What's the best advice you've been given?

[Cedric]

I was reflecting on my own webmaster journey and started thinking about all the advice, feedback, and little tidbits of wisdom I've picked up along the way. Some were game changers while others made me wish I'd known them sooner! It got me wondering about the experiences of others in our awesome community.

So, here’s the discussion point:

What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever received in your webmaster journey? And importantly, did you take it on board or learn the hard way?

Sometimes, it's a technical tip. Other times, it might be about handling clients, SEO strategies, website design, or even balancing work and life.

Sharing these nuggets can be incredibly insightful for both newbies and seasoned professionals. I'm super excited to learn from all of you!

---

I'll kick things off:

Don't give up. A problem I've had for many years in my early days as an administrator. I got bored of managing the same forum without putting any effort in it. I enjoyed making them more than managing, and easily gave up to hop on the next project.

 

[Ravenfreak]

Honestly I have to say that's the best advice I've received myself. I finally get it though, took me way too long to realize that what I was doing wasn't the best approach. Another good piece of advice I got when I was starting out, my first forum that I promoted on promotional sites was quite empty. I was told that having content in every single sub forum can help bring in potential members. No one wants to join a empty forum after all!

 

[Empire]

Always be yourself and do not try to be someone else, then your life and career will be like a open reserved book

 

[Al]

Another good piece of advice I got when I was starting out, my first forum that I promoted on promotional sites was quite empty. I was told that having content in every single sub forum can help bring in potential members. No one wants to join a empty forum after all!

Keep your starting forum number very small. Empty forums are not a great look. Example, this is my forum homepage:

And this is what the eventual structure will look like:

To me, it's obvious which looks the most inviting - and it's not the empty forums in the last image.

 

[Cedric]

Keep your starting forum number very small. Empty forums are not a great look. Example, this is my forum homepage:

View attachment 1872

And this is what the eventual structure will look like:

View attachment 1873

To me, it's obvious which looks the most inviting - and it's not the empty forums in the last image.

Worth mentioning that I like your method of thinking ahead. Most people do it in their head or as things go, but not fully made ready yet.

 

[Al]

All those forums already exist. They're just hidden from the node list: https://shatteredsunrts.com/threads/the-future-of-shattered-sun-rts.68/

 

[Nomad]

Learn programming!
I have no skills with programming and I make sites through CMS. I have been frequently advised by experts to learn programming in order to build better sites.

 

[SoluDome]

This is the best advice I ever got "You should stop working for free" a client said this, you are good at what you are doing and stop doing it for free.

Though I still help many free of cost at XF and have developed custom add-ons for them.

 

[Reverie]

To not give up and keep pushing through. The beginning can be rough from time to time, but it can be so rewarding!

 

[Kennysplash]

It was recently, I told someone that I have not started my forum because I'm not an expert webmaster yet. He said no one is at first, with the knowledge I have acquired I can do just fine.

 

[Cedric]

It was recently, I told someone that I have not started my forum yet because I'm not an expert webmaster yet. He said no one is at first, with the knowledge I have acquired I can do just fine.

There's definitely truth in that Kenny. We all started somewhere, even though when some of us have no knowledge. With trial and error, you'll learn from your mistakes. Providing a good solution to the mistake defines and separates us.

 

[Mike30]

It wasn't an advice in my case, It was an action against me. I was banned at DP for 15 days for posting in the wrong category. At that moment, I decided to have my own f***ng forum even if is empty. Well, that was the start of so many things. And that was one of the most important decision I made. By the time, I couldn't write much English, I had to use a translator to make my posts and read the member's post. That was a ton of work, but thanks to that I learned English really quick. On top of that, thanks to acquiring the English language, my life outside of the internet improved drastically becoming a very young entrepreneur, I was not afraid anymore for the English barrier and started my construction company making $10k/week. That was wild specially 15 years ago. So, I have so much to thank DP

The point is, failure is never a failure if you never quit.

My English is not perfect, but it keeps improving

 

[joelr]

#1 Take a backup

#2 Stop spending so much time on promotion and admin sites.

Let me explain (and to be clear, this is most definitely not directed at any particular sites)

Admin sites historically have focused on the technology: the hosting, the server administration, the software. All of those WERE important ten to fifteen years ago, when you were forced to self host to run a forum. However, it also meant that most of the solutions and discussions were biased to technology solutions. Install a theme. Install a mod. SEO. The answer to everything tends to be install or configure.

Promotion sites worked 10 to 15 years ago because there were an increasing number of forums and forum owners. But now they're the same dozen people doing the same forum battles, promoting and firing the same people, and promoting graveyards of dead forums.

To be clear, I think the owners of these admin sites and promotion sites are well meaning and took advantage of the market at that time. But modern communities need to shift to modern solutions. If your community is struggling, it's not because you have a bad theme or bad SEO or because you're not paying for the Diamond Platinum Deluxe 2024 credit package ... it's because you have bad strategy. Because you haven't answered the hard and fundamental questions of offering something indispensable, or offering something unique and different, or offering something of value, or defining and attracting your audience.

Learn about content programming. Learn about emotional intelligence, leadership, comparative strategy and project management. You don't need to be an expert. But these are the new core skills of community management to effectively and successfully run a modern community.