As I look back over the last year and the growth of my design business and this site, I can point to one thing that made the most impact: participation in forums. I am not a big time forum participant. In fact, I’ve only regularly participated in two forums, but the contacts made there, and the networking opportunities have made all the difference in the opportunities to grow this blog and my business.
Last January, after visiting around to multiple forums, I joined the MomGadget forum, which recently closed, started by the lovely Gayla McCord. I got to know Char Polanosky through that forum, who is also in the design business and whose blog was a great model to follow as I began blogging here at this site. Through Char, and others in that forum I learned a lot, began to get some decent design work and had opportunities to cross promote through similar niche blogs.
This summer, I was invited to join a private Performancing forum whose members included a list of big shot bloggers like Chris Garrett and Ryan Caldwell. The idea was to share high-level tips, tools and to coordinate efforts wherever it made sense. The benefits of being involved in the Performancing Hive have been phenomenal. Besides the growth in my design business, the opportunity to network with such experienced bloggers has been great. The group supports each other through promotion of posts in social media sites, brainstorming, link exchanges, and just helping each other out in general.
Beyond just an encouragement to participate in forums I am writing this post to announce that the Performancing Hive has been opened up to the public! If you’ve spent much time in forums, you know that trolls and spammers are a BIG problem. So, to keep them out, the Hive does cost $10 a month to join. If it were any other forum, I certainly would be reluctant to pay a fee to participate, but this one is different. Check it out!
Do you participate in forums? Have you experienced the same benefits from the time spent there?
![[Post to Twitter]](http://randaclay.com/wp-content/plugins/tweet-this/icons/tt-twitter.png){kind=icon}
![[Post to Delicious]](http://randaclay.com/wp-content/plugins/tweet-this/icons/tt-delicious.png){kind=icon}
![[Post to Digg]](http://randaclay.com/wp-content/plugins/tweet-this/icons/tt-digg.png){kind=icon}
![[Post to StumbleUpon]](http://randaclay.com/wp-content/plugins/tweet-this/icons/tt-su.png){kind=icon}
Randa -
The two forums I have enjoyed the most are the two you mentioned. These two forums have been so valuable to me in so many ways.
Glad we connected!!
Thanks for the mention Randa. LOVE The new look. So warm and well, groovy
It’s strange how things take their twists and turns… I decided to close my forum before I knew of two others that were being formed by two people I genuinely trust.
It’s nice to know there’s a natural progression to online communities.
that’s one groovy header, Randa
Until recently I was quite active in a local Vancouver forum of IT/Design professionals. I got two projects out of it and managed to build a valuable network there, plus a few good friends. Currently, I’m still visiting that forum but not as often as I used to. I also belong to womendesignersgroup, I get daily email digests from them and I’m always getting impressed by the activity of some members of this group – where do they find time to be on top of everything and attend other members questions and help them.
I agree, it’s worth participating in forums. One thing though – I’ll never join a forum with a fee for several reasons, however I don’t mind voluntarily contributions.
My forum participation is kind of hit or miss. I love the forums at workitmom.com, and I pop into FreelanceSwitch from time to time. I moderate my own forum for parents of preemies, and it can be a ton of work at times.
-Kristie
You hit the nail on the head! One thing people often miss (and it backfires) is that only private and/or heavily moderated forums are a good source of information. Spammers and trolls make most forums unreadable.
I’d love to enroll in a forum, but that will have to wait until my blog gets a little more stable.
I really enjoy the Hive forum by Performancing. Without it, I wouldn’t be doing nearly as well as I am right now. Kudos to you for letting the world know.
I always have good intention to do more on forums, but between everthing else it seems hard to keep up with.
I used to do the forum thing all the time, I was even heavily involved at the something awful forum for a while. I know I should and you make valid arguments for doing so…but honestly, I’m struggling to find the time to blog consistently…much less monitor a forum.
…I know, excuses will get you no where…. as Yoda says, do or do not, there is no try!
Hey Randy,
what a good idea from the guys over at Performancing. It this turns out well, they can earn a pretty chunk of money from it.
But they must be well prepared. Masterminding and cooperation often fails when to many people are involved. Hence some good moderation and maybe a few leaders who guide the whole process on a day-to-day basis is very usefull.
If they add that, the value of this ‘forum’ shoots thru the roof.
-Dave
Hi all, I’ve just started to run a new forum for people who’ve been ripped off. I gave it a tagline: Consumer’s vendetta. Clever, Huh?
The basic guideline is to use the name of the misbehaving business in the title of tour topic so that other people can find it in Google when they search for name of that business.
If you’ve ever been ripped off, post it on Ripoffforum and get your Justice.
It’s a bit rough around the edges as I just started.
I wrote the announcement this morning.
U really got that point there.Bloggers really r a gift to forums like the “Hive” and help is always there for you.Thanx for sharing this very informative forum. By the ways..Which forum are u actively working on .
[...] Reasons Every Blogger Should Participate In Forums @ Randy Clay Design [...]
I run several websites and the one thing I always do is to participate in forums related to my niche. Not only is it great for backlinks and traffic, but you also get to build trust which helps when people do visit your website or blog.
hey thanks for the link of that forum but if your not a spammer and you want to join its there any option to Not pay.?
If so let me know..
Im learning on this world of blogs.. and now im going to start joining real good forums.. and also im going to read your blog a lot! thx..
[...] A few weeks ago I read this excellent post by Randa Clay on reasons every blogger should participate in forums. [...]
Forums and other social sites are a great way to get your post to go viral. Right now I’m trying to build on my Facebook friends list to make my site more popular.
I participate constantly on 3 forums.
I happen to be a member in a number of popular webmaster forums and its all worth it. before I started, I didn’t even know what SEO means. But today, I am well versed and able to do SEO by myself and see good results.
The same goes with blogging. Some forum topics are inspirational and worth while to blog about.
Several years back, I used to be very active in a number of webmaster and SEO related forums and even moderated at a couple.
The problem is, and I’m surprised you haven’t mentioned it, there are only so many hours in the day. Aside from writing blogs, articles, running a business, occasionally spending some time with wife and kids, there just isn’t enough time to be really active in forums as well.
That said, I did build a lot of credibility and gain a chunk of business when I did post regularly on forums, so I agree with the premise of your post.
Hi Randa
Good on you for where participating in forums has taken you!
I used to be a lurker for quite a while ’til I decided to pull my finger out and be part of the action. My major excuse was: ‘I’m too busy’. But then I thought if I’m spending time reading different blogs, then why the hell not say something?
And so I joined a couple. I don’t know if you’ve heard of Digital Point forums, but I love the Copywriting section. I’m also part of a forum called PeasyShop as I love their Environmental section.
I’m yet to experience the same benefits you’ve mentioned, but I do feel it’s been good for me on a conversational level.
take care…
I have used a popular forum for t shirt sellers called tshirtforumn.com. I love it because it is a small amount of the population who own and operate t shirt websites and this is a dedicated site striclty for this purpose. I have found answers and info on wholesalers, supplies, places to advertise, etc. that I would have never found in the usual google search. I can see where I would not want to go to any forumn and spend an hour or so typing into something that does not interest me but with the t shirt forumn, I just find things that I am not even looking for almost everytime I go in. Thanks
It’s hard to keep up in the forum although I realize the value of participation and networking from a forum.
Participatingn in forums is an incredible way to reach a targeted audience. And it’s one of the best ways to connect with potential readers!
Spot on, Randy. My blog has a PR of 0 but it is receiving lots of dedicated readers simply because I spend a lot of time participating in a number of forums
I don´t agree with you.
I think that the time you employ in a forum, you could destinate it to post more articles or to know other bloggers in social networks.
I consider participating in forum is time waster, not because it’s worthless in essense, rather because I’ve seen so many spammy one-two liner that is just so annoying. I had to browse to many pages just to found some quality post. I think forum should cost the member a little, just to make them more serious.
It can become a big time waster if you are not careful. I have to limit myself otherwise I wouldn’t get anything done but screw around on the Internet.
I actively contribute to the WordPress Support Forum, because when I was starting out, I needed a lot of help, as I had no HTML, PHP or CSS knowledge.
Now I know my way around WordPress, I feel like I should give back to those who now need the help.