Exoticdreamer

Many people think a website has to be complicated or have numerous features to be successful. That is not always true. A simple HTML/CSS/JS website can be just as successful as a more sophisticated one if it is achieving its aims. For example, a simple landing page can drive more sales than a full website if it is optimized for conversions. It is not about the tool, it's about how you can wield and leverage it.

If I remember correctly, SEO Journal said this is because directories do not have a defined niche because they post all kinds of content and websites. Because of this, it is difficult to see how a backlink could be targeted and relevant to the website it is pointing to if the linking website posts numerous kinds of content and links to websites in numerous niches.

One thing I would add is to start with what the members want when creating content. Many community leaders do this the wrong way around. They think about what they would like to see and then create content around that. Instead of doing this, come at it from the other way. Find out what your community, and visitors want to see, questions they want answered, concerns they have, topics they like discussing, etc. and then create threads and content around that.

Discord is a no-go for me unless it's discussions with the staff or a small group of people. I have seen forums shift from websites to Discord because the admin or owner decided to duplicate threads there instead of letting people just interact with them on the forum.

Glad to see Xenforo going strong. I am seeing so many people using it to build their communities so this is hardly a surprise. Setting that aside, should Discord be classified as forum software? I would think it was more of a communication tool than a forum one.

As @todal has said, I watch my competitors not to copy them, but to identify gaps in my content and my own community. I then gauge whether what they are doing differently would serve my audience, and then find ways to incorporate it if I find out it will. If you do not do this right, you might find yourself relying on checking up on your competitors so much that you no longer have any original ideas. As with everything else in life, doing this is about moderation and finding a balance between inspiration and outright copying, inspiration and over-reliance on other people's ideas and content.

I favor WordPress because it is the piece of software that I am most used to. I tried Drupal many years ago and found it convoluted for what I wanted to do. Once many other people and I went WordPress, Drupal and Joomla were left behind and they never recovered. However, I hear these two have large communities behind them, so they might be worth checking out.

Google has been cracking down on "keyword stuffing" and instead now prioritizes and favors contextual keywords. If you use one keyword too many times, Google will not look at your content favorably. Top SEOs advise that you use synonyms, long-tail keywords, and alternatives to avoid this issue while also providing a wider variety of keyword for which you can rank.

Reddit and Quora have turned out to be a goldmine of ideas for me. I look for topics that interest my audience and I. I then go through the comments to see if anyone has a question, what they are talking about, and what type of information they are looking for. Then, I research further and create content surrounding what I find, infusing my own ideas and input as I go. Sometimes, I source ideas from members and Google’s "people also asked" section on result pages.

I have used forums with similar audiences to market mine and that has worked well for me. Doing this puts your forum in front of a "warm" audience that is already primed to hear what you have to say and more likely to visit your forum if they feel it would serve them.

Hello everyone, I have just landed, and this forum looks like home. I love TV shows and movies, and you will find me listening to all kinds of music on a typical day. Hope to meet and interact with you all on my traverses through the forum.