To Homepage? Or not to Homepage?

[Boss Jr.]

That is the question. Well actually the question is.... is it better to go to the Homepage first then to the Forum, or straight to the forum?

Example:

Homepage

Forum

And please explain why you think so.

 

[FWhite]

Straight to the forum, I'm not staff on the homepage. 🙂

 

[Boss Jr.]

So you're saying that if you visit a site that it's better to go to the forum first rather that the Homepage?

*snaps* That's what I though!

What does everybody else think?

 

[UNIQUERIDEZ]

I have mine set to go to the portal page/home page first. Lot more flash, bling, and details on there which will entice guests more then just another forum list.

 

[JoeLatics]

Portal first, to show guests what you're all about, and more than just a forum!

 

[Murder he Wrote]

I don't really think it makes a difference in terms of who visits your forum and whether or not they decide to join up. I'd say it moreso depends on how much 'stuff' you've got going on with your forum. For example if you're a gaming forum you may well have a homepage showing the latest gaming news, if you're a graphics forum you might have a homepage with member's latest submissions.

As long as the user can quickly and easily get to the forum from the homepage, I don't think it matters. Personally I'm a fan of having a website to support a forum (or the other way round) ~smile~

 

[Boss Jr.]

Hmm, yeah I have a website/homepage but it's not complete yet LOL. But as soon as it's done then it'll be great. I hope.

 

[Matthew™]

I think that going straight to the home page would give users a bit of what your about and they'll most likely check it out and then join.

 

[inpaqt]

Straight to forum, I like to keep it simple.
I also don't like forum.domain.com or domain.com/forum
I like my forum on the root directory

 

[ℓєσ gнσѕт]

It depends. For the most part I agree with Muder, but I know of a few sites that I would hate to see have a homepage. For example here, I never see the homepage as ive bookmarked the forum. Once my site is remodeled though, I plan to have a homepage of sorts, as well as a few other pages. Like Muder said "As long as the user can quickly and easily get to the forum from the homepage" you should be fine -🙂-

 

[MNDF]

The main thing with portal/homepages that annoys me on a lot of forums is that they have nothing to put on them. They just put up a portal so they can say "look! I have a portal!" and it serves only as pointless clutter

If the portal has useful content and is easy to navigate to and from the forums then they're great...

 

[Boss Jr.]

I see what you mean. I still don't know haow to fill my Homepage but i added a blog and I can easily show viteos on it so I will be starting contests soon and post winning videos there.

Also the general consensus seems to be that if it's easy to get around it, then nobody seems to mind either way.

 

[ℓєσ gнσѕт]

The main thing with portal/homepages that annoys me on a lot of forums is that they have nothing to put on them. They just put up a portal so they can say "look! I have a portal!" and it serves only as pointless clutter

If the portal has useful content and is easy to navigate to and from the forums then they're great...

Complely valid point. If theres nothing to put on one, then dont have one. For me, seeing as my forum is member only, once the remodel is finished I plan to have a homepage, to allow guests to view a preview of my sites content. This allows them to decided to join or not, and isnt just a dire waste of their time and mine.

 

[Subz]

I think your site would benefit from a portal/homepage, you could post new news about the wii in a hidden forum and it would appear on the portal, so everyone would have to checkout the portal to read the latest news -😉-

 

[Nebulous]

I dont really like the homepage idea. From what I seen its just a place to put more ads... But I have seen some that are very well done. I usually dont read whats on them anyways though, I just look for the 'Enter' link.

 

[MNDF]

I'm guilty of that too... My first reaction to a portal is "where's the forums link?".


And I agree with what Subz said about a hidden announcement forum to serve the portal page; it's a good idea.

 

[Nebulous]

I'm guilty of that too... My first reaction to a portal is "where's the forums link?".

I think most people do that. ~wink~