- Joined
- May 27, 2012
- Messages
- 5,192
- Location
- Bellmere, QLD
- Website
- www.selfsufficientme.com
- Climate
- Sub-Tropical
I'm toying with the idea of giving SSC a facelift and changing several aspects but I would like feedback to see if I am on the right track so feel free to speak your mind...
The reason I think SSC needs a facelift is to make it more active and to do this I need to obviously make our site more attractive to visitors. People come to forums for three main reasons, to get information, share information, and to discuss common interests. Therefore, what I need to come up with is a forum that people want to join and participate in rather than just visit.
There are several things I'm considering (or have decided) on implementing to improve SSC:
Ultimately, an active forum really just requires a solid membership and a core of reasonably active members and I think we have a good core of active members but if we could expand this core SSC has potential to become one of the most influential, helpful, and social self-sufficiency/gardening sites on the web... I reckon anyway.
Cheers
The reason I think SSC needs a facelift is to make it more active and to do this I need to obviously make our site more attractive to visitors. People come to forums for three main reasons, to get information, share information, and to discuss common interests. Therefore, what I need to come up with is a forum that people want to join and participate in rather than just visit.
There are several things I'm considering (or have decided) on implementing to improve SSC:
- Reviews system - this system we have been working on (and I helped fund) is almost ready so this will definitely give members more ways to participate and add interesting content.
- Theme change - Perhaps introducing a more modern theme with a review of colours and/or logo? Are you happy with how the forum look and performs?
- Change Showcase into Rare Seed Swap or something else - with the introduction of Reviews the Showcase area will essentially become redundant; however, instead of removing the showcase I could transfer most of the current content over to Reviews and then use the Showcase as an area for people to swap seeds? I'm keen to start offering several of my own organic seed varieties for free online. Is there something else we could use this section for?
- Competitions - Bringing back more regular competitions is something I want to do; unfortunately, what I have noticed happening is people signing up or returning only to enter the comp and then buggering off. I'm working on a way we can encourage (make) people contribute to the forum before they gain entry into the competition so that it's fairer. Overall, could competitions be an incentive to be part of our community and contribute?
Ultimately, an active forum really just requires a solid membership and a core of reasonably active members and I think we have a good core of active members but if we could expand this core SSC has potential to become one of the most influential, helpful, and social self-sufficiency/gardening sites on the web... I reckon anyway.
Cheers