How Much Help Are Small Business Boards Really?
Some years ago in Webmaster circles my nickname was becoming well known for being contentious and rather abrasive. That wasn’t really a persona - I didn’t set out to make a name for myself by being abusive and nasty.
However I was, and still am, rather blunt and tend to call a spade a spade and I don’t handle fools very well.
And I’m telling you that because I’m really not trying to stir up trouble when I ask the question - how much help are small business boards really?
I’m asking it as an introduction to a series of posts I will be making over this week and I want you to think seriously about the question.
Are they any help to you really?
I have to say that most of the small business boards I have seen have been very light in genuine help for serious problems and rather heavy in people who want to troll the boards for business … or to scam. Undoubtedly part of that problem arises from the fact that most people who hang out on those boards are fairly new.
But there are others who want to be seen as legends - they have an opinion about everything and quite often their opinion is not based on their own experience but on what they have read somewhere.
So are boards like that much help is there some other way to get the help and support you need to get your business going?
I would be really interested to hear your experiences and feel free to mention any board that you find gives you genuine advice and support and isn’t just a bunch of people saying hello to every newcomer that arrives.
November 22nd, 2005 at 11:36 pm
OK, I’ll bite - I agree. I regulary read and post to a website about a certain web hosting application. 80% of the people on there are newbies or near-newbies looking for help, 15% are egotists who chip in with comments on everything in the hope that someone will tell them how great they are. The final 5% are actually nice, helpful, useful people. However, more and more recently, I’ve questioned exactly *what* I get out of visiting. The answer - very little.
There is an interesting side-affect of posting on boards though, they can be a useful way of building your reputation if you post on behalf of your business. In the same way as having a blog on your business’ site, people ‘get to know you’ and you may (or may not) get some business from helping others.
Besides which, if you add a link to your site in your sig, it can’t hurt your ‘google juice’…
November 23rd, 2005 at 5:13 am
You’ve made some valid points there Andy - boards can be good for Google Juice and sometimes they can be good for bringing business your way but it looks like you’ve had much the same experience as Toni and I have had.
Toni is so disillusioned with boards that she rarely reads any board other than an adoption support board that she has been involved in for many years and almost never posts on any boards.