Attention lurkers... Come on in, and grow your business!

DaleKing

90% of people who join business forums are lurkers. It`s a problem forum owners have been trying to overcome for years - how to get more members to stop lurking and start participating. Lurkers, I have a message for you. If you`re looking to grow your business, there is great value to be derived from forum participation. I have personally generated tens of thousands of dollars from forum participation, and I`ve only been online for 18 months.
 
Look, you`ve already taken that first big step by joining. Take that next important step and start participating in the discussions.
 
If you want to grow your business, participating in forums is a great place to start!
 
Dale King
DKing2/27/2008 8:22 AM

stonesledge

You are right Dale,
 
It is about coming together to collaborate and create and when it comes to business. Being connected here is a plus for anyone in business!
 
Erin

Rich

dale,
 
should we organize a "lurkers on the loose" event at our forums dedicated to getting lurkers to do a first poste during the event hours? and see how many new faces we can get into the discussions here in the forums? it would be fun to publish in our newsletters and see what we could generate. we could call on experts, committed fellow entrepreneurs, and crank up the excitement for/break down the barriers to making that first public statement.
 
???

DaleKing

Thank you, Erin and Jack. I appreciate your kind words.
 
Dale King

DaleKing

dale, should we organize a "lurkers on the loose" event at our forums dedicated to getting lurkers to do a first poste during the event hours? and see how many new faces we can get into the discussions here in the forums? it would be fun to publish in our newsletters and see what we could generate. we could call on experts, committed fellow entrepreneurs, and crank up the excitement for/break down the barriers to making that first public statement. ???
   Rich, I`ve given this a lot of thought and here`s my take on lurkers. It`s the nature of the beast. When people start a business and join forums, they start out with loads of adrenaline and good intentions. But then reality sets in and they come down off that natural high that they were on. Their true character kicks in. They`re not passionate, disciplined or motivated enough to do the things necessary to succeeed in business. But if you analyze the situation carefully (which I have), it`s really not all that surprising, because lurker statistics (approximately 90%) closely mirror the statistics of people who start a business and fail (approximately 93%). Why do most people fail in business? Because they lack passion, discipline and motivation. My point is this: You can organize a "lurkers on the loose event" and do all of the other things you mentioned, but I honestly don`t think it`s going to make a significant ddifference. Why? Because you can`t change the nature of the beast. You just can`t give people passion, discipline and motivation. You just can`t do it. That being said, if my post encourages just "one" lurker to get involved and start participating, then it will have done it`s job. Dale King  DKing2/27/2008 9:15 AM

Rich

don`t know, dale. we`ll brew on it and see if we want to give it a go.
 
at very least, your post above will provide some nice reverse psychology ... tempting lurkers to post to prove they have, as you said, "passion, discipline and motivation"!

DaleKing

at very least, your post above will provide some nice reverse psychology ... tempting lurkers to post to prove they have, as you said, "passion, discipline and motivation"!
 
 
 
Ahhhhh....you caught that reverse pyscholgy ploy, huh?
 
Dale King

RicWillmot

Well done, Dale.
Interestingly, I have had an accountant from Washington join my Mentor Program after lurking in StartupNation and reading the posts.
I do hope your effort pays off, because there is wonderful value both in the advice, and the discussions (even those in disagreement) for business people.
Keep up the good work.
Rgds,
Ric

essayhelp

Dale is right.
 
I would just add -
I think the whole social media marketing aspect on many levels could really knock people out.
How is that?
Well, when someone is marketing his business via many channels[social networks, article directories, PR sites, forums...] Then for most people its hard to keep up with everything.
 
I also think that most people are in the position of `seeking advice` then `sharing advice`. 
 
 

rusman

I think that while Dale is probably mostly right (about 90%, lol), there`s another aspect. First, there is SOOO much information here that one can just sit back and read for weeks and probably find most, if not all of the answers to their questions. Second is akin to the Mark Twain saying, "Better to be thought a fool than to open your mouth and remove all doubt" (or something to that effect). Though there is some anonymity (sp) with the internet, people still may feel silly for asking a "dumb question". Personally, I don`t believe in dumb questions. Everyone started off in this world knowing the same and that was absolutely nothing, so fire away, I say!

DaleKing

Thanks Ric, Aaron and rusman.. I appreciate your kind words. The way I look at it, if just one lurker reads my post and is encouraged to participate, then my post will have done its job.
 
Dale King

Rich

sounds like a theme here... more questions than answers.
 
we`ll noodle this. it`s not a bad challenge, necessarily. maybe there`s a feature, approach, or something that could foster question asking and answer giving in a more prolific way...

DaleKing

Dale, your posts are thought provoking. Keep on doing what you`re doing and the lurkers will come.
Signed a part time lurker,
Jack
 
 
 
Thanks, Jack. I really enjoy starting topics that make people "think." Sometimes my topics are controversial, and people often get upset with me, but my heart is always in the right place. I guess the reason I try to create thought-provoking  topics is because when I was growing up, I always had teachers that challenged me to think. I`ve never forgetten that, and those lessons have served me well - both in business and in life.
 
Dale King

Rich

but if there were one question you wanted to ask, instead of sifting through the 175,000 pages of content here, what question would you ask?
 
rich

DaleKing

I guess it would be: How do I market a retail/ecommerce website? How do I generate traffic? : )
   Just jump right in! Simply start a new topic in the marketing forum asking those questions. Here`s the link to help you get started:http://startupnation.com/NET_ROOT/commu ... aspx?FID=3 Dale KingDKing3/5/2008 2:00 PM