and moderators as these are the people who keep the conversations flowing. When we have some advice on things that may help you make your forum all that it can be, we’re going to pass it along. And if you have ideas on how we can make Twing better, we hope to hear from you, too.

To get it started, we’re presenting the first in a series of four blog posts on best practices tips and techniques for forum moderators. We hope the information is useful, and remember to keep checking back for the next installments.

 As a forum moderator, you know that forums are the essence of online communities. And your job – to grow and manage a forum and online community – isn’t always an easy one. In today’s post, we’ll discuss the big picture of being a forum moderator, which includes focusing on three core competencies. 

1. Voice + Venue = Value

Forums, also known as message boards and discussion groups, offer a robust interface for the kind of many-to-many communications that truly foster online community. Chat, blogs and various social networking tools have their own intrinsic value, but it’s the interface that really makes a difference in the value and depth of our conversations. It’s the voice – whether in e-mails, text messages, online reviews and more – that conveys a degree of meaning above and beyond the message. And the venue, with its ability to connect seemingly disparate users around a common subject to share information in real time, that lends credibility to the information.  

2. The Big Picture

As a moderator, you’re responsible for shaping the community you want to create. Often, your role will be that of a community leader; however, leadership is defined by how you promote what you are trying to create, not how you denounce what you are against. In determining just how much control to exert, you’ll need to balance real responsibilities (such as legal issues) with personal judgments (such as what you should try to control vs. letting your users police themselves).  

3. Roles and Responsibilities

Naturally, the best community leaders are those with a particular passion for the subject of their forum. These leaders are most effective when it comes to taking an active role in setting the tone of the community and creating a solid and clear framework for discussions. In this role, the moderator/leader attempts to maintain decorum, make sure topics stay within appropriate subject areas, put out fires, discourage bad behavior and generally create a positive atmosphere. The latter is especially important because moderators need to maintain a level of openness in which all members feel they can participate, even when discussions get heated.  Successful forums are those that grow into trusted sources of information for both members and visitors. Beyond this, success also can be seen in the many relationships that are formed online, some friendly, others not. Remembers, visitors will quickly be able to discern whether a forum has value and is worthy of repeated visits and/or participation, and a well run community has a decided advantage of achieving this kind of success. Stay tuned for: 

Best Practices for Forum Moderators, Part II – General Guidelines

Best Practices for Forum Moderators, Part III – Guidelines for Your Forum