robinl143
11-30-2006, 09:04 AM
My name is robin and I found my way here while doing a search on RSS feeds. I am trying to look for a way to pick up chatter within my forum. It's been tough getting things moving. I'm not sure what to do at this point. I thought an RSS feed for women would be nice, something that centers on womens issues or something, but I don't know much about the process so here I am.
Nice to meet you all and hopefully I will be able to learn something while I'm here.
Robin
minstrel
11-30-2006, 09:10 AM
Welcome to vBulletin-FAQ, Robin.
What is the link to your forum? And the general theme?
When you say "RSS feed for women", do you mean you want a feed to post news/blog items from RSS feeds TO your forum? or are you trying to enable RSS feeds FROM your forum posts?
robinl143
11-30-2006, 09:13 AM
This is the link to my forums: http://www.thewomenofcoloradosprings.com/vbforums
I want to post news or magazine articles, something along those lines that my members would like to my forums. I'm just not sure how it's done?
Robin
minstrel
11-30-2006, 09:36 AM
OK. Some general comments first:
1. You have too many forums with zero threads and zero posts. This makes the forum look like an empty warehouse. Consolidate them all into a General discussion forum or something and split them off only when you get enough threads on a specific topic to justify a new forum.
2. Your forums all seem to be "private" to guests. This is a very bad idea for two reasons:
(i) Visitors can't get an idea of what this forum is all about, so why should they sign up? You have to convince then that it's worth their while to register - there's little for them to see that would do that convincing.
(ii) If human guests can't see any content, neither can search engine spiders. Thus, your chances of getting decent rankings on any major search engine are practically zero.
3. Techniques like this one:
The Living Room
Must have 30+ posts to enter. PM an admin for admission.
may work for a busy well-established forum but they are a disaster for a new forum.
4. I think at this point, posting articles of specific interest to your members and potential members is better than RSS feeds - that would make it look like the forum is managed by a bot, not a human being - you need more of a human touch.
Bottom line: Make the forum more inviting for people who just drop by... including search engine spiders.
Addendum: You're target audience, women of Colorado Springs, seems rather narrow... it's not even state wide. That limits potential growth for your forum. I realize that's also your domain name but a more general "Women's Issues and Meeting Place" sort of theme might be more successful.
robinl143
11-30-2006, 09:42 AM
I see what you mean, I will look into the needed changes.
Thank You so much for the input!
Robin
minstrel
11-30-2006, 09:49 AM
You're welcome, Robin... good luck with your forum. :)
