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- Oct 1, 2019
- 24
- 89
Hi guys,
I have been running in circles and postponing the difficult task of building a forum on an existing directory site these days. So, trying my luck to see if I can tap into the power of FastLane thinking and organize my thoughts here...
My question: how to turn a yellow page-like site into a Yelp-like platform?
Some quick context
1. Existing traffic is there: the niche site has 100k to 150k unique visitors per month
2. Limited engagement from a directory: limited to information, which institutions cite as a reference and people check out as a guide post for influence of a publication
3. Proven model existed: There is an established site with a community (like a niched-down quora, with with way lower quality and people)
4. Display ads revenue stabilized: My site earns from adsense / Ezoic
5. The search intent of the visitors: a) getting published, b) checking / confirming the score of a publication, c) browsing for ideas
My objectives: add more value by facilitating people to tap the power of a community and in the process help users increase their influence and enhance their career
My thought process: I thought of sourcing some articles and build a lead magnet for email list - but who wants another email these days? Plus, I have always wanted to tap the scale potential of using crowd / UGC, so a platform seems idea seems ideal.
I guess there are a couple of options (but, there should be a lot more...)
1) How to use XenForo: I know this the fastlane forum is built on Xenforo, but I don't see the rich social features or how I can create those gamification rules
2) Is XenForo the answer? Sites like Indie Hackers: Work Together to Build Profitable Online Businesses offers a more "modern" view and functions (like search and view upvotes); but again... where do I start...?
3) What will be a good place to start...? Anyone has experience going through this journey...?
Any thoughts or questions will be appreciated...
Thanks.
John
---
I have been running in circles and postponing the difficult task of building a forum on an existing directory site these days. So, trying my luck to see if I can tap into the power of FastLane thinking and organize my thoughts here...
My question: how to turn a yellow page-like site into a Yelp-like platform?
Some quick context
1. Existing traffic is there: the niche site has 100k to 150k unique visitors per month
2. Limited engagement from a directory: limited to information, which institutions cite as a reference and people check out as a guide post for influence of a publication
3. Proven model existed: There is an established site with a community (like a niched-down quora, with with way lower quality and people)
4. Display ads revenue stabilized: My site earns from adsense / Ezoic
5. The search intent of the visitors: a) getting published, b) checking / confirming the score of a publication, c) browsing for ideas
My objectives: add more value by facilitating people to tap the power of a community and in the process help users increase their influence and enhance their career
My thought process: I thought of sourcing some articles and build a lead magnet for email list - but who wants another email these days? Plus, I have always wanted to tap the scale potential of using crowd / UGC, so a platform seems idea seems ideal.
I guess there are a couple of options (but, there should be a lot more...)
- option 1: simply enable discussion function based on existing directory pages (I don't prefer this - because there is another site doing this with limited success) - and this incremental change a) won't really help their intent, b) rely on "us" for input, and as a result c) limits growth potential
- option 2: turn the landing page upside down to encourage people to enter another page/site within the site (with gamifications to build up their profiles and store their publications for career enhancement purposes (like GitHub - but I'm getting ahead of myself...)
- option 3: don't build anything, just redirect them to a facebook group (not preferred... mainly I don't want to build a house on someone else's land)
1) How to use XenForo: I know this the fastlane forum is built on Xenforo, but I don't see the rich social features or how I can create those gamification rules
2) Is XenForo the answer? Sites like Indie Hackers: Work Together to Build Profitable Online Businesses offers a more "modern" view and functions (like search and view upvotes); but again... where do I start...?
3) What will be a good place to start...? Anyone has experience going through this journey...?
Any thoughts or questions will be appreciated...
Thanks.
John
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