photo credit: mikecogh

This post is part of the “How to Generate Revenue From Your Online Community” series. View all of the posts in the series.

Before I get too deep into the various methods that you can utilize to generate revenue from your online community, I wanted to first talk about why it can be important to do so and why it isn’t a bad thing to think about, even if some may tell you that it is.

Mentioning “money” with “online community” can sometimes be a contentious thing to do. I can understand why, but at the same time, I don’t think it’s necessary to be on the defensive about money or monetization.

photo credit: Seba López

Whether you manage your community full time or as a hobby, your ability to generate revenue can have a direct impact on the long term feasibility and stability of your community.

For some, managing a community may be a hobby – but, nonetheless, a hobby that may take time away from your job or other areas of your life and may also cost money, in the form of software, hosting, domain names and more.

For others, managing a community can become a full time job and full time jobs can’t usually be hobbies as you need to live, advance and to accomplish your goals in life, as you would with any profession.

photo credit:
aresauburn™

It’s one of those ever present questions from people who are looking to start their own forum: what is the best software? I’ve been asked it or seen it asked countless times.

In some way, it’s a frustrating question because it brings out the people who treat software as if it is some sort of religion and act like some sort of extreme fanatic, as if the world somehow darkens when someone chooses Invision Power Board over phpBB or vice versa.

And sometimes you have developers, some of which are just as bad. Our solution is the best! We’re not bloated like the others! We’re the next evolution of forums! We’re here to save you! Gracious. No.

photo credit: kirstyhall

I tell people that numbers don’t matter to me. That sounds like a nice thing to say – quality over quantity and all that. Pretty words. People like to hear it. It’s easy to say, but can I really walk the walk? When it comes time to prove it, do I follow through?

One of the most important and obvious proving grounds for this belief is when you reach the point when you realize that you must ban a long time member, one of your most active posters or one of your top posters all-time.

You’ve given them every opportunity, but they try to walk all over you. They treat the community guidelines as though they are an option. They treat you and your staff disrespectfully. And it becomes apparent: you’re not banning them. They’re banning themselves. And so, you do it and you deal with the fallout.

South by Southwest (SXSW) Interactive 2011 is just around the corner: March 11 through 15 in Austin, Texas.

Not only will I be in town for the entire event, but I’m happy to say that I’ll be presenting “27 (Fun!) Ways to Kill Your Online Community” on March 13 at 5 PM in Salon K at the Hilton.

The inspiration for the session came from a post I wrote here, titled “10 (Super Fun!) Ways You Can Kill Your Online Community.”

photo credit: mel_rowling

I’m tired of forum saviors.

Once in a while, someone pops on my radar (often times, because they e-mail me to introduce me to their product, website, whatever) who says, in one way of another, they are here to save forums. It’s not that it’s frequent or that they are particularly noteworthy, but when this happens, I always find myself cringing.

Forums don’t need you. They don’t need me. They don’t need anyone. And they don’t need saving.

Forums have survived this long and they are everywhere. The space is always growing and improving. It can always get better and I always love hearing about new ideas and companies who are interested in this space. Let me say that again: I love hearing about new ideas. Not about how great you are and how we’re lost without you.

photo credit: onnola

Generally speaking, if I do my job as a forum administrator, my members don’t have to see much of what I do behind the scenes to keep things running smoothly. That is for me to worry about – not something for them to be concerned with.

I tend to believe that this is how most people approach the role: I have work to do and I’m doing it. I don’t care if people know about it or if people know how hard I work or if I get credit for it.

Consequentially, only a small percentage of people know even half of the responsibilities that someone has, when they run a structured online community. Sometimes, though, it’d be helpful if they did. If they knew what it took to run that community that they love, that they derive some benefit from.

photo credit: Andrew Michaels

I am planning a series of articles on monetizing your online community. So, I wanted to ask you: what are you doing to generate revenue from your community? What specific programs, networks and services are you using?

I’d like to hear about things that you have tried in the last year, what has worked, what hasn’t and what you’ve learned. From the biggest money makers to the smallest. I want to know about everything that you use.

photo credit: wwworks

With some regularity, someone tells me that something I wrote here or something I said online or at an event, pertaining to online community, is common sense.

The funny thing about common sense is it’s only common if you have it. And many people don’t. Maybe they once did and then they forgot it. Reminders can be helpful.

Sometimes, when I speak at an event, someone will say that they didn’t get anything out of the talk, that it was too basic for them or it was common sense. It’s not a meaningful portion of the room, just one or two people.

Dr. Nora Ganim Barnes, a Chancellor Professor of Marketing and the Director of the Center for Marketing Research at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, has released the results of the center’s fourth annual study into the usage of social media by Inc. 500 companies.

The survey asked participants about seven particular types of social media: blogging, message/bulletin boards, online video, podcasting, Facebook, Twitter, MySpace and Foursquare.

The data presented in the study is compared to the numbers from the version released for the previous year, where available. Certain questions were not asked of Facebook, MySpace and Foursquare, specifically, in 2009.