What Makes Your Forum Unique?

[tygersclaw]

Simple question...but is the answer as simple? Let us know why you think your forum is unique on a web with thousands of forums.

[theMusicMan]

I did a list of bullets on another thread just now... but why is a site unique...?


Content: very important to have relevance to your subject matter, and lots of it. If you have vB - use conditionals to place different content appropriate to the status of the visitor i.e. welcome message for guests/non registered etc.
Aesthetics: the look and feel of your site via custom coding/theme is also very important. Don't underestimate first impressions - they are very VERY important.

[schford]

Great Points John...

I would add that where possible what you give your visitors should have a large unique element in. Don't just be a me too. My example is around diving - there are a bunch of diving forums www.scubaboard.com being the leader over a million posts - I woudl never overtake that community - how ever I based one around Rebreather Divers where there was not another on the net. Rebreather divers were just tagged on to normal diving - now they have their own home!

Stuart

[theMusicMan]

The uniqueness of a site is absolutely fundamental to the success of the site. It is needed and works in business - and there is no reason why it won't work for forum/www site owners.

Forum/www site owners really should make their very best efforts to identify their own USP - Unique Selling Proposition. This is what sets you apart from the competition, makes you stand out as better, more worthy of guests visits and membership. And... as I mention above, is totally fundamental to the success of your forum and in my humble opinion, is the main reason why so many forums unfortunately fail.

If you don't have one.. I urge you to get one...

PS: business consultancy services offered at very reasonable rates: quote offer vBW001 for a 20% reduction ;)

[Joeychgo]

I can tell you that for this forum, I strive to make it different by being dedicated to the vBulletin Webmaster and his pursuit of owning a sucessful web site.

By sucessful, I mean more then just the physical site. vb.org is good for adding features to your web site via hacks, and vbstyles is good if you want a pretty skin.

I want vBulletin webmaster to be focused on SEO (Search Engine Optimization), Revenue Generation, Community Management, Website Promotion, Community development and those kinds of things.

What makes us different is that no other site I know about is dedicated to that pursuit.

[Talk Camp]

My forum is unique because it's the only one out there! That'll usually make a site pretty unique. :p

[minstrel]

I did a list of bullets on another thread just now... but why is a site unique...?


Content: very important to have relevance to your subject matter, and lots of it. If you have vB - use conditionals to place different content appropriate to the status of the visitor i.e. welcome message for guests/non registered etc.
Aesthetics: the look and feel of your site via custom coding/theme is also very important. Don't underestimate first impressions - they are very VERY important.

For a moment there, I thought item 2 said "anesthetics"...

[ResaleBroker]

Let us know why you think your forum is unique on a web with thousands of forums.Forum Content.

Our forum covers skills and topics many salespeople consider important. For instance; personal selling, marketing, persuasion, etc. I'm continuously searching the net and still haven't found too many forums with similar content.

I'm always on the look out for ideas that will help us stand out. Recently (last couple of days) we added a "Sales Script Book" section to the forums. To my knowledge this would be a first.

[clubracer]

There are probably 25 (or so) different club level (semi-pro) motorcycle racing organizations out there. Some of these have their own affiliated forums (a few of which are pretty big), and some don't. Or, bike specific (www.r1-forum.com for example) forums will usually have their own little section just for racers.

My forum is the first non-affiliated forum dedicated to motorycle racing in the USA. People can cross club lines and come on the site and see what everyone else is doing. It is a consolidation effort really, and the idea to start it came about when I started getting tired of having to log onto 10 different forums just to find the information I needed. PLus, like I said, it is non-affiliated so if you are from xxx racing organization, you won't feel left out because 99% of the board is from yyy racing organization.

Beyond that, many forums are not tolerant of n00b racers trying to get into the sport. I created a section entirely for n00bs, and it is stocked with information.

Lemme see, I'm also very proactive when approaching vendors or racing organizations. I try to get as much "free stuff" as I can to give away on the forum. Racing is expensive, and people really appreciate the chance to win some things that they can use. Hopefully I can give away about $5000 worth of goods this year, and i'm already off to a good start. Besides that, the contests are so popular (and way beyond what most other bike forums do) that members are flocking to the site to sign up. Almost 150 new members in less than a week. That is pretty big for me.

Cant think of any more right now.

[mayank]

My forum is all about Teens, which is found everywhere.
My site is though about teens but the discussions there is very unique and lots different from other forums.

There is lots more discussions apart from teens and the most important thing is that we all are very friendly there and happy!

[geline]

Hmmm, sounds like I got many good ideas for my upcoming forum :)

Thanks for all the sharing :)

[Concrete Angel]

I think someone needs to do some pruning on some forums <hmm face>


Well, I dunno what makes my forum unique....


Its about Night Clubs and Street Racing...but I guess its because I have a friendly staff..

[Steve M]

Mine is unique because we are dedicated to 150% customer satisfaction, nothing less.

[minstrel]

a niche topic of interest to a sizeable number of people, aka potential members
active forum "staff", most of whom log in daily at a minimum, many several times during the day
most of the staff are either working in the niche profession or are consumers for that niche, or both
responsivity of site owners/admins to requests for change from membersw (e.g., new forums, restructuring forums, new smilies, optional color schemes, or other bells and whistles)
consistent effort to make new members feel welcome - and I don't mean just posting "welcome to our forum" but actually responding to their posts/concerns/questions
ensuring that no new member gets zero responses to his/her initial post
good moderators who prune the crap out of threads

[joh]

My site is unique because it is the only place on the web where home owners can talk to stone restoration professionals without the fear of getting ripped off. It is also a great place for the stone guys to get together and talk freely about a dying trade, show the work that we have done day to day, we get free trips from each other ( sometimes they would fly you out to help them on a job) free how to videos for our guess as well as how to videos that only out guys could see, and just have fun with each other.