Why have an active community?

A community that cares about your site will help build and maintain it. The more your members help you build your site, the more they will want to share that work with their friends. All of that work is great for attracting even more visitors and getting more contributions. The key to growing a community is finding the right audience. To do that make sure the purpose of your site is clear.clear. Use features like the new member welcome message and site greeting to let everyone know what your site is all about and that they are welcome.

Having an active community will help your site grow and become one of the most popular destinations on your topic. You'll quickly become a recognized expert on your topic. From there, the sky is the limit.Participation Also, participation begets participation - as more people begin to participate, the more motivated they are to continue contributing. Use the compliments feature to give users kudos for their contributions. As many members say, it can become "addictive"

How does an active community drive traffic?

The value of a community is a function of how many users there are, the more users, the more valuable the site and the faster information and opinion as well as the site's use can spread.

An active community drives traffic to a site via word-of-mouth.

What can I do?

A good place to start is by inviting friends or colleagues to join your site. Once you've got a few people on your site, it's time to think about how to Encourage Others to Contribute.