JennyorAlice

Site Name: The Fireside Chats Site URL: https://firesidechats.home.blog/ Description: If you are an avid reader, this blog is for you! Site Name: Common Room Site URL: https://commonroom.jcink.net/ Description: A general discussion forum with a Harry Potter twist to it.

I've only ever tried Dreamwidth besides Wordpress. I like Wordpress over Dreamwidth because they have better themes in my opinion.

I would recommend Proboards, Forumotion or Jcink if you're using a free one. Wordpress is a good one, regardless if you're doing a paid or free option for a blog.

I feel comfortable with Forumotion and Proboards. I'm growing familiar with Jcink and starting to feel comfortable with that. Zetaboards was pretty comfortable to me till I quit using it when they were bought out by Tapatalk.

I'm using a free theme on my blog. I've found a paid theme on there that I like but I'd have to switch a purchased plan in order to be able to use that.

My blog is on Wordpress. Right now, I'm doing the free option but if I pick one of the purchase plans, then it'll remove the "this blog is on Wordpress" that you see at the bottom. Right now, I'm trying to figure out ways to make money on my blog.

I think my biggest hurdle is keeping the forum active and keeping people coming back to the forum. I am working on some ways to help with that. What do you guys do to keep your communities active?

You can have a place for members to post their suggestions or ask questions. Kind of a place for a suggestion box, if you will. It will allow people to vote on different things too.

My first forum had team leaders on it. Don't know that I've had team leaders since then.

Probably about 15 years or so (or something close to that). I think that's when I created my first forum was around that time.

If you have the time, you can do some exchanges with other people where you post on their community in exchange for them posting on your community. If you keep this up with 3-5 people then you can keep up a certain amount of activity to make your forum look like it's an active community to potential members.

I don't have any payment options right now for anything on my blog, however, I've thought about using Paypal. I know my husband uses it so I know he can teach me how to use it if I decide to make money off my blog.

I agree with this. I think you should start with this much, at least. You can't start with nothing and expect someone else to create content for you. Then, once you start then you can add a few people to you community that you can exchange with to make it look like your community is active to potential members.

I'll let the community vote and see if there is enough interest in that section before I'll add it. If there's not enough interest in it then that's your clue that you probably won't need it.

Every forum should have a place for announcements so you can tell your community when something happens. You should also have a place for new people to introduce themselves. And finally, you should have an off topic section regardless of what your niche` is on your forum.

I use Wordpress for my blog but I haven't used any of the plug-in's yet. I would be curious to see how everyone else answers the questions though.

For my blog, I use Wordpress. While it is free right now, I can choose to upgrade it later and pay a certain amount each month but that depends on which plan I choose from them. For my forum, I'm using Jcink. Proboards and Forumotion are alright too. I use to recommend Zetaboards until they were bought out by Tapatalk.

I check in on my site every day. How much time I can spend on my site depends on if I have to go to work that day. If it's my day off, I can spend all day on it if I want to. But if I have to work, I might be able to be on it for a couple of hours.

When it comes to my blog, I've thought about added a paid membership. I don't know that I would have ads on my blog.

I don't use a desktop, I use a laptop. My husband has a desktop that he built himself. We each have our own computer now so we can work in peace and no one is arguing over whose turn it is to use the computer. But I chose desktop because I don't log in on my phone.

Are you looking forward to going on vacation somewhere? If so, where? Are you saving up for that vacation?

Do you have any pet peeves? If so, what are they? Why do they bother you so much?

I just finished purchasing a few things at my local book store. I did buy some books, however, I bought a plush cat and a new t-shirt.

How much time do you spend on your forum or blog or website? Do you think you spend too much time on it or not enough or just the right amount? How much time do you think someone should spend on their site?

Do you like cooking? If so, what are your favorite meals to cook?