A key into a communities success
Published: September 28th, 2006If you’ve ever wanted a couple tips on how to have a successful community, you should take a gander at this post.
First impressions online are just like they are in the physical world. You and I both know that you’ve judged someone as first glance and that’s what motivated you to do something thereafter. Yes I’m being vague, but the key is that a first impression will either make you do something or not. That is why having a professional and good-looking “theme, and or feel” to a community is VITAL.
Communities that do not have a professional/niche targetted feel really fail in the long run. Not only that, but having such a welcoming and nice layout will definitely bring you members. Enviornments are very important in the human mind and once you understand that you’ll realize how big of an impact the way your site’s look really is.
You have to think about your target niche market (please tell me your community is niche based) and what would appeal to such a audience. Style, colors, etc. Once you figure this out either ask your friends friend to design it, or go to a graphic design website. And have them design what you have in mind. It is their job to make what you want, and don’t settle for anything less than what feels great. Because once you’re satisfied as the owner then there is no problem with how the community spirit lives on.
Summary, make your community look good.
[...] What you need to do, is make sure your forum, or community - whatever has a target audience. What does that mean? A niche. If you do not have a niche, you’ll fail sorry. No, a general topic forum will not succeed. There’s no chance, just give up on that thought. You have to be more creative than that to have a successful community these days. If you have chosen a community that is centered around the idea of a certain topic, THEN you might be successful. You still have to ask yourself if you have countless hours to spend on plugging your community and getting QUALITY link backs. The first thing I suggest you to do after you get a niche, is to make sure your forum looks good for your target audience. If your community looks like shit, you will have the hardest time in the world getting an active community. It would take years upon years to actually have any mass to activity. Think of it as a first impression, if someone doesn’t like the colors, or it’s just “meh” they’ll close the site and never come back. I have written a nice article on how to give a a community a professional look and feel (That is what you want to aim for, be professional. By being professional you can reach out to your audience and make them trust the site). [...]
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In terms of the formatting, you're allowed to use markdown, textile, or basic html; it's truly up to you -- what strikes your fancy?
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