Do forums harm or bring visitors to blogs ?

[chareal]

Hey guys. I have a blog and I'm thinking of creating a forum for its niche to discuss the multiple subjects around this niche. But my question is: would the blog drive the visitors away from my blog because they just want to know what's on the forums ? Or would my blog benefit from this ?

 

[platinumcent]

Its upto you how you carry out the execution of forum and blog both...

 

[mlucas]

I used to run a few forums of over 100,000 members and even tried it for some pvt marketing groups but I found out more people like using a Facebook group it seems many just hate that extra click and are more likely to join your Facebook page than a forum but I guess it depends on your type of visitor

 

[Lionchez]

thank you very mcuh

 

[himanuzo]

You can use both blogging and forum platform in the same domain name. There is no problem. This way can increases traffic.

 

[chareal]

Thanks everyone for the answers, I'll take all of your ideas into consideration.

 

[PremiumWealth]

Everytime you update something big on your blog, make sure you also do an announcement in your forum.

In addition, you can also put a RSS widget or something similar in your forums section.

 

[devtheworld]

Blog and forum are completely different, you can drive traffic to forums, and then keep a feed in the forums connecting to blog, and you are fine, you can drive visitors to both of them.

 

[pulkitseo]

If you take my view..both blog and forum will be benefited..coz you might be ranked on different keywords from forum posts as well.and this will benefit your blog as well.

 

[rob1977]

One word of caution though, having a forum and keeping it alive is extremely difficult to do.

This might actually harm your blogs perceived authority if the forum is dead

 

[platinumcent]

Seriously, if you are starting a forum, the chances that you will suddenly get following are minimal. It may takes several months of constant updating before you get some followers.

 

[poetry1969]

If you do start a forum, it is a good idea to have a Facebook page too. I agree with the member above who said visitors are more responsive to your facebook page. That said, not everything is suited to facebook, and users might prefer a forum in the topic is something they don't want the world knowing they are chatting about. You should also consider your traffic. If you do have a forum, and it's empty, that tends to make users assume that nobody else is visiting your website, and they should leave and go somewhere popular. This is a key reason things go viral. People want to be included in popular things. One approach is to make a Facebook page, and a private forum. Focus on driving traffic to your FB page, but invite your elite visitors to the forum by offering something private. This might be information or tools that others cannot obtain. Make the forum obtainable by everyone, but not immediately accessible. People want to feel special. ... Once you have a good core group posting regularly in your forum, then wrangle some volunteer moderators and give them the ability to accept new members. Soon you will have moderators who are loose with the rules and some who are strict. At some point the forums will have enough activity to offer a section for the public and one for the elites. Forums will grow and do well if you plan ahead.If you don't have any offering that would appeal to your visitors (a reason to be elite and get involved) then just stick with the FB page. Be sure to load it up with some people and post regularly. Even FB pages take some effort to be successful.I hope this helps.

 

[SEOnetic]

you may offer free membership for the forum of your blog user .