In this article I will show you a simple process for how to find and assess forums for content research for an article. It is not as hard as it seems and you just need to keep in mind a few rules if you want to ensure you are providing good (that is useful content) to your readers.
Start with a Plan
The first step before you start your research is to work out what you are going to do. Make sure you can answer these questions:
- What is my key topic? (This will be influenced by your keyword research)
- Who am I writing this for? (This affects what voice you use and how you deal with the topic)
- What is the result or action I want? Do I want to enhance my authority or is their a call to action?
I find a mindmap particularly helpful at this point. Here, for example is the mindmap I created for this article:
Finding Forums for your Content Research
(Okay, for the pedantic that strictly speaking that should be Fora in my defence Forums is in common use.)
The first step to using Forums for Research is finding them.
Fortunately this is pretty simple – yes, you guess it just use a search engine and your keyword and the word “forum”.
Here I am assuming you have not already found forums to assist with your preliminary research on a topic and to keep you up to date on the latest developments in your field of interest.
In this case I am research on writing applications for the Mac, so my search would normally start with a query like this:
Assessing Forums for Content Research
Not all forums are the same – some will be mature and reputable, some will have just started and be gathering members and making a name for themselves.
In the interests of quality it is important to know the difference. That said – you may find a new forum with some useful content so think of this as a prioritisation tip rather than a rule for culling forums.
Some of the steps you can take to assess a Forum:
- Look at the Forum’s statistics – you are looking for good (ie large) membership numbers, fresh posts (look at the date of the latest posts), and ideally many posts.
- Use Technorati and Alexa to check out a forum – a forum is a website after all
- Look at where the Forum ranks in your search engine results
- Finally, and importantly, read some posts. Look at the
- date of posts to see how active the forum is (look at the number and dates of views and replies)
- number of threads and posts – the more the better
- spam (ideally low to none)
Example: Checking out the quality of your Forum
The forum I used for my research on my topic was MacRumors Forum. Now I know this is a reputable site (I visit it often and know it is frequently updated and the Forum is very active).
Checking the Forum Statistics
However, say I didn’t know this I could have a look at the forum stats – you should find these on the homepage of the Forum at the bottom of the page. These are the results for MacRumors Forum:
Using Technorati and Alexa
Looking into Technorati and Alexa I can see that MacRumors the main site of MacRumors ranks in the Top 100 Technorati sites:
and the statistics for Alexa are good too with sizeable links, a 4-star rating and a rank of 601:
Search Engine Result Page Ranking
Looking at the search results displayed earlier, you can see that MacRumors ranks number 2. Another tick.
Finally check the content
I look for spammy content (irrelevant comments or link laden content). In my eyes a forum that is heavy with these comments indicates poor moderation or indifferent members (spammy comments should have been voted down, reported or removed).
I am also a little wary of fanboy or flaming posts – although some is a good sign since it indicates a level of passion (if not necessarily reasonableness) about a topic.
I also checked the date of posts in the Forum (easily done by clicking on the New Posts link). Again you want fresh content (and non-spammy).
You would obviously apply the same criteria when you look for posts related to your specific area of research.
Closing Thoughts on Finding and Assessing Forums
This is a simple and quick process. You can use it not only to research specific topics but also to find active groups that you can follow and (ideally) participate in and so keep abreast of current issues in your area of interest. It also provides a good chance to establish your authority on an issue or topic.
In most cases you don’t need to visit the actual Forum itself everyday – most forums offer an RSS feed so you can keep track using Google Reader or whatever your RSS aggregator of choice is. (I use Reeder.)
Next time
I’ll show how I use forum posts to build your article.
If you have any thoughts or questions on the topic of how to find and assess forums for content research let me know in the comments below.
No related posts.
