Tip #40: Should You Add a Forum to Your Membership Site or Not?
February 8, 2015 
2 Comments
Many of our clients ask us whether of not we recommend adding a forum to their membership site.
The short answer is “Yes”, we recommend adding a members’ forum, the longer answer is that there are some factors to consider before setting it up.
In this tip we go over 7 excellent reasons to add a forum and 3 issues to consider before doing so…
Table of Contents
Reasons to Add a Forum:
- Creates interaction between members (Using Wishlist Tags plugin can help you achieve that in a very simple and excellent way
- Knowledge base for members questions
- Getting new ideas for content / products / webinars / courses / workshops and more
- Can help reduce support tickets significantly
- Allows you as a site owner to engage with members
- Increase members engagement
- You can reward members who participate in the forum and allow them to redeem the points in any way you choose (Using Wishlist Points plugin)
Reasons Not To Add a Forum:
These are actually reasons to consider before adding a forum:
- If you have only few members / a new membership site and the forum will probably be empty (Read our previous tip Tip #39: How to Turn Your Forum into a Thriving Community)
- Requires constant commitment and maintenance to make it look “alive” and active
- In some cases you may even need to consider hiring moderators to manage the forum and make sure it will succeed
Forums that Integrate with Wishlist Member:
- SimplePress – This is the forum that Wishlist Member themselves are using inside their closed community at Wishlist Insider. We have created a unique guide to help you integrate Wishlist Member and SimplePress together quickly and easily: “SimplePress Wishlist Member Plugin Integration Step by Step Guide“
- Vanilla Forums – Get more instructions in Vanilla Forums blog
- bbPress – Using a unique plugin our team at HappyPlugins developed that automatically protects all forums, topics and replies in 1-click only! Check out Wishlist bbPress Protection plugin
Access the Complete Wishlist Member Tips Series:
Check out our other tips to help you manage your membership site better and increase your conversions faster!
Here are some of our latest tips:
- Tip #32: Top 10 Powerful Wishlist Member Dedicated Plugins to Empower Your Membership Site
- Tip #33: Preventing from New Members Access to Old Content – Pros & Cons
- Tip #34: 7 Powerful Tactics to Creating Urgency & Get a Lot More Registrations to Your Wishlist Membership Site
- Tip #35: 10 Powerful Tactics that will Increase Your Emails Open and Response Rates
- Tip #36: Should You Build Your Membership Site on a Separate Domain on Not?
“Just wanted to let you know that the plugin is working great and incomplete registrations have gone to zero! I’m definitely going to do a review of the plugin and get it for my own site.” MaAnna Stephenson BlogAid.net
“Bob Tolbert’s Wish List Member plugins have made life easier on us by automating processes that would normally eat up a ton of admin time. I especially appreciate Bob’s quick response time and customer service. Fact is, our membership website would not function without these plug ins.” Michael Burwell TheHangoutHelper.com
“This plugin is the best way to supercharge your membership signups. I was especially impressed by the developers prompt customer service!” Stan Smith PushingSocial.com
“The Wishlist Auto Registration plugin is really great, I love it! And the support you guy’s deliver are really outstanding! Thank you so much!” Johan Skalberg kalisikaran.info
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