How vital are message boards to running your online business?
 

Networking is key, and message boards are the way to make connections. On a scale of 1-10, how important do you feel message boards are to expanding your online businesses?

I feel you will win the top GFY thread of a day award again. ;)

My old business. 1 out of 10. Design stuff I started 10 out of 10. I make more with the old stuff though so I'd get along fine if every board died tomorrow.

Not what I'm going for, but it's always a plus. Everything I'm asking is knowledge I'm applying to my everyday business practices, and for the most part I'm getting great responses! :thumbsup

I feel message boards are now at an 8/10 for me. I make most of my connections on them, it?s opened many doors for business opportunities and if I'm looking for any types of services, it has a large pool of individuals available who have real life testimonials at the post of a thread.

Everey dime I have made since '99 was gotten from an idea or contact on message boards.

So I give them a 10 on the importance scale.

the knowlege gained on these boards can be valuable. You have to sift through the crap though. There's lots of crap.

If it is a targeted message board with no other BS then a 10+

of no importance whatsoever

That always is a problem, but if you sift through hard enough, you can always find a couple posts that will get your mind working, or additional traffic flowing. :thumbsup

10

Short. Simple. To the point.

Nice answer. :1orglaugh

Boards are important for "keeping it fresh":glugglug

it's important to mine

OK for "scanning" - there is the odd bit of useful info, otherwise the time ya can spend on boards does not cover anything near the costs of doing *actual* work.

The irony is that anyone who has been in this business for some years knows (or should know!) what needs doing - it's a matter of actually doing, and completing, all these projects ya got on the list :-)

The boards often rehash new angles on stuff, but wot's the point of that when ya ain't even created something out of the previous "angles"?

10 - great way to meet people

Of course it doesn't beat doing the actual work. It does however establish connections so that when the time is right, fellow webmasters will give your product a shot, whether it's pushing traffic, promoting it, etc.

3x Web Design : 0
QWEBEC Trade Show : 7

For me, the boards are a nice way to keep in touch with the industry, friends and stay informed about some trnds, but honnestly, I did not make any more business since I am coming to the boards.. on the design side.

I am in this industry since 96 with a bunch of regular and recurring clients, and on the board for not even a year now, so I can not say that being on the boards gave me more business. I have to say that I am not as active as some others here, some have more time to spend here, some don't .. So I am not the most visible, amybe If I'd be posting more, I'd do more business with boards community but this is not the case for now...


:2 cents:

If your business is geared towards providing services/products to other webmasters, then 10/10. If you're only looking to promote sponsors and/or your own sites, not really vital at all. Might come in handy to hear about bad sponsors, but not if you only promote your own sites.

I give boards a 7. I stayed away from them for years because I thought they were a waste of time but I get a ton of business done on the boards.

It's like a tradeshow online, everday.