Setting Up a Message Board for Increasing Traffic

Every freelance writer wants to increase his or her revenue by maximizing the number of visits for his or her website. The common way for people to do this is by forwarding the link of the article to family members and friends. Or, they may just choose to connect to Facebook or Twitter applications to post an update about their articles. But, even with all these attempts, the writer is not really reaching out to other people that he or she does not know.

One good way to resolve this is by setting up a message board to increase the traffic. Instead of trying to advertise your articles on other websites, why not make your own? Having your own website will be another great way to add computer skills in your resume as well. I personally recommend creating a website with Wordpress plugins to make a blog-like website first, and then build a phpbb message board related to it.

Why should you go beyond just making a website?

When the blogging was relatively new, you could have received a decent amount of traffic even via website alone. But, now with the rising numbers of blogs every day, you need to establish a way to attract the readers for a longer period of time. There is no other better method than to create a message board so that people can relax and "chill" on your website and check out your articles more.

Let me give you an example. The first article I wrote for Associated Content was about SAT Prep Company and Independent Studying. If you type SAT Prep Company in Google, there are 981,000 results. Just imagine trying to write keywords to bring its popularity! It would be insanely difficult, right? So, what I did was to use my message board, which was dedicated for standardized tests, and openly advertised it. It has been most popular article I wrote in AC so far. The reason that you need to have your own message board is that if you do this on other message boards or forums, that type of action is equivalent of spamming and you may have your account shut down in that site.

How to Set Up

Now, where can you start? I recommend using HostGator for web hosting and GoDaddy for domain names. HostGator's Baby Package is really nice for web hosting and offers unlimited bandwidth for your applications. Or, if you already have an existing web hosting with companies like Yahoo or 1&1, then you need to use the preexisting applications for phpbb message board or manually download it and set it up via FTP (File Transfer Protocol).

When you are finished with making a message board, you will be the first user known as the Administrator. As an Administrator, you will have the highest power possible and can control every other user who registers for your website. At the same time, whereas users can just register and post if they want, administrators need to frequently update the system, make the forum as interesting as possible, and build content. It takes a lot of time and dedication.

I know that many of you may say that this is more work than needed, but it will be a great way to attract possible clients and increase your page views. It is most ideal if you can pick a certain topic and write many articles on them, so you can increase the traffic to the message board concentrated for that topic (I do not recommend you to make a message board titled "Bob's Message Board." Instead, make something like "Car Dealers' Message Board".

My last comment about this is to watch out for spams. Unlike regular blogs or websites, phpbb message board requires maintenance daily and weekly. As your forum becomes more and more popular, you will be receiving more spambots, which will produce obscene images, links to fake pharmaceutical products or financial institutions, or just something odd. Becoming a message board owner takes time, but it will be a great way to spread your articles and have them full under your control!