Would You Start a Forum?

[Tigermoth]

The nice thing about forums is that you can take a break from writing content for a while and no one will notice much. You'll need to post at some point to give the forum direction and make it more useful but you are much more flexible than a blog or content site.

You can always use plugins and mods to use your forum content for creating your blog - i.e. picking out quality or newsworthy posts for your front page.

[Dural]

Makes sense. Do you think my question and answer format is appropriate for a reference site though?

[Shawn]

I remember a guy on sitepoint -- he was a loan officer -- he ran a website that included articles, a forum, and a question and answer area. He'd take questions from private parties and post the questions, including his answers, on his website.

I think the combination of articles, forums, and a Q&A area would be ideal.

His site made a fortune because his traffic (and niche) was amazing. People would search for loan questions, "What does XYZ loan mean?" or "What does an interest-only loan mean?" and his site would be at the top for those phrases.

[Selkirk]

I'm also seeing surprisingly little interaction from my readers, and that disturbs me. I have great content but I think I'm lacking a sense of community.

I'm not sure the Q & A style of this blog invites participation. I wouldn't claim to have a strong community on my blog, but some things that seem to draw comments:

• Asking for comments.
• A controversial topic, taking a strong or controversial stand.
• Barely relevant, "light," or entertaining posts.

For example, people will bookmark an informative post, but they will comment on a fun post or a controversial post.

[Dural]

I might have to agree with you there. Despite the volume of information I'm getting away for free, it stimulates surprisingly little word-of-mouth traffic.