Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

(i like the idea of community volunteers as moderators - this is something joel is currently researching, coincidentally).

as for site traffic, it`s up and we`re proud of that, BrandAlchemy!




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Rich Sloan , Co-Founder, Chief Startupologist, StartupNation

There are a lot of different models for this kind of system ... some better than others. I`d imagine the goal would be to find people to adhere to your code of standards and spirit of community.

I like when the SUN people post things to keep the discussion going too. (Like Joel, and Rick, and crap I can`t think of her name, the lady in Marketing, or Todd`s music and Oleg`s tea.) I try to do that ... keep it going, share things that are interesting and helpful. Sometimes hit, sometimes miss. But I try!

Rich,

When you say `traffic is up`, what do you mean exactly? Up from six months of trending down, up this month from last month, up from where?

brandalchemy, why don`t you provide your phone number and i`ll try to address your curiosity directly... sound good? maybe you`ll have more good ideas on how we can improve our offering.

rich


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Rich Sloan , Co-Founder, Chief Startupologist, StartupNation

Rich,

Sure. Funny, I`ve received several calls from Joel, so it must be in the database somewhere, as it is on my website as well. Perhaps you can get it from one of these locations so I`m not posting it for the entire SuN world to see.

Defensiveness on hard traffic data is the surest sign that things are not going well.
Thank you for proving my point.

I`ve had lots of good ideas already:

1) Design this site so that scrolling to see posts is easy, instead of hogging the top of the page with a redundant SuN banner and navigation. I think that`s been mentioned a half-dozen times. If you didn`t offshore development to former Soviet republics (just a guess), this could be accomplished in an afternoon.

2) Moderate this site by subject matter to eliminate advertising posts, non-solicited  `advice` columns from anyone with an agenda and a keyboard, and downright dumb posts before they see the light of day.

3) Raise the bar on the level of discussions - a lot.

4) Make this a subscriber model to keep out the riffraff.

5) Get back on message with solid entrepreneurial advice versus one`s favorite tea, or whatever.

6) Embrace business and not simply the buzzword of entrepreneurship. In other words, let`s start talking in earnest about our day-to-day issues, and relegate (or eliminate) those things which really don`t belong on the front page.

7) Increase your banner spend to attract a higher level of audience and participation. Our recent influx of `help me make money with zero talent` posts surely shows you that.

8) Drop the command and control structure and either consider us customers providing free content, advice, and traffic, or else start charging us for the site and let us make that decision ourselves. It is clear to me that you run things fairly heavy-handedly; Joel certainly has come to emulate that.

9) Don`t simply feature advertisers or blog members if they really aren`t good at communicating.

10) Buy some legitimate radio markets versus run-of-schedule syndication and shore up the brand. Poughkeepsie @ 3am Monday morning doesn`t scream `the Tiffany network`.

Those should be enough to get you started, but you are welcome to call if you like.

jeff,

thanks for the comments and except for the suggestion that there`s something being hidden. not only are we growing but our return visitor rate is up as well - a sign that people are finding increasing value here. obviously they`re after something different than you are.

just left a fairly long VM at your 617# with thoughts about our goals and objectives at SUN. 

one last thing - like you i am an entrepreneur. and like you, i am hard to satisfy. i have high standards for myself, my output, my teammates, my business`s performance. so, i`m always expecting  more from the site as well... and faster too. we`ll continue to do our best and hope that the site has enough value in it for you to stick around.


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Rich Sloan , Co-Founder, Chief Startupologist, StartupNation

You said you were against censorship (or did I get that wrong?) ... and yet number 2 sounds exactly like censorship. Who decides what is "dumb"? You do? People are beginners here ... I would think adding a rule of "no dumb questions" would be pretty discouraging, don`t you? I guess this runs into #3 now too. Are you going to be the one who calls everyone dumb and tells them to step it up? I don`t know anything about Venture Capital ... if I had a question about that, coming from knowing nothing, would that make the bar pretty low and the question "dumb"?

Am I starting to sound like Craig yet? (C`mon, where`s the real Craig when I need him???? Let`s philosophize on "dumb questions".)

Does moving to a subscriber model make everything read-only for non-subscribers? Or can they not read at all?
Do people lose the Google indexing benefits on a your subscription model?
Do we lose the benefits of fresh perspectives if the only people here are the ones paying for the service?

Everyone needs a tea break.

I`d vote for something I was saying earlier ... get back the regular people who are contributing to this forum. Have a daily discussion or debate, started by SUN staff. I don`t believe it has anything to do with the people here ... I think I see the same people I have been seeing for 6 months. I just don`t see as much posting activity ... starting threads for the sake of starting threads. That is why I try to start a few. Rather than griping, why not take charge and start a few too?

I don`t know what 8 and 9 mean. Why not make ... positive suggestions ... and maybe they can take it into consideration?

And I`m sure Poughkeepsie is a very nice little town.

I get nothing out of posting this. It`s just a learning experience for me, really ... to see this how the end user sees it. I guess I am trying to understand why someone who can pop out 10 reasons why they hate this place can keep coming back to it.

Everyone has growing pains. And I might agree that the garden needs a little tending in the forum. But rather than abstract views of how you think they should run their business ... why not turn it into a discussion of what it really takes to build and grow an online community? Let`s learn from this, let`s make it into a positive. I don`t have all the answers - but I know I`ve learned a lot about dos and don`ts and I`d like to keep that going. Burning the building down isn`t going to make the site better, as even "better" is something abstract - it only applies to your beliefs.

I think that is pretty obvious ... what time is it over there?

I`d agree with that sentiment though. It`s always important to keep learning, moving, changing, adjusting.

My problem is giving myself the credit for doing something right before I jump on myself for what I`m not doing right. So keep that in mind ... You`ve built this community, made it through a redesign, gone through a few things ... so that is all great. Now it`s time for the next big thing.

Wait...! I just made up a new expression! "You can`t please everyone all the time!" By Jove, I think I`ll copyright it. :-D

Jeff, give it a rest. Whatever`s the site`s traffic, that`s the traffic. Lots of people are here, have been here, have left, and will join. So what if it`s up, down, or flat? There`s a huge amount of activity, and the site`s being crawled constantly.

We`ve found a significant, if not major boost to our business visibility simply by being part of this community. Nobody cares if the site traffic is whatever. All this topic was supposed to be about was whether or not there`s some rational examination of topics.

Joel addressed it, and unlike other forums, it indicates a "hands-on" management and leadership to the community.

I have only been a member of SuN for a few days, so I don`t know (or care) about the site`s participation trends.  I do know these facts:
1.  I posted a request for feedback on an elevator pitch.
2.  A SuN member, Craig, spent his time and energy patiently giving me positive and critical feedback on the pitch and on the concept of the business.
3.  I made adjustments which considered his input and began looking for opportunities to use the new elevator pitch.
4.  The responsiveness to the pitch has moved from "Ho Hum" to enthusiastic  "Send me more information".
5.  I now have 3 potential investors considering my business.  Previously I had none.
5.  The elapsed time is 5 days.

What more could one want?  In my opinion, this is a highly effective site that serves the entrepreneurial community well.  I  am recommending the site to all the people in my network because it works.

Thanks for providing a wonderful service.  At this level of community service, the trends should take care of themselves.