Postcards from the Funny Farm

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My friends in this community sometimes ask me if I know any good ways of getting traffic. I try to do creative stuff, but sometimes the traditional things work best. Using forums to build traffic is one of those traditional ways. Of course there are several in my community that are doing just fine. Perhaps those readers could give us some further tips on this discussion.

I’ve read on several “big time” sites that forums are an excellent way to attract more readers to your blog or website. Up until recently, I had never put this one to the test. This is partly due to the fact that I haven’t had the time to experiment with it. I plan to do some “foruming” this evening so I wanted to let you know the results once I am finished. As I head out to try my hand at this endeavor I am thinking these guidelines might be helpful to someone out there who wants to try it:

1. When you choose a forum, choose the topics that follow your passions. ie; mental health, literature, psychology, self-improvement and blogging are a few interests of mine that I belong to forums on.
2. Put your url in your profile and signature or every forum you post at. This is obviously to your blog’s advantage. Theoretically, the ones who like what you have to say will click on your profile or signature and find your wonderfully suited blog. Ok, so I’m being a bit sarcastic. Nonetheless, it’s one way to get your url out there and it may even garner you some Google Juice.
3. Answer many threads before you leave. Some threads are closely monitored and some are not. Doing more will increase your chances of starting up a conversation or even friendship with people on the forum.
4. Subscribe to the threads you comment in. Like most blogs, forums have an option many times to subscribe by email or rss to the threads.
5. Do not get offended and do not say offensive things. This is self-explanatory to many, but to me it is a lesson I have had to learn the hard way many many times (mostly before I ever started blogging). Stay cool and let your words be the same when foruming.
6. Bookmark the front page of each forum and put them in a folder on your toolbar (Firefox) so they don’t become obtrustive. Since the folder causes them to cascade straight down, you can have more than you’ll ever need on your bookmarked toolbar (for help on how to do this, read this).
7. Flattery will get you EVERYWHERE. That may be an old fashioned notion, but go with it and see if it’s still true.
8. Keep your comments short but thoughtful. Don’t waste your great ideas and prose on a forum, use the ideas you get while there to write on your forum and link to the post! (Don’t do this too much or you may be considered a spammer and kicked out)
9. Once you are in, many forums allow you to post a link on your profile page or in the sisgnature, or both.  An example of these types of links can be found here (scroll down to my signature at the Jeep page.  The anchor texts inspiration and psychology are linked back to my blog).  This will help your backlink authority.
10. Once you create the link on your profile page, figure out what the permalink to your profile page is and socially bookmark it to as many as possible.  This will also help your backlink authority. Example of same Jeep profile page on Stumbleupon.

I hope these tips help. If you are new to forums and would like some help getting your feet wet, drop me a line and I’ll see if I can help. On the other hand, does anyone out there have any forums they enjoy and would recommend to this community? Enjoy foruming to build traffic.

Great blogs should be heralded. 9Rules.com does that. I’ve written a bit on 9Rules here in the past but I never really “got” what the thrust and vision of the company was … until now.

I recently asked Mike Rundle, co-founder of 9Rules, Chawlk.com and several exciting subsites, to answer some of my questions. After reading his answers and trying out Chawlk.com for months now I can tell you I think 9Rules.com is exciting, worth sharing, and absolutely something I endorse. See what you think as you read Mike’s insightful and engaging answers below.

Damien Riley: Hello Mike, if you don’t mind, I’d like to start with that from your perspective. What was your involvement in the beginning of 9Rules and what was the original 9Rules meant to be as a service?

Mike Rundle: Paul Scrivens and I have been friends and business partners since Winter 2003, originally founding one of the first blog-focused design and development firms in May 2004 (sold in March 2007.) At SXSW Interactive in Spring 2005, Paul had an idea about creating a spot that would aggregate great content from the multitude of blogs that were out there and allow bloggers to have a space to collaborate and work together. We invited about a dozen friends of ours to join the original 9rules, and they all happened to be designers, so for awhile we solely highlighted design content, but soon thereafter we branched out to business, technology, marketing, etc. Over the years the 9rules membership base has expanded and we’ve separated blogs out into individual “communities” for easier browsing. We’ve always hand-picked blogs to become members of 9rules and it’s been a great advantage for us and our readers as they know what they’re reading has met some difficult criteria.

Damien Riley: My understanding is that 9Rules started out as a promotion of member blogs and nothing else. Is that a correct understanding?

Mike Rundle: We promoted member blogs, but the big service we provide is the ability to reach out to great thinkers on the Web and have a common bond as a 9rules member. Many of our members are respected artists, teachers, entrepreneurs, investors, and because of this it puts you directly in touch with some of the best minds on the Web. If a member has a question or is in need of some feedback, there’s certainly no shortage of that in our private 9rules member forum.

Damien Riley: What was the intention of adding “Notes” and “Clips” and making 9Rules look much more like a social network?

Mike Rundle: The addition of Notes, Clips, and other social features were a way to get 9rules readers more connected with each other, similar to how our 9rules members are connected. A strong community of members and readers already existed around 9rules, so the addition of social features to the site was just a way to try and foster the community. We added Notes to 9rules long before social sites like Twitter and Facebook took off, so we never really had the intention of making 9rules look or act like a certain site, we just wanted to provide a way to get people more involved with the site and with each other.

Damien Riley: Recently, about 3 months ago, I joined 9Rules for the facet called “Notes.” My hope was to drive some readers to my site. Was this social network style a move away from the old 9Rules?

Mike Rundle: It certainly was a big departure from the “old style” 9rules that readers were used to, but it was an important evolutionary step for us. After seeing how people have used Notes and Clips over the past 2 years, we’re able to apply that knowledge to Chawlk and the other subsites and hit the ground running with them.

Damien Riley: I’ve been reading a lot, particularly from Scrivs, that this move is as a direct result of what former 9Rules folks have requested. How much of those suggestions influenced the decision and how much of your own vision played a part.

Mike Rundle: People have different reactions to change, and there will always be a fence separating the opinions of one group from another. Many 9rules members and readers think that the split of 9rules from the social features was a great move, but many of those same people thought that the addition of Notes and Clips to 9rules was also a great move. In the end it came down to what would best allow us to move ahead with our plans for the future, and the split allowed us to do that in the best way possible. People who love just having member content at 9rules are happy, and if they want to get involved more with like- minded people, they can head to Chawlk or to one of our subsites. We’re always interested in hearing what our members and readers think.

Damien Riley: Now that 9Rules is being restored to its original format and the Notes etc. will be relegated to Chawlk, what is the vision for both services?

Mike Rundle: 9rules is pure content from great, hand-selected blogs. We recently finished a membership round (our 6th since we started 9rules) and it’s great to be adding new members again, especially to a new site that highlights them and nothing else. 9rules.com is the place to find interesting content written by people who have a proven track record for producing interesting content, and we’re extremely proud of each and every 9rules member because they are a reflection of the quality and ideals that 9rules has stood for since we started. The current group of new members is definitely no exception, and I’m honestly envious of all their writing abilities. We really have a great bunch in this new group.

Chawlk.com is the portal that pulls in all the content from our 9 subsites and it’s mainly there for the hardcore readers that want everything. Our subsites are where people are really going to want to be if they’re looking for great discussion and interesting links on a specific topic. Over time our goal is for each subsite to have its own persona, features, and community, and be more than just “one of the subsites”. We just launched Chawlk and the subsites so right now their designs are only a bit different, but we’ll be revisiting each as time goes on.

Damien Riley: I won’t pry too much, but how does 9Rules determine if a blog should be granted membership or not.

Mike Rundle: Not prying at all! The first thing people want to know when they visit 9rules is what the membership criteria is, and fortunately our partner Tyme has been writing a great series on just what we look for when evaluating sites for membership. We have an entire category in our blog dedicated to “Site Tips”: blog.9rules.com/category/site-tips/ The general overview is we want blogs that are focused on one particular topic area and write great original content on a consistent basis. We evaluate sites by reading many articles from their blog, not just the recent ones, so sites that are only a few months old should wait until they have some more posts under their belt before submitting. We only accept submissions for 24 hours a few times per year, and our next submission round is on August 6, 2008. Your readers can find out more about joining 9rules here: 9rules.com/aboout/join/

Damien Riley: There are so many social networks out there. What does 9Rules offer the decent blogger out there looking to add quality to his/her blog and posts?

Mike Rundle: Our new subsite Wriging.com (writing + blogging) is dedicated to making you a better blogger so I’d highly recommend your readers check it out and subscribe if they’re interested in that topic and want to join a community of other bloggers.

If you’re looking to see how some great blogs operate, I’d definitely start by checking out our Members page (9rules.com/members/) and subscribing to some blogs that hit your interests.

Damien Riley: Finally, what is your hope that people will get out of 9Rules. What would you personally like to get thank you emails about ;)

Mike Rundle: I love when people find great, new blogs at 9rules that they’ve never seen before. We really take pride in being democratic about how gets into 9rules — it’s not about your traffic or RSS readers, it’s just about your writing. Because of this we usually highlight a lot of great, lesser-known blogs that end up becoming big hits once they get more people visiting their site. Personally I like finding great blogs before everyone else discovers them, and then helping them achieve some success.

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Thanks to Mike for being accessible and offering this great interview about 9Rules.com. In my opinion, it is a site to get involved in and keep ones eye on. This site and its subsites are not like fake silk flowers as so many internet businesses are nowadays, it’s the real deal.

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