The industry technology forum is different from general entertainment and local life forums. Its characteristics are:
1. Most of the members come from the same industry.
2. The main function of the forum is to provide a platform for technical exchanges.
Several of our friends who are interested in establishing the Rubber, Plastics and Elastomers Forum in their spare time. From 2007 to now, although the forum has not developed very much, there are still many problems in the process of building the forum in the past few years. I have gained a few things, including a little experience about the construction industry technical forum. Now I will share it with you. If there is something wrong, I hope you can help me!
1. About the webmaster of the industry technical forum
1. It is best to build an industry technology forum full-time. If you are very busy, you can entrust someone else to be the webmaster, or find a stable partner.
2. For the industry involved in the forum, the webmaster does not need to understand the technology of this industry. Of course, it would be better if he could understand it. However, since the webmaster is involved in this industry, he must understand the industry as much as possible and roughly Understand the technical information and characteristics of this industry.
3. Be mentally prepared. Although the competition in industry technical forums is not fierce, it shows that the membership group of this industry technical forum is relatively difficult to develop. Firstly, the group base is small, and secondly, the development speed is slow.
4. Strengthen your self-cultivation, maintain a good attitude, and be generous and fair in dealing with others.
2. Procedures for the Construction Industry Technical Forum
1. For forum building programs, give priority to some forum programs that are widely recognized and have high market share, such as: phpWIND and DISCUZZ, because relatively speaking, the companies with these forum programs have strong financial strength and have enough personnel to improve the forum programs. It is practical and safe. For webmasters, it is more convenient to choose such a forum program to maintain it.
2. In fact, there is no perfect program, and the same goes for forum programs. Some webmasters often like to change programs. This is actually not necessary. Some data will inevitably be lost every time you convert. More importantly, for members, changing forum programs will It will make them uncomfortable! The Rubber, Plastics and Elastomers Forum initially used the Dongwang program, and later converted to the BBSMAX Forum program. This conversion lost the points data, scoring records, and many data attachments. After learning this lesson, when my friends asked me to switch again, I never agreed again!
3. If you have the ability, you can beautify the forum program. However, people in technical forums still prefer simple and elegant forum templates. Too much modification will be counterproductive.
4. Regarding how to use the forum program, some important reminders should be made as obvious as possible. Not all technical people can easily use the forum program. I also encountered people who didn’t know where to find the post button!
3. About the management team of industry technical forums
1. Although when a forum is first established, it is all done alone, but a harmonious management team is indispensable. Of course, the number of people can be smaller in the initial development period, but it must be united! Do not be individualistically heroic and think of yourself. Can handle everything!
2. Where will the management team and moderators, the backbone of the forum, develop?
2.1 One is to slowly cultivate the members of the forum itself, of course through communication and encouragement, and slowly let the members take the position of management. Although this development model is a bit slow, the relationship between such management and the forum is usually very deep!
2.2 The second is to discover talents through other media in the industry, which is to obtain contact information through QQ groups, other similar technical forums, and personal blogs of certain technical people, and actively invite them, but this method requires special attention: you may irritate The webmaster of the forum where the person you invited is located will cause some saliva!
2.3 The third one is, of course, to actively attract industry professionals to join as moderators by publishing advertisements such as moderator recruitment. This method usually requires moderators to consider for a period of time, because some members are only interested in the name of moderator, not in the name of moderator. Interested in the moderator's work!
3. You need to pay attention to the personal qualities of management team members. You should choose those who have a sense of justice, have their own opinions, and are not selfish! Usually people with a sense of justice will be fair in handling everything and will not favor any party. This ensures that The management team maintains sufficient impartiality when handling forum and member affairs; people with their own opinions will not follow others' opinions. As a webmaster, when you hear other managers saying flattering words, it means that this website There is no democracy anymore, and the management team has been enslaved. This situation will not happen if you choose people with independent opinions; of course, people who are not selfish are more likely to put in actual work, rather than superficial people who shout loudly. !
4. Regarding the industry aspects involved in the industry technology forum and the spirit of the posts
1. When starting out, the industry scope involved should not be too large. Try to be more professional in subdivided industries. However, most people are obsessed with being large and comprehensive. The result of being large and comprehensive will only lead to a forum without any characteristics. Of course, when the forum develops to a certain place, it can be extended to related fields. For example, at first our forum mainly involved the field of thermoplastic elastomers. Later we expanded to the field of plastics, and now we are expanding to the field of rubber. The name of the forum has also changed from the thermoplastic elastomer forum to the plastics field. Of course, there are certain risks in changing the Elastomers Forum to the Rubber, Plastics and Elastomers Forum. Increasing the expansion area will distract attention and lead to insufficient expansion. This is mainly decided by the webmaster based on the actual situation. What should be given up? Or give up!
2. As a carrier, posts carry the functionality of the forum and the hard work of members!
2.1 As a technical forum, we must pay attention to originality and encourage communication! Only when a forum has more originality and more communication than others, will this forum be truly recognized by members. If there is no originality and all is reprinted, members will You can go anywhere; without communication, problems will not be solved, and experts will feel lonely if they lack opportunities to learn from each other!
2.2 In the early stages of forum construction, it is still possible to appropriately reprint some valuable posts. What should be noted here is that if it is an original work, remember to retain the source, and the original author must respect it. In addition, reprinting posts is also based on search engine considerations, but do not take reprinting as the focus!
2.3 Collect as much electronic books, electronic documents, electronic papers and other materials as possible. These materials should be convenient for members to download and study, but to avoid copyright disputes, please do not upload some electronic materials that are too new!
2.4 This is the spirit of the posts summarized by the X-Ren Forum: Originality is the foundation of a forum! Essence is the quality of a forum! Interaction is the life of a forum! 5. About the system of industry technical forums
1. As an industry technical forum, the rules and regulations of the forum are relatively strict compared to entertainment and lifestyle forums. To prevent members from flooding too much, the irrigation area and the technical exchange area must be separated; members must be guided , boring watering is meaningless.
2. The management of downloaded information and points should be as loose as possible, because most of the information is free resources on the Internet, and the forum only serves as a storage. If you want to use these free information to make money, it is not a good idea. The increase in points should not be too difficult, but a meaningless increase in points will only lead to malicious watering.
3. Don’t be too strict about the restrictions on sales people in the industry joining forums for communication.
4. Do not have strong resistance to similar forums or websites, but you can develop appropriate systems to remind the other party.
5. In short, the system is formulated to make it as convenient for members as possible. While avoiding malicious trouble, making the system the most relaxed and user-friendly will help attract more members!
6. Some activities of industry technical forums
1. Organize as many activities as possible to activate the atmosphere of the forum. In addition to technical exchanges, the forum also has a casual nature. If done properly, it can increase the viscosity of members. For example, our forum once held T-floor activities, and lucky people can Receive T-shirt rewards and participate in forum reality shows, making it easier for friends who are not together to get to know each other through photos.
2. For rewards for members who have contributed to technology, we must consider both spiritual rewards and material rewards. Although the rewards are dozens or hundreds of things, they can really represent the whole heart of the forum. This is better than shouting thank you in vain. Webmasters are more humane, and these rewards can be implemented through outstanding member evaluations and annual commemorative events.
3. For leaders or members who have made outstanding contributions, there can be larger awards. For example, the "Forum Lifetime Achievement Award" and "Forum Bighorn Award" of our forum are awarded to members who have made great contributions to the forum, and these awards Winners may be considered for inclusion in the core management team of the forum.
7. Regarding the profitability of industry technical forums
1. This problem is unavoidable, because operating a forum requires funds. Of course, if you build a forum purely out of hobby, the desire to make profit will be relatively weak, but it is undeniable that if a forum does not have financial support, it will Sooner or later it will be closed down! If it is purely a personal hobby, I suggest you start your own industry technology blog. This costs almost no money, and you can handle most things by yourself!
2. How many ways to make money are there currently?
2.1 Advertising income: Including income from joining Baidu Alliance and Google Alliance, this amount will not be too much for the forum, because the advertising department does not favor pure forum media, and too many advertisements are displayed in the posts, giving people the impression that Too crowded!
2.2 Hold technical exchange meetings and training classes: This is a better way, because technical exchanges in the forum cannot replace relatively systematic training and learning. The forum organizes such activities, one is to gather people, and the other is everyone Also relatively recognized.
2.3 Paid technical service intermediary, I think this is also a relatively promising profit model. There are currently a large number of small and medium-sized enterprises in China, and they are relatively weak in technology. How to quickly and effectively mobilize the technical resources of all members of the forum, there is a A suitable platform is necessary. The forum organizes manpower to join in the technological improvement of small and medium-sized enterprises, which will benefit many parties. Of course, this involves trade secrets, and legal disputes must be avoided in some cases.
2.4 Providing business intelligence. This model is already implemented by specialized websites. I think if the forum has specialized manpower and material resources, it can also organize personnel to write these intelligence materials and then provide them to customers in need.
8. About the commercialization of industry technical forums
1. The purpose of commercialization is to move the forum from being run by individuals to being run by enterprises. In the early stages of commercialization, there may not be much difference, but a forum operated commercially should have more development potential;
2. My point of view is that a forum must be commercialized at least in the early stage of making a profit and establish a formal company. Unless only one person participates in the forum, then I think it is impossible! Why do you say this? Because if you make a profit, you will not be able to start a business. ization, which further complicates the interests of all parties. In addition, it is not a commercial company, and it is difficult for the interests of all parties to be protected by law. If everyone's interests are not protected, I think the original team will have centrifugal force sooner or later!
3. We don’t have more commercialization experience in our forum, and we sincerely hope that friends with experience in this area can provide guidance!
This article is contributed by the webmaster of www.talktpe.com !
The personal space of the author Hutu Bumuzhu. This article only represents the author's opinion and has nothing to do with the position of the webmaster network.