Network of POPULAR computer related forums

[cscgal]

I'm looking to start a network of reasonably popular computer related forums. My forums currently offer computer tech support and computer programming (including web development).

I'm looking for about 4 other forums that would like to swap 125x80 buttons (or slightly smaller size) on the bottom of EVERY FORUM PAGE with me. In other words, every forum in the network will have 4 button links to each other site in the network.

The sites will not be affiliated in any way other than that we swap links on all of our forum pages. Of course, you can opt-out of the network at any time - the main purpose here is to promote each other's sites by offering other computer related forums to our members.

However, I do offer some very strict criteria:

- site must be computer tech support, programming, hardware, or software related; i.e. NOT a gaming site, etc.
- site must have a minimum of 500 members
- site must have a minimum of 5,000 posts
- site must receive a minimum of 4,000 pageviews / day

As of right now,
my site has 1,362 members
We have 1,274 threads
We have 7,602 posts
We receive about 7,000 pageviews / day (about 6,000 on weekends)
#1 for many niche keywords in Google

This is my site ...
http://www.techtalkforums.com

This seems to me to be a great opportunity to other computer related forums. One reasonably popular site with a nice clear link to another reasonably popular site = Two sites "exchanging their userbase" with members of one joining the other

If your computer-related site doesn't fulfill this criteria, please contact me about swapping links @ http://www.daniweb.com/techlinks

[Joe]

I do not have computer related forum, but I REALLY like the overall feel of your website, congrats. :)

[cscgal]

Hey there Joe. You, too, should be congratulated on your highly active forums. Too bad they're not computer related ;)

Just one addition ... while my site took off to a very slow start a year ago, My traffic has TRIPLED within the past 3 months! Therefore, I'm looking for my partner sites to be strong, growing communities as well. If your forum is more popular than mine, please consider affiliating - we can still benefit enormously from one another as my site is still growing almost exponentially day by day.

[Joe]

I have thought about doing this as well... placing 10 - 15 "88x31" buttons in the footer to other forums. IMHO, 4 affiliates is not too many... and do you really want to send traffic to a competing forum? I would prefer not to partner with other bike releated sites... ;)

I also have plans to link to other forums in my archive, I wouldnt mind trading links with 50 or so communities for a link back to my site... I'll start a new thread later for that ;)

[cscgal]

I just noticed you have links to other bicycle forums in your archive :)

As far as wanting to send traffic to a competing forum? Well, here's the deal ... I run my computer forums strictly as a hobby for my own enjoyment. I think it's just great to be able to help others in addition to creating something I can be proud of. So why not link to other computer sites? We each offer something different - latest IT news, tech support help, computer programming, etc. Plus, most of my visitors are computer saavy enough to know about a bunch of other computer sites anyway ... so why not benefit by linking and increase my Google PR in the process? ;) They're going to go anyway! Besides, even I am guilty of visiting and posting to other computer forums.

The reason I only want four affiliates or so is because I already have a links page for swapping links. I want this network to be something more ... first of all, the buttons are going to be in the footer of EVERY forum page. Second of all, the other forums in the network are going to be of a high quality, receive a decent amount of traffic, and be of much interest to my forum members - therefore, they're not just advertisements!

[P.Jackson]

is my site/forum in your critira? www.pure-hardware.co.uk (http://www.pure-hardware.co.uk)

[AWS]

I'd be interested.
My users post a number of computer related topics and it would be great to be able to send them to a place that is more geared towards them.
I have 2 sites:

http://visualbasicforum.com
http://dotnetforums.net

I think the second would be the best to use. VB is on its way out and .net is the future.

Only problem is I don't have a button. Hey, I'm a retired programmer not an artist. ;)
I can talk to my style admin and see if she can come up with one.

[cscgal]

Wow, I'm thrilled to already have 2 requests. :)

AWS, I think your site would be a perfect complement to mine. My programming section isn't nearly as strong as my tech support section. Therefore, I think it would be great if we could share our VB-programmer members.

As for not having a button? Neither do I, at the moment! I'm going to put something together in Photoshop later today. If you'd like, I can make something for you as well. :)

P. Jackson, I'm not so sure if your site is exactly what I'm looking for right now. Considering I already offer hardware, etc. forums, while I'd like a hardware-only forum to join the network to complement mine, yours only receives about half as much traffic as I currently do. In addition, your Pure-Hardware vB skin has the default "vBulletinStyles" logo - it was never altered. I would still like to swap links with you, at http://www.daniweb.com/techlinks :)

[noppid]

We're not as strong as the specs you list, yet.

Our general community moves more then the computer related forums.

[cscgal]

Not yet but you're getting there. It's strange how you have such a wide variety of forum topics - everything from pets to cars to computers!

[noppid]

Not yet but you're getting there. It's strange how you have such a wide variety of forum topics - everything from pets to cars to computers!

My general chatters came form a former forum and requested them.

I'm trying to get the computer forums going in conjunction with my local biz. We have an ad in the local paper.

The rockets are my hobby and I couldn't find anywhere else to post. There are two major clubs in central Florida, both have representation on the forum.

Maybe I'll split um one day.

[tgillespie]

A little off topic, but thanks for the linux commands. You don't have them all, but it sure is a better alternative than using google.

[P.Jackson]

half the traffic? :/ we recieve 250+ uniqes per day increasing by about 30 a day fair enough we only have 5000 forum posts but where a hardware and software news and reviews site the forum is only there for tech help :)

[cscgal]

P. Jackson ... I didn't mean to put your site down. I actually spent a bit of time browsing it before. It's just that I'm looking for popular computer FORUM sites ... not popular computer news sites.

As you say, "the forum is only there for tech help." Well, that's just what I mean ;) My site already offers tech help. What I'm looking for is to partner with other forum sites that offer something extra that mine doesn't. This way, I'm not partnering with sites that are direct competition to me ... but with sites that offer stuff my visitors might like that complements what I can offer them.

As for half the traffic, yes. My site currently receives about 600-800 uniques per day, 7000 pageviews per day.

[cscgal]

Anyone else with comments, questions, interested? AWS, contact me via PM next time you're online :)

[Joe Gronlund]

My site already offers tech help. What I'm looking for is to partner with other forum sites that offer something extra that mine doesn't. This way, I'm not partnering with sites that are direct competition to me ... but with sites that offer stuff my visitors might like that complements what I can offer them.
My site also offers free technical help from CCIE's, CCNP's, MCSE's, MCP's, Microsoft staff, i cannot directly advertise on my site unless your a corporation, but i am willing to help out in any way possible as that is what my site is all about.
Free Technical Help with news, sports, music, cellular and chat forums for off topic subjects.. :)

Why do you have an inconsistent amount of posts compared to your number of members? they just dont seem to be in vitro, do you prune your posts? I prune quite a few but never from the technical forums..

[cscgal]

Thank you for your support. I don't prune members nor posts. Oddly enough, many people register with my site without ever posting. (Which is strange considering they have access to everything as guests). Since I don't prune my members, about 500 of the 1,000 are zero posters. I don't want to prune them, however, because I notice that many of them still browse the forums, even months after registering, and yet just don't post.