The Wholesale Forums

[mgs2]

I am looking to setup a product website selling mens grooming, selling razor blades, skin care and shave care products. I am also looking to ad a forums to the site, so people can communicate and exchange ideas about their favourite products, styling and other issues.

The way I'm thinking, is that I will need to reach a certain number of regular hits before I can ad a forums. I think a forums with no posts hurts the credability of a product website. So I feel that I should perhaps ad the website once I have consistent daily hits of say 500? What do people think of this idea in regards to using a forum to grow a website's traffic and revenue?

[CFL]

The problem with creating a forum on an ecommerce site is that members may start talking about where they can find your products elsewhere, start talsking about other retailers and this potentially could drive business away from your site rather than attract it! Think carefully before you do this!

[MustHaveMobiles]

As above you will need to determine some rules (as per this forum) that prevent the use of self promotion, competitor promotion and PM promotion, but that is really not that hard.

Hits are IRRELEVENT, a single page with a number of graphics on can produce 500 hits from 1 visitor, you need to get your mindset onto uniques if that is the way you intend to go.

As for a quiet forum, all forums start out quiet, you will need to actively push it by making a number of posts a day to start topics and discussion, set yourself up a number of accounts and talk with yourself initial to encourage a discussion environment, join a post exchange site such as Admin Zone and this will get others to post on your forum etc etc

Whether or not it will be of any worth to your traffic/sales ratio only time will tell..

[mgs2]

Yes thats a very good idea, to start conversation by setting up multiple accounts myself. I think a forums would be extremely valuable for multiple reasons.

Not only does it attract individuals to go back to the site more often, and hence more likely to purchase more products. But it also increase web traffic which increases the amount of advertising revenue a site can achieve.

But what is a post exchange?

[MustHaveMobiles]

A post exchange is whereby a person joins your forum and makes posts and you do the same to theirs, so they post 5 on yours and you post 5 on theirs...

[Saajan]

Why not setup a blog instead of a forum?

[MustHaveMobiles]

IMO forums provide a more usable form of interaction, blogs do have their place but a forum offers far more options for the purposes intended above. Plus its easier to control the spam if you get a decent forum software...

[m!ke]

Originally Posted by Saajan

Why not setup a blog instead of a forum?

i would go with a blog,

like others have said, users will comment on other suppliers and u dont want that,

have a blog, and verify all comments before hand

[mgs2]

Hi think forums are quiet different from blogs. A forum is a genuine source of user generated content, a blog isn't it. I think the issue of discussing products on other websites isn't that significant. If one person does it you would mention it to them, if they do it again, you suspend there account.