An online community could be a chat room, e-mail
discussion list, discussion forum or other technologies
that allow groups of people to communicate at your
web site. When you have a popular online community
it will increase your traffic and sales. Below are ten
ways to attract people to participate in your online
community.


1. Tell your visitors that you post a new, free offer
every day, week or month in your online community.
The free offers should be attractive to your target
audience.


2. Regularly schedule experts or famous guests to
participate in your online community. You could
design it to be a virtual class or a question/answer
session.


3. Post testimonials on your web site from people
that have participated in your online community.
The testimonials could be about what people have
learned or liked while participating in it.


4. Don't allow blatant ads in your online communities.
If people decide to visit your online community and
see a ton of ads they most likely won't be back.


5. Post all the benefits of participating in your online
community on your web site. You could write it like
you're writing an ad for a product you're selling.


6. Submit your chat room, e-mail discussion list or
discussion board to online community directories.
You can find them by typing " the community type"
with the word "directory" in any search engine.


7. Create an e-zine just for people who participate
in your online community. Allow them to subscribe
for free. When they receive each issue, it will remind
them to come back and participate in your community.


8. You (the owner of the online community) should
participate regularly. Post information that will benefit
the other people. This will show them you care about
your online community members.


9. Have plenty of people to monitor your online
community. They could remove postings that turn
away people like profanity, spam and other off-
subject postings.


10. Your online community should contain user
friendly features, like a search option for archived
discussions, easy posting or chatting options, email
updates or digests, etc.


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