Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

First I would like to compliment startupnation on the vibrant colours, easy user interface and general layout of the site, very much alive. In the present global recession the concept is well placed to attract a lot of interest.
Now for my own website. The idea was to keep it clean, simple and functional. I have used phpbb (free). The T shirt market world wide is worth billions its a huge market. A forum with useful user content has the capacity to grow and open up other avenues longer term and that would be the long term goal. Right now this forum is new. The problem is gaining the traction in the early stages, as they say you have to start somewhere.  Here is the link to my site thanks.

Create a blog. Bring attention to it and start commenting on other sites. I like the way it looks. It`s good, you just need to market yourself more. Put your FAQs in a PDF file on your blog along with the Rules and general information.

Thanks for the feedback, much appreciated. The blog idea sounds good, will look at that. I have not a clue about marketing myself, I will need to look at that too. Thanks.

Also, you can go into other forums and leave your site as your calling card like we do here. A blog will let you explain more in depth what you`re looking for and how. You have to drive traffic to your site. It`s not enough to just put up a website. I`m finding that out myself. LOL!!

I have to agree, having a start up forum is an even bigger challenge, not only finding ways to drive traffic, but getting a user base that can allow the forum to reach critical mass and start growing. Many forums end up gathering dust in cyber space!

For those that have looked at my website so far, thanks for taking the time to do so.  So far the feedback is create a blog, leave a calling card (I guess you mean a sig) and marketing. Thanks. Will keep you posted when the blog is up and running.

Also use iList.com to advertise, it`s FREE! I call it the pretty version of Craigslist! LOL!

Will check it out Thanks.

Hi Windows. :-)
I would assume you`re selling tee shirts somewhere? If so, then why not link the forum to your sales site?

Long story short. I was in the computing industry for years, even made it to engineer and was laid off a few years back due to plant closure. During the "consultation" period (I live in the UK) I did a couple of comptia certs and later I did night classes at a local college for multi media and web design. I became interested in web design and would slog away with dreamweaver, flash and Fireworks putting fairly basic sites together. Right now I do have a job in a completely different field now.
My websites are a hobby at the moment, I pay for hosting and do the rest myself and I am learning as I go. I have another website which is joomla based and is a list of fests and events in europe. So if all else fails I have something I can turn my hand to (well I hope so anyway, but who knows). Anyone who has built a website on their own will know that it takes time for it to gain any visibility on the web at all and even longer to gain any significance, maybe and probably never (being realistic).
Longer term, I might get more adventurous and go further but I want to build a few foundations first, see how it goes and take it from there. If I do most of the work myself I can keep my costs to an absolute minimum and know the nuts n bolts.
One more thing, the web was never designed or intended for e-commerce, if you run a website and check your logs you will see the scans and hack attempts (ftp attempts seem popular) and it is a concern. Until there is a secure e-commerce solution my own view is that people will still feel more comfortable with bricks and mortar stores that have a web presence rather than just a web store.
The startupnation website seems to have its share of sharp people and a valuable resource for those even thinking about a business, so I like to chip in.