Setting Up a Community Site: Series Introduction
I’m in the process of establishing a new WordFrame site to do with social media and online communities, with a bias towards the Asian and Australasian contexts. I thought it might be useful for others if I were to document the journey, in outline at least. It should also help me, if for no other reason than to give myself some accountability.
Applying the “first things first” principle, this series of posts will look initially at how I have worked through to a basic concept and purpose for the site. To be frank, I haven’t always done that in the past with setting up sites, including blogs.
There have been occasions when I’ve had what I thought was a good idea, checked to see if I could get a .com domain that fitted and then gone ahead, registered the domain and set up the site, only to find down the road a bit that it would have been smarter to think things through before I jumped in.
This time around my aim is to be more systematic.
Basically, I’m putting myself in the shoes of a WordFrame customer and being a learner. I’m pretty confident that in the process I’ll get some things wrong, or at least won’t get right the first time some things that will be a breeze for other folks.
I’m hoping that, by sticking my neck out and sharing the process of setting up the site, I’ll not only be helping some others with the process of think ing through their own projects in setting up online community sites, but also helping to make myself a more effective solutions provider for WordFrame customers.
A disclaimer is in order. Although I am a WordFrame Premium Partner, this series of posts are not in any way official WordFrame documents.
Also, although I’m using the WordFrame platform, my guess right now is that much of the content will be of general applicability to setting up a site for a community of interest, whatever the platform.
Notice that my aim is to set up a community site, as distinct from wanting to establish a community. I know there is already a worldwide community of people interested in social media, as exemplified by, for instance, the Social Media Club. I know too that there are people interested in how social media works or might work in the Asia/Australasia context and who might just value a site with that focus.
Time will tell.
And if you have something to share – whether positive or cautionary – about setting up an online community site, I would love for you to comment here.
Series
Setting Up a Community Site: #1 Concept and Name
Des Walsh
Business coach and digital entrepreneur. With coach training from Coachville.com and its Graduate School of Coaching, and a founding member of the International Association of Coaching, Des has been coaching business owners and entrepreneurs for the past 20 years. Over the same period he has also been actively engaged in promoting the business opportunities of the digital economy. He is a certified Neurolinguistic Programming (NLP) coach, and a certified specialist in social media strategy and affiliate marketing.
4 Comments
Comments are closed.