In 2018, Mostly Blogging published a post about blogging forums.
Comments and sentiments since then have expressed the opinion that blogging forums are dead.
Is it true? To loosely quote author Mark Twain, “Reports of blogging forums’ death are greatly exaggerated.”
This post seeks to review five blogging forums that are very much alive, active, and even help you as a blogger.
By reading this article, you will discover six reasons bloggers go to forums. Also, you will read five reviews of active forums.
By the way, you don’t need to be a blogger to go to the forums. Anyone can visit these online forums.
Let’s dive in and learn about active blogging forums.
What Are Blogging Forums?
Blogging forums are online discussion websites.
There are many reasons people go to blogging forums:
- People want to network with forum members in their content niche since you can chat with the other members. Blogging forums can be used as social chat sites.
- People want to share information they know about the content discussed.
- People want to learn information discussed in the forum.
- People want to boost their SEO by leaving a link to their website at the forum if the rules of the forum allow leaving links. Google announced it would give some weight to nofollow links which you get when you link to your websites from blogging forums.
- People want to boost traffic. If you are allowed to leave your blog post links, when people click them, your traffic gets a boost.
- People want to boost their brands. When you visit blogging forums, you extend your brand presence by making yourself more present on the web.
Blogging Forums You Should Use
I have personally used all these blogging forums, so I can recommend them from first-hand experience.
Blogging Forums on Reddit
There are many hot subreddits that bloggers can use as blogging forums.
These are the subreddits I use as blogging forums:
The descriptions of the subreddits are in quotation marks.
“This subreddit is aimed towards helping bloggers with their blogging journey.” At the time of this writing, this blogging forum has 80,077 members.
“Your community for SEO news, tips, and case studies.” At the time of this writing, the blogging forum has 156,786 members.
“A community about affiliate marketing, search engine optimization, and related topics. Learn what works, what doesn’t, and what’s new through real experiences from both beginners and experts.” At the time of this writing, the subreddit has 82,843 members.
R/BigSEO
“This subreddit was created with the intent to foster growth and knowledge about SEO and all disciplines of inbound marketing that get shuffled under that umbrella.” At the time of this writing, the subreddit has 72,058 members.
What is discussed in these Reddit blogging forums?
Many of the questions put in these blogging forums revolve around traffic generation. New bloggers express frustrations over the lack of traffic. Members of the subreddit repeatedly assure the bloggers that Google gives longevity to older blogs.
Keyword research is also discussed as an important way to generate traffic.
More blogging forums on Reddit that help bloggers:
I also use social media subreddits as blogging forums since I learn information in those subreddits that help me promote my blog. I also use the information as research for my blog posts.
Does using Reddit as a blogging forum help your SEO?
According to Corydoras from the Reddit SEO subreddit,
“Links on Reddit are nofollow until a certain threshold, then once you get enough upvotes for a post, the nofollow tag is removed.”
UPDATED INFORMATION October 16
The blogging forums on Reddit can also be used by crypto investors. Here you will find information about the Reddit best Crypto Exchange.
Blogging Forums on Facebook
Various Facebook groups have different restrictions regarding blog promotion.
Some groups allow daily promotion, some allow weekly promotion, and some Facebook groups don’t allow promotion at all. Instead, the groups are blogging forums, places for members to come and discuss topics the groups center around.
Boost Your Blog
Boost Your Blog is a discussion forum.
The Boost Your Blog group is run by blogging guru Helene Sula.
At the time of this writing, the group has 47,800 members. Since the group is listed as “Closed,” you need an invitation to be invited to the group.
In September of 2020, Boost Your Blog switched from a group where you could promote your blog content to one of the blogging forums.
Sula describes the new purpose of Boost Your Blog:
“Just a reminder that posts get approved when you’re asking questions, starting conversations, and looking for help. This is all about blog growth and building your community!”
You will find the Boost Your Blog Facebook Group here.
Blogging Forums on Twitter
Twitter Chats
What are Twitter Chats?
A Twitter chat is a public Twitter conversation around one unique hashtag. This hashtag allows you to follow the discussion so you can participate. Twitter chats reoccur at scheduled times and on specific topics to regularly connect people with these interests.
Twitter chats have many advantages.
First, you can use them to organize the online chat participants into groups.
Also, you get put on lists and people follow you knowing you are like-minded. Your Twitter following grows and your blog traffic as well since you’ll promote to your new Twitter followers.
Related Reading: More information about Twitter chats can be found in this Mostly Blogging article about free social networking sites for chatting.
Twitter Spaces
Twitter Spaces are still being rolled out for a small group of Twitter users.
Like Clubhouse, Twitter Spaces give Twitter users a place to speak out loud with each other. The conversations are not saved. More information about Twitter Spaces can be found here.
Blogging Forums on Clubhouse
What is Clubhouse?
Clubhouse is a new discussion forum for bloggers and marketers.
UPDATE March 2022:
Clubhouse is losing popularity as other sites integrate an audio component into their platforms.
When you enter the Clubhouse, you arrive in a hallway where you see the current conversations and the scheduled conversations. Those conversations are held in different rooms that have the different forum discussions.
In their blog, the makers of Clubhouse indicated they liked the fact that when you have a conversation, you can hear the tone of voice, and you don’t have to type and hit enter. You can also have a conversation while doing other things.
There is no writing. People go into “the Clubhouse” to discuss content with each other.
Clubhouse is currently by invitation only which keeps the interest in the site alive due to Fear of Missing Out (FOMO).
According to Quora, in order to keep the momentum alive, Clubhouse plans on paying users. Methods for these payments include tipping.
How to Use Clubhouse
Once you click your invitation link, you are presented with people who use the app. Their names are checked. Unless you uncheck them, they will be your connections inside the Clubhouse. Uncheck who you don’t want as a connection and click “Follow.”
Decide if you want Clubhouse to notify you when people are talking.
I received a notification I have two invites to invite people I think would like Clubhouse!
I invited my daughter, a film director. I saw Justine Bateman in Clubhouse interested in filmmaking, so I thought she’d like it.
You can Click to Start a Room.
My first Clubhouse visit:
When I entered Clubhouse, various rooms were presented to me. Topics of rooms that interested me included Storytelling and Live Video Engagement Secrets.
Various rooms were prescheduled ahead of time. Some, like influencers and branding, were of interest while others, like healthcare, weren’t. The Clubhouse schedule reminded me of the schedule for Twitter chats.
The first room I entered announced, “Mark Zuckerberg is on Clubhouse Right Now!” I was interested and entered the room.
You can raise your hand or leave the room quietly. You come in muted.
The people in the room were discussing “Google.me” and “Google Translate.”
There is a host of the room. If you contribute, you could be boosted to moderator which gives you instant credibility.
Clearly, Clubhouse extends your brand.
I could be called on, so I left since I was rushing.
Clubhouse Terminology:
Hallway: List of available rooms
Social Room: Only for people you follow
Closed room: Closed to everyone except who you invite which makes the room like your own party.
How to Grow a Following on Clubhouse
Start small. In other words, start with the small rooms. Add value to rooms in your industry.
How small? Start with rooms up to 15 people.
Be active. Show up. Staying quiet in the audience won’t necessarily help grow your following.
Ask questions in the bigger rooms to get noticed. Add value there too.
Have a detailed bio explaining what you do.
Blogging Forums on Blog Posts
Although blog commenting doesn’t have the popularity it once did, comment sections on blogs are downright blogging forums.
How are we defining forums? Remember, forums are online discussion websites.
On blog posts, the admin blogger selects the topics and users make comments. On blogging forums, users select the topics and make comments.
The comment section on blog posts are wonderful places to use as blogging forums.
For instance, the Mostly Blogging post explaining how to get out of Facebook Jail has become a veritable discussion forum for people looking to commiserate about their frustrations and experiences about landing in Facebook Jail.
When to Avoid Using Blogging Forums
The members of the Reddit SEO subReddit were asked, “What is the worst SEO method you have used?”
There were 18 comments. Three of them shared the same answer: The worst SEO method they used was relying solely on backlinks from blogging forums.
This post reviewed and recommended these forums. However, you shouldn’t use blogging forums to try to boost your SEO and not other methods. For instance, you shouldn’t ignore making the best content you can that solves people’s problems and instead use blogging forums.
Blogging Forums FAQ
What are blogs and forums?
A blog is short for “weblog.” Blogs are websites run by bloggers full of articles called “blog posts.” The blog may also contain static pages. The blogger can choose to allow comments. Blog readers discuss the topic of the blog post in the comments section. They can ask questions or comment in that section.
A forum is a place people go to discuss the topic of the forum and does not necessarily contain articles. Commenters must follow the rules of the forum.
Wrapping Up: Blogging Forums Best Practices
In closing, this post reviewed six reasons you need to try blogging forums and reviewed five blogging forums I recommend.
If you heard the rumor that blogging forums are dead, this post shared an extremely different impression.
Not only are blogging forums alive and well, but the new dynamic of Clubhouse is spurring more blogging forums to start, the kind where you speak as opposed to type.
Readers, please share so bloggers discover these active blogging forums that can boost their blogging success.
I look forward to your views in the comments section. Do you know of any blogging forums you recommend? Have you tried these blogging forums and can share your opinions?
Janice Wald is the founder of MostlyBlogging.com and co-founder of the Mostly Blogging Academy. She is an ebook author, blogger, blogging coach, blogging judge, freelance writer, and speaker. She won the Best Internet Marketer Award and the Best Blogger Award at the 2021 Infinity Blog Awards. Wald was also nominated as 2019 Best Internet Marketer by the Infinity Blog Awards and in 2017 as the Most Informative Blogger by the London Bloggers Bash. She’s been featured on Small Business Trends, the Huffington Post, and Lifehack.
