vBulletin for business

[TundraSoul]

<font size="2">I'm pretty sure some of you operate your forum as a business and many more of you wish you could. To that end, I would like to see a vBulletin for business plug-ins that would allow you to do just that.

Here are a few ideas that I have. Feel free to add your own.

The first idea, which has been discussed before, is the ability to purchase a forum subscription during the registration process. This is the best time to offer new subscriptions, in part because you will get the impulse buyers. As the user is registering, show him the total number of registered users from his area. This creates a sense of community, trust, and shows him that other people from his area has registered on your site. Then show him the subscription descriptions, and the name of the last user who subscribed.

After the user has logged in, show him a list of members who reside close to him in who's online. In the member list, allow the user to sort the members based on vicinity. Now you may be wondering how I know where the user even lives. You see, everyone who registered at my forums has to enter in their zip code. The zip code is a very powerful bit of information that can be used to build demographic data, and with it, I can uncover a great deal of useful information about the user's location. If you use a zip code API, which is really affordable btw, you can create informative data based on vicinity, distance and radius. A user could see exactly how far he lives from another user, or even get driving directions and maps if available. Ultimately, what this will do is create a tighter sense of community and give users the ability to know one another much quicker than anyone thought possible. A very common request from members is the ability to PM groups of members who reside by them.

Another idea is to create a checklist of things the user should complete to earn points, awards, prizes or extra features. This checklist could be a list of additional profile questions the user can complete, a certain number of posts that user must make, a certain number of threads to create, gather some recognition for helping other members, etc. When the checklist is completed, depending on your profile questions, you could collect a fair amount of demographic information on the user.

Give the admin the ability to create conditional profile questions. So for instance if you operate a music forum, you can ask the user what music they like as a profile question. Based on their answer, you could then present them with a list of bands or musicians to choose from. After they answer, you will then know what music they listen to, and could possibly reward them for completing the profile question. You can also show them the number of members who are also interested in the same music.

Wouldn't it be nice to see what members had the same interests as you immediately after you registered?

Another idea is to finally integrate a real store with products and referral links into the thread and forum listings of vBulletin. Allow the admin to create conditional product displays and links based on the topic of the thread, forum or user who's viewing it. So for instance, if the topic of the thread is Foo Fighters, the banner in the ad box at the top of the thread is a link to where they can buy Foo Fighters music. If the user is interested in Foo Fighters, when new music comes out for the band, a link to the new music can be shown to the user in the thread. If the user searches for Foo Fighters, the next time they return, remember what they searched for and show them what's new based on what they're interested in.

Amazon.com does a good job of remembering what you're interested in based on your past choices and searches. They take that information, compile it, and present relevant products to you, which make your experience there much more enjoyable. vBulletin does a great job in creating threaded communities, but to increase forum activity and revenue, I think we should have a business plug-in.

The internet is primarily a social medium and users come to your forums hoping to meet and discuss with users who have similar interests. We have created forums, galleries, blogs, and chat systems, all with the hope that the user will take the time to use these tools. Some will, but many will not because they're too difficult to use, too noisy, and too time-consuming to learn. We add arcades, content systems, and a host of hacks all hoping our users will participate more. We often allow the user to dress up their signatures, so other members can know who they are. We need to demonstrate to the new user that we have a community worthy of their time and dollars. Stop requiring the user to have to search for everything. If you know enough about the user, you can present them with a great deal of relevant information and choices. This all leads to more active users, more revenue, trust, and a more enjoyable experience for your vBulletin users.
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[rlamego]

As the user is registering, show him the total number of registered users from his area. This creates a sense of community, trust, and shows him that other people from his area has registered on your site. Then show him the subscription descriptions, and the name of the last user who subscribed.
Have you ever heard the term "privacy"?
In this first paragraph you've turn it in shreds.

Just for the sake of argument, when you say "business" what do you mean? What type of business are you thinking about?

After the user has logged in, show him a list of members who reside close to him in who's online. In the member list, allow the user to sort the members based on vicinity. Now you may be wondering how I know where the user even lives. You see, everyone who registered at my forums has to enter in their zip code. The zip code is a very powerful bit of information that can be used to build demographic data, and with it, I can uncover a great deal of useful information about the user's location. If you use a zip code API, which is really affordable btw, you can create informative data based on vicinity, distance and radius. A user could see exactly how far he lives from another user, or even get driving directions and maps if available.
The concept is interesting. The problem is privacy once again. You are pulling sensible data from member profiles and showing it to someone who have just registered and you know nothing about it.

Ultimately, what this will do is create a tighter sense of community and give users the ability to know one another much quicker than anyone thought possible. A very common request from members is the ability to PM groups of members who reside by them.
I disagree. This type of data should be shared on request and not by default. Again, knowing what you mean by business would help understanding it.

Another idea is to create a checklist of things the user should complete to earn points, awards, prizes or extra features. This checklist could be a list of additional profile questions the user can complete, a certain number of posts that user must make, a certain number of threads to create, gather some recognition for helping other members, etc. When the checklist is completed, depending on your profile questions, you could collect a fair amount of demographic information on the user.
And what do you intend to do with all this data?

Wouldn't it be nice to see what members had the same interests as you immediately after you registered?
I don't think so. You are registering in a forum, not a dating site.
A lot of people will be registering a forum for the first time. They still don't know how to crawl and you want them to run immediately. They already have a lot of new things to learn. Pumping them with even more info is overkill IMO.

Then there's the same ol' issue of privacy. Who are you showing all that nice treated data? Someone real or someone who registered to scout some new customers?


Another idea is to finally integrate a real store with products and referral links into the thread and forum listings of vBulletin. Allow the admin to create conditional product displays and links based on the topic of the thread, forum or user who's viewing it. .... Amazon.com does a good job of remembering what you're interested in based on your past choices and searches. They take that information, compile it, and present relevant products to you, which make your experience there much more enjoyable. vBulletin does a great job in creating threaded communities, but to increase forum activity and revenue, I think we should have a business plug-in.
Comparing Amazon to vB is a great complement to the dev team but I think you are aiming way too high. Amazon is a store. Their focus is selling. They devote all their resources into that and they do it right.
vB is a BBS and it's a damn good one if not the best. You want a business tool as complex or more than vB itself in the size and shape of a plugin? Get out of here! =)

Target ads are possible upon certain conditions and right now those conditions are helping the ad servers by giving them the best info possible so that they can serve the most relevant ads possible.
Notice that we are not processing anything, no information at all. We're just displaying what the ad servers already chewed on.
You want to do this "chewing" yourself? Fine! But you'll need the same requirements as those ad server networks.
Better yet. Put some 4 figure number into a nifty piece of ad software and hire some good coder to "connect the dots" between that and your user profile/threads/forum info.

The internet is primarily a social medium and users come to your forums hoping to meet and discuss with users who have similar interests. We have created forums, galleries, blogs, and chat systems, all with the hope that the user will take the time to use these tools. Some will, but many will not because they're too difficult to use, too noisy, and too time-consuming to learn. We add arcades, content systems, and a host of hacks all hoping our users will participate more. We often allow the user to dress up their signatures, so other members can know who they are. We need to demonstrate to the new user that we have a community worthy of their time and dollars. Stop requiring the user to have to search for everything. If you know enough about the user, you can present them with a great deal of relevant information and choices. This all leads to more active users, more revenue, trust, and a more enjoyable experience for your vBulletin users.
True but not entirely true. The downside of giving the user everything already made for them is that you don't really have a user, you have a "visitor" of which you know a little more about than the anonymous ones.
There's not real attachment to your site and the moment the thrill is gone or a nicer one appears, that "user" is gone before you can say "bye-bye".
Take a look at orkut and similar sites. Users tend to be very active in the discovery stage but grow tired fast and visits gradually end. Users move on to the next big thing.

Now look at vB and similar scripts. Karma and reputation are there for a good reason. The rewards must be earned and not given. There several forum sites out there with hundreds or thousands of die-hard members. This is accomplished by effort, not only theirs but the admins/site owners who must be in sync with their community.

Give them the tools and let them make the rest. Most people prefer to discover friends than to be pointed or told to be friends with this or that person. But again, I still don't know what business are you in =)