Fierce God

Wow, impressive results! Good growth.

Thank you for this,
i love how you and IPS along with @Joel R are always posting tips, tricks, better ways, and all that good awesome stuff, that guys like me (lil guys) still need to learn and get better with managing communities, or making them more user/member friendly
 
By the end of this, i have gained knowledge on a few things that i was completely oblivious too

This is a great list.  
It's so great that @Matt stole one of my future article ideas, ha.  
Some things that I wanted to add:
- Future Publish Date: I love queueing up content in advance, especially when I know I'm going to be away from the community.  It helps trick my community - whoops I mean "reassure" - that I'm still active even while away.  You can set future publish dates on Page records and Blog posts.  
- For the RSS Feeds, I usually like more granularity in how its displayed.  So as a pro Joel hack, I created an email folder called Community Ideas that's subscribed to various newsletters and feeds.  Anytime I need ideas, I just browse that folder and then rewrite a short introduction. 

You're welcome! I'm glad you're getting some useful pointers from these articles.  
I really wish I had these kinds of thought provoking articles on community management when I was first starting out, so I'm trying to jumpstart the success of others. These articles are really meant to provide an easy core foundation for all Invision Community admins and owners to think deeply about how to build a better community.  
Sometimes I feel as if community managers try to rely too much on technology to solve all their problems.  Install a new app! Request customization! Focus on SEO and sitemaps! When in reality, there's this whole component to sparking human connection which is far more important.  People have been building communities for thousands of years, and the tenets of community building have been around forever.  
In short, whether you build your tribe in digital or offline, you'll always need to think about things like boundaries, identification, rituals, and more.  Get those right and the community will follow.  

WoW! 
 
What a awesome read, and many useful pointers, and needed info
 
Thank you for another awesome news entry @Joel R

This ^^^^^^^^
Good Points again @Joel R

@Joel R Just to be clear, I don't really have 98% of the marketplace as the rumor @Rhett has started. Maybe only 96% LOL .. I kid.
Hey someone has to keep the 3rd party folks funded!!! I'm an altruist dammit!!!
Realistically I have lately been limiting it to things I really need that my clients depend on. Right now I have 4.4 running  smoothly with a paired back limited set of specialized plugins that are supported very well by the BEST developers we have here. 
However, I have made similar rookie mistakes back in my SMF/phpbb .. specifically phpBB I had so many modifications I ended up basically destroying the site. 😞
I don't want to get too philosophical but there are conflicting interests at play here. From the IPB perspective they need the software to be GENERAL so that it will run well and suit the needs of the widest audience possible. However as a site owner you need the opposite. You need your site to be very unique, targeted and specific. This is how you can best appeal to your niche and win in your market. That can only be achieved with 3rd party plugins.
IPS knows this and have done a VERY good job at making their software (all things considered) bullet proof. It handles the 3rd party stuff in a genius way with specific hooks and deals with the change very well. Clever enable/disable features really help.
Great article Joel!!!! 🙂 🙂

Facts!!
Thank you for this Joel.
 
One of our "Rookie Mistakes" back in 2017 was that we tried to have every single app and plugin that the marketplace offered, then try to "cram" it all into One place, not creating "doors" that led into other places to find "More"
Also we were changing Themes way to much and too often
 
Now, we have staff meetings every week, we have each staff member familiar with IPS and it's Powerful Core Features, then they are always going thru the marketplace to research key apps and plugins to make sure they are needed, not needed, and pro's vs con's of having them

I think a lot of us overdose on the Marketplace (looking at you @SJ77!!) And I'm guilty if this too (sorry Tier 1 support!!) but I do believe that as long as you have a significant reason for the Marketplace app or plugin then you'll be fine.  
Its one thing to install something like a Member of the Month app where it's a central component of your community activity, versus an app that you think will magically run itself.  And that's where I think a lot of us get into trouble with the big apps or plugins, where we don't invest the time or energy or strategy to make it a central focus.  
Great point.  This goes to the new article by @Matt on Primark Cafe where they're creating new experiences.  
You see this with malls in the United States, where instead of the same boring department stores they're inviting more "pop up" stores for unique and changing experiences.  
From my own life, I just spent the weekend shopping at Ikea.  I don't furniture shop at all, but my friend dragged me to the store - and whoa!  For anybody who does not know about Ikea's furniture stores, it's not a store -- it's an experience.  You're eating Swedish meatballs, the kids are in the play area, you're on their walking tour of Swedish ingenuity, you're surrounded by these amazing full room installations of new cabinets and lighting and pillows and furniture that are perfectly curated, and by the end of the day, your life goal is to sell your home, move to Sweden, and rent an 800 square foot economy space just so you can redecorate a multi purpose living / kitchen / bedroom and install one of their crazy lighting fixtures and your life really won't be complete until you do so.  
You still need to offer functional value to your members as a fundamental reason to visit your community.  But layered on top of that functional value is how you want to deliver, present, and delight your users.  Whether that's Instagram-ready visuals, a compelling tour through your site, or Swedish meatballs 🤣, that's the hard part of creating a unique community experience.  

Facts!!
Thank you for this Joel.
 
One of our "Rookie Mistakes" back in 2017 was that we tried to have every single app and plugin that the marketplace offered, then try to "cram" it all into One place, not creating "doors" that led into other places to find "More"
Also we were changing Themes way to much and too often
 
Now, we have staff meetings every week, we have each staff member familiar with IPS and it's Powerful Core Features, then they are always going thru the marketplace to research key apps and plugins to make sure they are needed, not needed, and pro's vs con's of having them

#summergoal2019
On a serious note, I've always felt like "experiences" were the way to go with an online community.  You want visitors to see, feel, touch, and think in a whole new digital world that only you can deliver.  
I changed my language strings to literally use words like explore, discover, start an adventure.  Before the post before register, Invision Community had the streamlined sign-in and I changed the wording to "begin your adventure" for new registration and "restart your adventure" for login.  I literally couched my terms in a sense of new discover and wonder, which fits with my sites theme.  
Perhaps the next step is a digital renovation like a department store to create new and exciting spaces.  
It's all about crafting a unique online experience that they can't get anywhere else.  

Facts!!
Thank you for this Joel.
 
One of our "Rookie Mistakes" back in 2017 was that we tried to have every single app and plugin that the marketplace offered, then try to "cram" it all into One place, not creating "doors" that led into other places to find "More"
Also we were changing Themes way to much and too often
 
Now, we have staff meetings every week, we have each staff member familiar with IPS and it's Powerful Core Features, then they are always going thru the marketplace to research key apps and plugins to make sure they are needed, not needed, and pro's vs con's of having them

Well, we could write a book on it, but generally.

Your community > The Web
Make it searchable by allowing guest read access in most areas
Produce high quality articles / reviews / content that people want to consume and share
Consider Facebook/Google ads to drive traffic to a specific landing page (not the community index)

The web > Your community
Make visitors feel welcome, make it easy for them to add content (post before registering), make it easy for them to return (enable email notifications), make it easy to read more content (use blocks to encourage content discovery)

Your community > increase engagement
Reward members with gamification, take the time to talk to members, get to know them, make the interface as simple to use as possible, make sure key areas work well on mobile phones, etc.

Do those things are you're in the 10% of people that will succeed.

I think in 3-5 years, there will be less successful forums on the Web. It's just not enough these days.
That's the key right there!
We can't continue doing the same thing. We NEED to change. We NEED to make the whole "community experience" better.
We need to...
Focus on members. Focus on your diamonds ... build them up.
Focus on Community Management.
Focus on other content types (instead of sending them away why not point internally to your content) eg. videos, whitepapers, etc
Focus on directories and landing pages (Pages). If you find that your members are constantly directing readers to XYZ site then why not create a directory out of it? For example, if your target are students you can have a Scholarship Directory or a School Directory. Heck, I can go on... how about a Videos Directory (of all the Youtube videos you are working on 😜), Articles, etc
Focus on User Experience. Make sure there is nothing that turns people off. Test. Test. Test.
Focus on Speed.
Focus on ALL devices.
Focus on quality content.
 
Any other ideas?
 
 

Facts!!
Thank you for this Joel.
 
One of our "Rookie Mistakes" back in 2017 was that we tried to have every single app and plugin that the marketplace offered, then try to "cram" it all into One place, not creating "doors" that led into other places to find "More"
Also we were changing Themes way to much and too often
 
Now, we have staff meetings every week, we have each staff member familiar with IPS and it's Powerful Core Features, then they are always going thru the marketplace to research key apps and plugins to make sure they are needed, not needed, and pro's vs con's of having them

Facts!!
Thank you for this Joel.
 
One of our "Rookie Mistakes" back in 2017 was that we tried to have every single app and plugin that the marketplace offered, then try to "cram" it all into One place, not creating "doors" that led into other places to find "More"
Also we were changing Themes way to much and too often
 
Now, we have staff meetings every week, we have each staff member familiar with IPS and it's Powerful Core Features, then they are always going thru the marketplace to research key apps and plugins to make sure they are needed, not needed, and pro's vs con's of having them

Facts!!
Thank you for this Joel.
 
One of our "Rookie Mistakes" back in 2017 was that we tried to have every single app and plugin that the marketplace offered, then try to "cram" it all into One place, not creating "doors" that led into other places to find "More"
Also we were changing Themes way to much and too often
 
Now, we have staff meetings every week, we have each staff member familiar with IPS and it's Powerful Core Features, then they are always going thru the marketplace to research key apps and plugins to make sure they are needed, not needed, and pro's vs con's of having them

I'm glad it got you thinking. If you have a built in store, then you could consider creating a sales page in Pages, that links to the product in Commerce and go into more detail on it, and use that Pages page to market it externally.
 
I just had a quick look at your site too, I really like it. Featuring members of the month well, nice articles featured on the front page and using Our Picks to showcase your best content.

One: I like how your blogs are straight to the point!!! +100 on that
Yes you are right about Toys R Us, they never listened to what was being said, and never invested in what could help them overcome their failings.
WoW, what a investment! I see where they are going to succeed and will follow the news to see where they go.
Thanks for this info
 
your question is a good one: 
"What are you doing to encourage more people through your doors?"
Community owners will really sit back and think on this, as we are right now!!!
This also applies to our Merch store we have, as we could ask this about how to get customers to our online store and "Buy"

Because the algorithms are way to easy to game, especially with money.  Is it really social media if the only way you get to see what you want to see is if the provider is paying to put it in front of your eyes? That's just plain old advertising. 

Good read, and informative
 
Went well with drinking my morning coffee
 
Can't wait till the next one

Good read, and informative
 
Went well with drinking my morning coffee
 
Can't wait till the next one

They also get a nice dollop of publicity for doing so. 

Love following this and your achievements, congrats! 

Mutt of the Month is brilliant.