The keys to being part of a membership group with lots of participation.
Why most member sites don’t have great participation and the real secret of getting members to be active.
A lot of people on the net who are “seekers” and want to go to the next level participate in online forums. They’re free and sometimes provide value.
However, there are invisible drawbacks not readily apparent to the newbie or casual observer that can make them less than optimal places to get the boost you really need.
• Rampant criticism of others, even other posters in the forum
Some people don’t post things they’d really like to for fear of being criticized or ostracized by others in the forum. Nothing quenches the desire to learn faster than the fear of a pack of attack dogs jumping on a question!
I’m not saying all forums are like that. And most people in forums are polite and helpful. But since most forums are open to anyone, it’s hard to control the personal attacks that sometimes occur. These attacks and emotional outbursts can be referred to as “noise” because they have nothing to do with members helping members become more successful.
Thus, there's a need for a forum that doesn’t allow rampant noise, criticism and arguments to occur.
• It’s hard to know who to trust because everyone promotes affiliate links
Another issue some people have with forums is it’s difficult to know whose opinion or recommendation to trust when they’re making money from the recommendation via an affiliate link.
Don’t get me wrong. Promoting with affiliate links on forums is a way to make sales as an affiliate. But from the participant’s point of view, some question if they’re getting objective advice when there is a hidden agenda in terms of affiliate commissions to be earned. There’s nothing WRONG with this practice on the wrong hand because it does give people an incentive to participate and it’s an accepted practice.
On the other hand, some people just feel there’s an issue with trust or the possibility that recommendations will be made just for the sake of earning commissions.
The need, then, is for a forum where people are not allowed to post affiliate links related to their recommendations. The problem with this approach traditionally is that then people don’t have an incentive to actually participate in the forum. With sparse turnout, the value is limited.
The ideal solution would be a forum where people have an incentive to participate other than the posting of an affiliate link from which they hope to make commissions.
• The noise created by arguing over whose software, ebook or program is the best
What gets under some people’s skin is that the purpose of a forum should be, according to them, to help other people. Yet, the help often gets drowned out by people who are frustrated and would rather pick a good fight or an argument than they would help others.
Moderators try hard to stop fruitless arguments and discussions. But they have their hands full and no way to ban people from public forums. Posters can always just drop in under a different name or URL.
This causes some people to get discouraged or frustrated with all the noise and eventually what could be a really great community disintegrates into a small group of people all pushing their own hidden agendas.
This doesn’t always happen. And it happens to greater degrees in some communities than others. But it is one of the drawbacks of public forums or those without ways to ban posters and members who violate the rules.
The need is for a forum where people can be booted out if they don’t follow the rules. And there’s no quick and easy way for them to create a “free profile” and log back in to continue the chaos and havoc.
• The noise created by many people following different marketing models, so that few people are on the same page
A number of public forums are composed of any member who wants to post on any topic. And this can certainly be useful. But when everyone is using a different marketing model, the advice or collective experience targeted at any one model is limited.
What would be ideal is to have a forum where everyone is on the same page. Yet, there’s enough latitude to allow people their own approaches. In other words, a common approach with rigidity or lack of flexibility.
If you’d like to find a forum like this, click here to see the new MILCER’S private site where the above four problems are solved.
Get more information here: http://www.milcers.com/info.html
Best Wishes,
Marlon Sanders
CEO - Higher Response Marketing, Inc.
http://www.milcers.com/info.html
