Went to the gym today, for quite a long time… anyways, really tired at the moment so hold off anything important till tomorrow. Thanks guys! 
I promised I’d write up a post on this, as well as the bum marketing case study – really apologize for not getting around to that, but I’ve been busy with offline stuff (which is the reason I haven’t replied to a few of you on instant messenger or email). However there is a huge contest on this blog coming up soon, I will let you guys know when it kicks off.
At the moment one of my most valuable pieces of VRE (virtual real estate) apart from this blog is Blog Premiere, namely the blogging forum; I originally intended for it to become a blog magazine (and still have around… 85 unsold tees sitting in my bedroom 
) and I will look at that hopefully later this summer, however at the moment it is the forum that is thriving. Nearing 10,000 posts, the forum is my largest ever and something I’m pretty pleased about, especially as I had not had much experience marketing my own forums before this. A forum is one of the easiest things to run, once you get it off the ground – spend a few minutes daily to moderate spammers / scammers and the like and you have user generated content keeping it fresh.
I’ve been asked about this – I haven’t spent a dime on forum promotion getting it started and since it has started, I’ve spent less than $10 promoting it. It’s now a valuable online community worth four figures (where in that range well… that’s up to you) meaning that were I to sell it (I’m not) I’d fetch a substantial amount of money. So what did I do to get it to this level?
Leverage My Network
Thanks to this blog, I already have a network of a few hundred people that I’ve personally helped (or been helped by) over the last few months. By just asking around, I was able to bribe and blackmail convince quite a few people to join, and once you have the first few users everything else is a lot easier.
I started quite a few topics at the beginning of the forum, including ones just for the sake of post count (like ‘The Twitter Thread’ for example, which is basically a General Chat thread) – the key is how things look. To a person from the outside, a post is a post no matter where it was made, and on first impression a forum with X,XXX posts, even if a lot of them are fluffy ones, is a lot more likely to be joined than a forum with twenty top class posts.
I tried to reply to every single thread and post that was created by someone else (and still try to do so for the former) so that people felt that they were joining a community, and I know the people that helped me kick it off did as well.
Add In Private Sections
Human curiosity is a wonderful thing; especially when you can use it to your advantage. You see, lots of people join forums but never post in them; they just don’t have a reason to. I gave them one.
With the help of the community, the private forums at Blog Premiere have quite a bit of decent information – ranging from getting a blog off the ground to making money from the local market. With this, most of the people that joined made at least ten posts, simply to see what was in the private section – I’ve given away a report that I have sold elsewhere and also content that I could have easily dressed up and sold, but it’s now freely available under the private section.
Held a Killer Contest
I held a contest made up entirely of donated prizes; worth a decent amount of money too. Rather than concentrating on quantity, I concentrated on quality – getting two custom themes sponsored, as well as a mascot which is similar quality (designed by the same designer) as TUK’s header and things like OIO publisher which would more than help a new blogger get off the ground. This contributed a few thousand posts and a decent amount of interest that there wouldn’t have been without the contest.
Now of course I have to hunt down the sponsors and get prizes, as I’ve been slacking on that; however it will be sorted out sooner rather than later.
Small Addons
I recently had two things installed; the Recent Blog Post mod for vBulletin, which shows the last post a blogger made, as well as a Member’s Blog Posts forum which does the same. With this, people should expect a reasonable amount of traffic if they interact in the community.
I’ll also be getting vBSEO installed and going on a blogger link frenzy – nothing is more likely to get a blogger to visit a website than an inbound link, and I’ll be linking to a few established bloggers politely (you betcha… ) baiting them to join.
Things I’d like to improve
Mainly the thing mentioned above; I’d like to get more established bloggers to join the community, as nothing breeds interest more than success does.
At the moment there are mainly bloggers that are starting out or are at a similar level to TUK is, so I’d like to get some people on board with a few thousand subscribers and bribe and blackmail try and get them to mention BP, as it hasn’t had much exposure apart from TUK and a few other blogs.
I’d also like to work on monetization more; I personally haven’t sold ad space or anything because it wouldn’t have been worth it, but with the forum now getting 3,000 pageviews daily it might be time to monetize it. I’m personally not too worried about the financial side of it but it’s always good if websites pay for themselves.
I’m aiming to make this the biggest blogging forum out there by the end of the next 12 months, and you can help me out by joining and posting. I also want to develop the portal, as it is a decent domain in my opinion – stuff like a blog directory, blog job board, a blog itself and of course the magazine side of things could be developed to add value.
I haven’t done this, although I probably should have a long time ago – I’d like to thank each and every one of you that helped it grow, even if you’ve just made a solitary post. I really appreciate the help into developing this into a friendly, scammer / spammer free community where EVERYONE can go to for advice and it wouldn’t have been possible without you guys.
That’s all for now; if you haven’t joined, sign up – you’re missing out on important stuff, mainly the private forums which you know you want to see…
July 14th, 2008 at 6:47 pm
After reading “Went to the gym today” I thought you went to gym as a step to grow Blog Premiere (LOL).
Well keep up your good work. Blog directory is a good idea.
Agent 001’s last blog post..Can you earn from Surveys?
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July 14th, 2008 at 7:11 pm
Nice work! Blog premiere is my favourite blogging forum, and it is great to see it really starting to grow now.
Tom – StandOutBlogger.com’s last blog post..Stand Out Bloggers #2 + A Blog Design…
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July 14th, 2008 at 7:12 pm
I do love the forum! I was there from the beginning, or close at least and I was glad to see the community grow. I prospered with the forum, not so much in traffic but in information that helped my site to grow. I really enjoyed the contest too, and I like to be a part of the forum’s community and glad I joined from the start.
Nathaniel’s last blog post..Updates, Opinions, and a bit of link love
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July 14th, 2008 at 7:13 pm
Lol Tom when I started then you hadn’t commented yet, funny how fast the comments go, you do get good traffic and usually someone will reply.
Nathaniel’s last blog post..Updates, Opinions, and a bit of link love
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July 14th, 2008 at 8:07 pm
Somehow the RSS thing isn’t getting my posts. Sad.
G’s last blog post..Videos of The Week #1
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July 14th, 2008 at 9:57 pm
Lol, I didn’t even know about the private section!
I haven’t really posted a lot in BlogPremiere, but the other members have been very helpful and I plan to be more active in it as soon as I have some more time (things are a little hectic right now). That said, BlogPremiere is the blogging forum I’ve been most active in – I think I might have joined 1 or 2 others, but haven’t really spent any time in them
Silla’s last blog post..To enroll or not to enroll – that is the question!
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July 14th, 2008 at 9:59 pm
Congrats on the growth.
To be honest I have not used it that often, but might bookmark it now and start joining in!
David Shaw’s last blog post..Blog Review: Clubblogger.com
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July 14th, 2008 at 10:00 pm
I was there since around the start as well. I remember when there used to be only a handful of post now whenever I go I have a ton of new posts to go through lol.
I also have a blog directory in development. (I only have the domain lmao) I will add the BP forum to it myself, as a featured site and put a link in the side bar just cause I love it so much lol
EmmaB’s last blog post..Hello My Name is Emma and I am an addict
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July 14th, 2008 at 10:30 pm
Very interesting stuff Jason, how much are you intending on selling it for? I’d be really interested in making my own blog if I thought you could make money from them
Jim’s last blog post..Back From The Dead with Link Love, Announcements & A Contest
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July 14th, 2008 at 10:54 pm
Just to add… there’s really no way to start this up for <$10 if you are using vBulletin software. The stuff is great, but it retails for $180. Gotta mention all the start up costs which can be quite pricey.
Jim’s last blog post..Back From The Dead with Link Love, Announcements & A Contest
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July 15th, 2008 at 2:33 am
Good stuff Jason, I love BP, though I don’t get over there daily, everytime I do, I fall in love again!
Keep up the good work
JK Swopes’s last blog post..IMwithJoe weekly report and goals for this week 7-14-08
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July 15th, 2008 at 4:40 am
To be honest, I have about five other blogging/internet forums in my favorites folder, yet BP is the only one I visit and post on. I really like it since it has this small town feeling to it where you know everyone
I enjoy other forums as well, such as Digital-Point, but the fact of logging in and finding 5,000 unread posts doesn’t really please me
Rajaie AlKorani’s last blog post..I Should Really Get A Twitter/Plurk Account
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July 15th, 2008 at 5:11 am
BP is the only blogging forum I visit and tbh the people that visit and post are great. Building and participating in a community is great especially considering how much BP helped me be a better blogger and get on the right track to knock out my goals for my own blog. Anyone not having already vistied at the very least really should and I encourage you to also register as the larger the community gets the more content and sense of community that we have will grow.
Big Ben Patton’s last blog post..Time Management Makes Life Better
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July 15th, 2008 at 6:55 am
I’m not even a blogger and I’ve had fun hanging out at BP just because of the “community feel”! …that is what sets good forums apart from the rest.
On that note, I don’t think forums are that easy for most people that try to start them (I know I have never had much luck, and many others would probably agree). You are lucky in that you had a strong community already built even before you started the forums (kudos for that!). Also being a forum in a niche where people LOVE to write has probably helped out..
Regardless, the place has grown rapidly and it doesn’t look like it will ever slow down! You make other forum owners jealous!
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July 15th, 2008 at 1:07 pm
Wow, I think that is the first “thank you” I have seen in a very long time on a blog… It is refreshing to see that some people understand that they need to thank their readers for spending time with them.
Sell Porn Make Money’s last blog post..Free Website Reviews from James Dean Nash
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July 15th, 2008 at 1:33 pm
joining bp forums is one of the better things i have done…
that is to be honest
Melvin’s last blog post..Why Pepperjam Worths A Look
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July 16th, 2008 at 1:24 pm
I have joined this forum simply through you advertising in the main banner of my webpage (www.smarterwealth.com) and I love it.
I post at least a few times every week and I often get great responses. I love it. You have done really well.
Any tips on how to get blog traffic without a forum?
Ryan McLean’s last blog post..Win a Nintendo Wii
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July 20th, 2008 at 10:51 am
Nice vision. There will be some bumps on the road, but keep on pushing.
Aleks’s last blog post..Funny picture – Waiters
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July 23rd, 2008 at 7:15 pm
it is very fortunate to have a single network either from a blog or portal or even a huge messenger contacts list helps.leveraging your network is a great way to kick start a new project. most my projects take off due to my network of friends and after getting the start they need they just seem to be like on autopilot.so i especially agree with your leveraging your network thing.i dont much about the rest of the stuff.never tried that.
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