Who is going to forumcon 2012?

[TheLaw]

Didn't make it this year as I had important engagements and have been there in the past. I'm not sure who it's ultimately targeted for but those who have been running forums for many years might not find it as useful as others.

 

[Samir]

Didn't make it this year as I had important engagements and have been there in the past. I'm not sure who it's ultimately targeted for but those who have been running forums for many years might not find it as useful as others.

I completely agree. But the value of the information seems to be improving with each conference.

 

[DBA]

Dan Gill was excellant

Anyone ask him why Thumper Talk, Home Theater Forum, and other forums became dormant after switching to Huddler?

 

[Samir]

Anyone ask him why Thumper Talk, Home Theater Forum, and other forums became dormant after switching to Huddler?

Just because he knows a lot, doesn't mean the people in his company execute what he says. Not exactly sure about those places because I've never heard of them. But I know that 'cleaning up' a forum that's been open to all sorts of crap will lose a lot of members because they can't act like children anymore.

 

[Forsaken]

Just because he knows a lot, doesn't mean the people in his company execute what he says. Not exactly sure about those places because I've never heard of them. But I know that 'cleaning up' a forum that's been open to all sorts of crap will lose a lot of members because they can't act like children anymore.

http://www.hometheaterforum.com/ Nearly 4million posts
http://www.thumpertalk.com/index Nearly 10million posts

For there to be such a large drop in activity, software is often a culprit.

 

[Samir]

Huddler moves everything to their own custom platform from what I gather. And while activity may have dropped, revenues probably didn't, which is the whole point of moving to their platform in the first place. I mean, passion about your forum is one thing, but when it is a management nightmare you do just want to outsource it.

 

[BGL]

Anyone ask him why Thumper Talk, Home Theater Forum, and other forums became dormant after switching to Huddler?

Nope. No one asked him. Both the forums you mention look pretty active on a quick perusal with several pages new posts showing up.

Is Huddler successful with their business model overall?

Gill's talk was on the high value of discussion forum for advertisers and how to present that value to advertisers, not so much Huddler itself.

 

[Erik]

Am I the only one that feels like the forum industry isn't even a big enough "industry" to have it's own convention?

 

[BGL]

Am I the only one that feels like the forum industry isn't even a big enough "industry" to have it's own convention?

Eyup. The only one. In fact, a lot of the stats presented at ForumCon.com were very interesting and positive concerning forum population growth and advertisers demand for targeted marketing and forums ability to provide this. Here we are on a blog by a startup for forum software. The size, age and competitiveness of the forum software industry is another indicator.

 

[CTXMedia]

Forums have matured over the past five years or so and there are now some quite large repositories of information that people visit regularly and in large numbers, so there's likely more "value" to certain forums (from an advertiser's perspective) than there was before.

 

[BGL]

Forums have matured over the past five years or so and there are now some quite large repositories of information that people visit regularly and in large numbers, so there's likely more "value" to certain forums (from an advertiser's perspective) than there was before.

It is the self identifying nature of the forum audience. You know they are VW or Prius owners or Xbox gamers or BBQ hobbyists and for marketers this is gold. You know they are the buyers of your product. Not some mass appeal like CNN. If the forum audiences are growing (they are) and web advertising is growing (it is) there is a happy convergence for forum operators and the software industry that supports them.

 

[CTXMedia]

It is the self identifying nature of the forum audience. You know they are VW or Prius owners or Xbox gamers or BBQ hobbyists and for marketers this is gold. You know they are the buyers of your product. Not some mass appeal like CNN. If the forum audiences are growing (they are) and web advertising is growing (it is) there is a happy convergence for forum operators and the software industry that supports them.

I'm all for that since I want to move to running forums full-time over the next couple of years.

 

[DBA]

http://www.hometheaterforum.com/ Nearly 4million posts
http://www.thumpertalk.com/index Nearly 10million posts

For there to be such a large drop in activity, software is often a culprit.

That's what I took away from TT's experience.

Huddler moves everything to their own custom platform from what I gather. And while activity may have dropped, revenues probably didn't, which is the whole point of moving to their platform in the first place. I mean, passion about your forum is one thing, but when it is a management nightmare you do just want to outsource it.

Shows where your priorities are. My beef was never really with Huddler's business plan, just their software. And for a company that claims to be so good at this you'd think that they'd have figured it out by now.

Nope. No one asked him. Both the forums you mention look pretty active on a quick perusal with several pages new posts showing up.

It's nothing compared to what it used to be.

After visits dropped ~40% (and no sign of it recovering), TT switched back to vB3 ~3 months after going to Huddler. This past January they migrated to IPB.

From what I can tell HTF never recovered either.

Gill's talk was on the high value of discussion forum for advertisers and how to present that value to advertisers, not so much Huddler itself.

I'd be interested in hearing that presentation.

 

[Samir]

Am I the only one that feels like the forum industry isn't even a big enough "industry" to have it's own convention?

If you look online, the admin-side of forums does seem a bit small as there aren't too many forums to address this niche.

But it still is big business. There are people that earn their living and build companies from forums. And it's just a matter of time before the ramp for advertisers to become more involved becomes small enough to encourage a huge influx of them.

 

[Samir]

Forums have matured over the past five years or so and there are now some quite large repositories of information that people visit regularly and in large numbers, so there's likely more "value" to certain forums (from an advertiser's perspective) than there was before.

And how to best monetize this while still keeping a solid community is one of the core focuses of this conference. How do you approach large advertisers? How do you bring in ads without upsetting the forum members? You hear the answers to these questions and more.

 

[Samir]

Shows where your priorities are. My beef was never really with Huddler's business plan, just their software. And for a company that claims to be so good at this you'd think that they'd have figured it out by now.

You say that like it's a bad thing. I work 100hrs/week minimum on my site. And I feel I deserve to be compensated for my time. You may feel different, and you have a right to your opinion.

If building a big, strong, profitable community was an exact science, you could just pay a company like Huddler to do it and watch the money come rolling in no matter what the concept. But like every other type of business out there, it isn't an exact science. The closest thing I can see the business of forums being akin to is running a nightclub, and that's a very tough business to be successful in 100% of the time.

 

[craigiri]

I'd be interested in hearing that presentation.

I can school you on that one!

Been signing up my own advertisers since 1995.....

 

[craigiri]

And how to best monetize this while still keeping a solid community is one of the core focuses of this conference. How do you approach large advertisers? How do you bring in ads without upsetting the forum members? You hear the answers to these questions and more.

Important considerations BUT.......

Running profitable forums can be somewhat like playing music (your nightclub example) or even playing sports "in the zone". That is, if you played bass each night and though "How much am I gonna get paid for each note" or ran a marathon and thought about how much per mile you were gonna make...you'd probably fail.

What I am getting at is that trying too hard to make money...can often work against you!

I have found this true in physical businesses as well as consulting and web site operation....

A perfect example is IB themselves. When Forums are reduced to being vehicles for profit, they suffer. I think this is what you are getting at with your nightclub analogy.

The biggest secret to success, which includes making money, is not to take advantage of people and always give them what they have paid for and more! In addition to that, never burn any bridges nor react angrily to clients or potential clients - even if and when they rip you off! I've had clients stiff me and go bankrupt...only to resurface with a new company a couple years later and place more ads!

When I first started my site in 1995 the idea was to do it the best that I could - to share as much of what I know (and others know) in order that people could be educated about the subject(s). Maybe a more apt comparison is being a neurosurgeon. Do you think a good NS has to consider how he or she is going to monetize their practice? I'd say, in most cases, no. It just happens.

 

[BGL]

Do you think a good NS has to consider how he or she is going to monetize their practice?

They absolutely do. You might want to rethink your example, talk to your local brain surgeon about biz issues in medical practice.

Advertising pays for XenForo, for hosting, for keeping the lights on, the computer running. Typically most folks get into running forums because of their passion for a topic but at some point, even basic forums are going to cost a couple grand a year not to mention the time. How to pay for it all is a concern for all forums, large or small, pro or hobby. That doesn't mean forum operators are "taking advantage of people". When I visit forums I like good context sensitive ads. If I'm on a car hobby site, I want to see the ads from all kinds of related gizmos.

Lead with your passion, follow up with your pitch.

 

[DBA]

You say that like it's a bad thing. I work 100hrs/week minimum on my site. And I feel I deserve to be compensated for my time. You may feel different, and you have a right to your opinion.

Never said that making money is a bad thing, I'm a capitalist.

What I am getting at is that trying too hard to make money...can often work against you!

This.

Once your primary focus is just to see how much money you can squeeze out of it, depending on your community they'll notice and it'll most likely work against you. So now you're community starts falling apart, which in turn means less pageviews/revenue.