Forum Moderators: open
Is there any chance of a dedicated web marketing forum?
I know there is the affiliate programme and advertising forum and the e-commerce forums that deal with issues relating to marketing, but they also deal with technical issues as well.
Im thinking something along the lines where people could post to discuss marketing strategies, offline marketing issues, PR (public relations!), etc.
At the end of the day, most people here are running businesses and marketing is an important part of that (and an area that tends to be neglected by all you techies ;)).
I used to post on a forum that had a dedicated thread for people to post small marketing tricks - nothing thats gonna change the face of marketing, but good for exchanging ideas.
Just a suggestion! :)
JOAT
So, forum admin, what do you reckon? :)
JOAT
Many of the forums here were created by pooling threads collected in the general forums. You've mentioned a couple of forums already, but FOO and Webmaster General have probably been the most prolific spawning grounds. We've cold-started a few forums, but they haven't seemed to work as well as the spin-offs.
The Marketing board was hostless and a literal worthless spam pit. I volunteered and began to clean it up, and it was absolutely amazing what clever, innovative ideas people started to contribute - things I'd never dream of. It's wonderful how supportive and sharing people can be to each other in a conducive environment, particularly with off-line marketing, where in a cyber-situation people aren't really competing with each other. Who would ever guess that yellow flyers got a far higher response than white ones?
Especially now, with a narrowing field with search engine and other online marketing, it's really timely to broaden the perspective and become innovative, also including off-line marketing in our agendas.
We have related threads in other forums, like Professional Webmasters Business Issues, and even many that are relevant to promotion, though they're web-related, in the HTML forum that are right on the button with discussing issues that help sites to actually market -usability, color scheme, interface design and navigation - all the things that go into marketing products or services once you get people to a site. We've got some great ones, they're just scattered about - so it's less encouraging for more to come than if they were in one place with more of a focus.
I've had questions myself many times and wasn't sure where they should go. In fact, I just didn't ask them. When giving it thought, it seemed that with what we have now Webmaster General would be a logical place, because these are all general issues and all of us who are here do have, run or promote web sites. So in the absence of a specific "Business Marketing" forum, Webmaster General seems closest to bridging the gap between on and offline issues, and for now seems an ideal place to bring up general marketing issues.
Not too unrelated in some respects; giving quotes and "closing" go hand in hand. How about the on-page factors that encourage inquiries? Can you pre-sell with a web page? Do certain colors convert better? Do you market steak or sizzle or both?
BUT there's a difference between the webmastering/seo business and marketing for ecommerce sites, though there are areas that can overlap. That forum, as I understand it, is geared for the business of running a business for professional webmasters - designers or promoters. It's got a pretty specific focus.
Hybrid Marketing Strategies (Online+Offline)
Ezine / List Management and Promotion
Autoresponders / Follow Up Systems
Publicity and Public Relations
Joint Ventures / Partnerships
Upselling / Back End Sales
Monetization
Branding
CRM
Surveys / Polls
Viral Marketing
Pricing Strategies
Incentives / Contests
Testing / Tracking Results
Targeting / Niche Marketing
A question to all of the forum readers...
Do you feel that a specific venue for the discussion of the above topics (and perhaps others I've missed) would add to the value that WW provides?
sure, dump all you marketing types in my forum - I'll moderate the heck out ya ;)
seriously tho - I'm think some more general marketing discussion would be great. Many here don't live by ecom alone and still do traditional marketing. How to tie web marketing and traditional marketing together is a very complex thing to do.
who knows? maybe that marketing degree I got a few years back will finally do me some good ;)
How I've seen the dynamic of it work over time is that when there's enough interest, enthusiasm and activity, the community itself grows the topic to the proportion where the need for a new forum becomes evident. And then it happens.
Check out Trisha's post, done just this afternoon:
Promotion Marketing - alternatives to search engines [webmasterworld.com].
Great post - the water's fine folks, jump right on in!
We're ready for you, oilman. ;)
Following on from a thread yesterday about where the web will be in 5 years, I made a point that the level of consumer knowledge would be much higher.
I think a dedicated marketing forum would be good for us all in the long run, especially when we can all work at broad issues, such as raising consumer knowledge (at the end of the day, consumer knowledge of the web = consumer confidence in spending money on the web! ;)).
There are a lot of broad marketing issues like these, that might not have a noticable impact on you, me or the next guy, but do affect the industry as a whole. It be good to have a place to discuss this stuff and try to come to a general concensus as to how to approach it.
Our individual websites alone may not have much marketing pull, but - 10000s members = 100000s websites = 1000000s surfers - that is a lot of pull and im sure with the slightest bit of effort we could help advocate e-business and consumer confidence in the web - better for us, better for the surfers! ;)
My 2c
JOAT
I think a lot of people here are self learned in the webmaster/seo topics.
If i could broaden those topics to Offline / PR knowledge it would be great, another thing i could put on my resume :)
But i also feel that it would be very valuable, the reason i got in to SEO, was that i had my own site, and i didn't want to spend ££££ on paper advertising etc, so i though of ways were you didn't need to spend money, and thought of SEO.
Now i have some money (very little though), and i would love to be able to know how to release a press release, important branding issues Offline etc.
So i am totally up for it.
there are tonnes of stuff you can do for next to nothing.
All a press release requires is a carefully worded fax to news agency press departments (im sure you could find a site that offers free hints and tips on writing a press release).
Access DB. Word Letter. Mail Merge. Instant mailshot.
The only costs that you have are stationary and the time it takes to collate the information. :)
JOAT
Also, given the latest state of SEO, I've been pondering on the necessity of setting of an offline business or venture to backup a pure internet marketing model. That way, if we have a bad month in the engines, at least there will be revenue coming in from elsewhere. So it'd be great to be able to discuss ways to do this.
I think also this will be an improvement for WebmasterWorld.
On the other hand there may be too many subforums already! so I have some sympathy for Marcia's and? arguments. I tend to hardly ever go to the specific forums but just use the active list, so its not so obvious for me personally.
Thought 2 - how many people here are really marketing professionals? I've seen so many posts here saying if "If my client wanted to do that I would make them sign a release attesting to their stupidity" that I realized the posters have never pursued - much less landed - a client in their lives.
I eat what I kill. Not sure many here are of the same ilk. But if you are, I am happy to hear your thoughts.
how can I make my web site a business that exists offline also. I brought that up on my post in Webmaster General, but so far, no suggestions from anyone for that yet.
It's nearly impossible to make any suggestions without knowing what your existing business model is.
I'd suggest starting a new thread with this question that includes more details.
who uses forums, don't most experienced users just view the recent posts lists?
Only the Admin can answer this definitively.
While the most avid WebmasterWorld members do use the recent posts list, I would wager that there is an enormous number of folks that visit less frequently and search only the forums that are of specific interest to them.
how many people here are really marketing professionals?
How many people here are SEO professionals? Quite a number to be sure... but I would wager that only a fraction of WebmasterWorld's visitors make a full time living as SEO consultants. Countless others are simply here to keep abreast of those factors which have an impact on their own sites.
Thousands of webmasters today wear many hats...
A dedicated Marketing and Strategy forum would be of value to anyone in business... not just marketing professionals.
A dedicated Marketing and Strategy forum would be of value to anyone in business... not just marketing professionals.
Post a question of interest to marketing professionals - judge the response.
Then post whether you think a new forum is needed.
Post a question of interest to marketing professionals - judge the response.
I'm not clear on what it is you're suggesting... if you have an opinion on this, please just come out and share it. :)
This isn't a forum for marketing professionals, nor am I suggesting that it shold be... it's a forum for webmasters and others that are involved in doing business online.
Wouldn't it be more relevant to post a marketing question that is of interest to webmasters?
From the WebMasterWorld mission statement:
We are here for members to discuss the process of doing business...Running a website these days takes a great deal of knowledge. The design, coding, maintenance, promotion, marketing, and management of a website is almost an impossible task for one person alone without extensive training. We are here as a forum for the members to share and gain knowledge in operating and promoting a website.
As such, I believe (and apparently at least a number of others as well) that the proposed forum would help to serve the community's stated purpose.
When I started this post, the suggestion was that a dedicated marketing issues forum be created.
This was not to attract an additional market of users to webmasterworld (ie marketing professionals).
It was to provide a forum for webmasters (ie existing users) to discuss marketing issues.
The benefits i see in this are these:
1. All webmasters are running a business of sorts. If their website isnt a business, chances are they are still competing with others - therefore marketing is an important issue. Ignoring marketing for your business is the same as ignoring accessibility concerns when designing your site. Its not an essential part - only if you want customers.
2. A dedicated forum would allow users to browse down the categories and search for old topics easier. As was mentioned earlier, some people go for active posts - some browse specific forums - they can both provide valuable input.
3. Marketing is a fickle industry with many similarities to web design. There are no right and wrong ways of doing something, and what works for one person may not work for another. I could see a dedicated forum providing a medium for bouncing ideas around - it would be a great tool!
4. New users may hesitate in posting marketing related issues just now because they cant find somewhere to put it. A dedicated forum would solve this problem.
5. There are more than enough marketing professionals (and by that I mean people who have some experience and qualifications in marketing) on this forum to provide advice for other users.
I personally feel that marketing is and integral part of being a webmaster - be it online or offline. A dedicated marketing forum would add even more value to this already top notch forum! :)
JOAT
ps, you better hurry up and stick a marketing forum in - i might go off and set my own up and compete with WW ;)
