Forum Building – Step1 – Software and SEO Modifications
So you want to start a forum but don’t know quite where to get started or what’s the best thing out there to use. Well, I’ll be talking about forum building & Managing from my own experience. I Don’t want anyone to think I’m the almighty god when it comes to forums but I have owned several Big communities, which portals as QW-Dev.net grab it.
1.) Forum Base Software – I personally use Vbulletin for every Forum I’ve ever created. I have used phpbb2, Invision, PHP nuke and others so please don’t think I’m just a VB lover cause it was the first thing i tried. But I find Vbulletin to be the most powerful of the group with its extensive features and add ons. (Of course, your welcome to use any software you like.) Especially since Vbulletin 3.7 Is about to step out of beta, The features it brings allows you to take your forum out of the norm and into the social Networking realm with its new members account options. That alone is a major plus over the rest.
2) SEO Modifications – Once you have your forum installed you should look to increase its visibility with SEO modification you can find free on Vbulletin.org and other Vbulletin forums. Here are the Best Modifications I recommend to do just that.
1.) Zoints SEO Version: 2.2.2 – I won’t be listing the features but just know this is a complete SEO mod that will give you all the tools you need for SEO purposes. For the FREE option, this is just as powerful as video’s $149 deal.
2.) Zoints Thread Tags – GREAT for SEO
3.) Adding H1 Tags to your Forum and Threads – This is very helpful to your forum as it will help your titles be …