Blog (and forum) Logic

Well folks, it’s 5:30am here and I’ve been working almost non-stop all weekend. My main project? The new Gadgetizer Forums

If you’ve been following along here lately, you’ve probably noticed I’ve been grappling with how to effectively merge or add new features and benefits to blog networks. I’ve mentioned and gotten feedback on network branded RSS readers, newsletters, etc. as spinoffs to blogs and I thank all here who offered their insights. Very enlightening indeed.

I’ve also thought of testing forums attached to individual blogs to help bump up reader interaction and give readers an extension of the normal commenting features on blogs. Not only would this give readers a more robust interface for chattering amongst themselves, but it would increase pageviews on the sites and allow an easier way to attract user generated content which would help the site as a whole grow in size and SE penetration.

It’s more or less a test of how well forums and blogs can benefit from each other to build sites into more of a community and “destination” rather than just a blog. It seems to me a melding of the two could have a great impact on the success of a site, then maybe go with an email newsletter or PDF magazine once the user base is built up.

So I’ve talked myself into it. If you wanna see what it’s all about, click to go to the Gadgetizer Forums.

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