Community-Based Websites??? Home Business Talk Discuss Community-Based Websites??? in the TalkHomeBusiness Community forums; They have been increasing in popularity in the past year or so like never before. Popular forum software like vBulletin and Invision Power Board. Do you think a website which ...

[FuSion]

They have been increasing in popularity in the past year or so like never before. Popular forum software like vBulletin and Invision Power Board. Do you think a website which is based on the community is more effective or not?

[Dactyl]

I think a combination of both a community plus a website is a good choice, that's why I changed THB from only a forum to a portal+community, it also depends on the topic the website talks about, if its popular then its probably a good idea to add a forum for discussion. And they are definitly increasing in numbers and popularity.

[wahpah]

I think that a combination of both would be nice. Forums are not only becoming increasingly popular on the net, it is also just very convenient to be able to go on a website and leave a comment or read up on what other people think without having to email them or call.

[Netman]

A community is more important becasue it gets people to come back to your site much more then just having a webpage there. It also helps to boost page view which makes more money.

[ebittner]

They have blown up that past year and I think it is becasue of how easy it is to create one and how much money you can make with one too.

[Bryan]

I agree with Dactyl. It takes a strong portal, followed by strong community support to succeed. There are some very rare exceptions where just sites based fully off of a community will work, but that isn't always the case.

Most of the sites that succeed have a huge portal, with a forum in the background (Think SitePoint).

[e2thehu]

Yeah. A combination is good, with the forum in the background. Then people come back to check up on replies to their posts, but before, they'd check up on the site for updates and such. I think it's a good idea.