Buying Community Software
The success of community sites like Facebook, Youtube and MySpace has fueled the interest of webmasters looking for ways to drive traffic to their sites. This interest is very evident in the number of consumers looking for reliable community software that webmasters can use to better their existing sites and/or create new ones. If you are one of these people, then you might want to know that a community site is more than just for show. It needs to be maintained and upgraded to keep your members from migrating.Here are three things that you need to consider before starting your own community site:
1. A community site requires your time.
Yes, this is cliché but many community site owners forget that having such a site requires time and attention. You have to choose the community software to use, and you have to be there as your site is being molded and developed. But even if the site is already working, you still have to check on it to make sure that users are adhering to the terms you've set, and whether there are glitches that need to be addressed or updates that need to be implemented.
If you have chosen your community software well then you don't have to spend all day just monitoring your website. For instance, Chameleon, as social networking software, features a detailed site statistics to help you analyze your members' behavior online. You can also set your site for manual approval of members so you can screen site users and reduce your need for monitoring later on. And of course, there's the add/remove member option for you to use whenever the situation calls for it.
2. You don't have to be a team of professionals if you don't have enough money to pay for them - yet.
One common misconception is that you need to hire a team of professionals to keep your site running. That is not the case. You can run a full site with just a group of volunteers. All you have to do is disseminate maintenance to the members of your community group. But if you have good community software in place, then the chance of having a great support is also high. For instance, Chameleon offers support groups that can help you create your site, modify it and even add new upgrades to it.
Other than that, this community software is 99% open source so you can modify it to suit your preferences. Since the code is written logically, then you or your programmers can easily understand it.
3. You can use your online community to earn.
You can use your chosen social networking software to build a product-focused online community. That's a marketer's dream! You can choose the modules that you will use in your site to allow your members to promote your products and/or services. But you have to be very careful so that no sensitive information gets spread out.
The community software you choose defines your community site, its progress and eventual success. So use this checklist to help get you start on your own community site.
