Social Network Marketing Tycoon

**nocturnix** · 03-01-2007, 01:15 PM

Okay so..

Heres the deal fellow earners:

I have a gaming site devoted to a specific class of an MMORPG. It is the top community for this niche. Not only that but I am ranked #1-4 in google for a more general search term that can be applied to the same concept but in OTHER games.

I am looking to expand my site and community now beyond just this one game to encompass another game, as well as a brand NEW game. So three games in total all around the same class.

The newest game which was just released has a month old forum someone created (actually a guy I competed with and beat out years ago for my current site).

The problem is, he's off to a good start. He has relevant articles, about 15 or so, picture gallery, and some other decent features. But nothing too crazy. However i still consider him a significant threat to my plans for expansion.

I just sent an email to him offering to negotiate some kind of partnership. However, he seems to have put in alot of work so far and may be hesitant to work with me on my terms.

That is where i need your advice. What LEGAL and sound methods could I use to leverage my organic traffic, my brand name, basically my existing presence as the leader in this area to squash him before he becomes too big?

The main problem i see so far is that: I dont have a ton of time to devote to learning this new game and writing content as he does. This scares me. He has the content and knowledge to make his site grow quickly. I could open a forum for this game but it would be empty and, as I know because I did it myself, he could very easily pass me up.

Your thoughts?

PM me if you want more details (urls etc.)

**Hobbit** · 03-05-2007, 02:27 AM

If he has a picture gallery, then make one too. If his gallery has image restrictions of 1mb, you change it 2mb. Basically do that too all his features, and come up with new futures yourself.

**Slevin** · 03-05-2007, 03:17 PM

ask people in your forums if anyone plays the game in question, offer a few people moderator positions in a new board (i presume your making a new category or something for the game opposed to a site). Possibly offer them some kind of percentage of earnings from that particular catergory

**nocturnix** · 03-08-2007, 03:09 PM

Very cool. I like these ideas.

The problem i'm having now is...

I was thinking of doing a subforum. But honestly I just dont think that will cut it.

For those of you who know gamers/MMORPGERs...in most cases, they want their own "house". Splitting one forum previously focusing on one class for one game, into 3 categories for 3 different games to me seems like it wont be as effective.

What i really wanted to do was have 3 forums sharing the same user info. But I came to find out thats pretty complex and downright against vbulletin's usage policy. So now i'm sort of stuck as on what to do. Do I just take the "easy route" which ive seen alot of other gaming sites like mine do and add another forum that will probably wont see that much activity. Or set up seperate boards for each game with domain redirects?

Then there is the problem of managing each, updating each, and figuring out a way for the users to move seamlessly between each.

**Moelman** · 03-08-2007, 07:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by malcolmlo

Very cool. I like these ideas.

The problem i'm having now is...

I was thinking of doing a subforum. But honestly I just dont think that will cut it.

For those of you who know gamers/MMORPGERs...in most cases, they want their own "house". Splitting one forum previously focusing on one class for one game, into 3 categories for 3 different games to me seems like it wont be as effective.

What i really wanted to do was have 3 forums sharing the same user info. But I came to find out thats pretty complex and downright against vbulletin's usage policy. So now i'm sort of stuck as on what to do. Do I just take the "easy route" which ive seen alot of other gaming sites like mine do and add another forum that will probably wont see that much activity. Or set up seperate boards for each game with domain redirects?

Then there is the problem of managing each, updating each, and figuring out a way for the users to move seamlessly between each.

I would take a look at what www.lucasforums.com does. I am a moderator there and it is a lucasarts gaming forum. The main page has links to all the different game forums but each different game has its own complete forum that could function on its own. This takes temendous amounts of traffic but its a good method to bring together different gaming communities.

**ltn1dr** · 03-09-2007, 09:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by malcolmlo

Okay so..

Heres the deal fellow earners:

I have a gaming site devoted to a specific class of an MMORPG. It is the top community for this niche. Not only that but I am ranked #1-4 in google for a more general search term that can be applied to the same concept but in OTHER games.

I am looking to expand my site and community now beyond just this one game to encompass another game, as well as a brand NEW game. So three games in total all around the same class.

The newest game which was just released has a month old forum someone created (actually a guy I competed with and beat out years ago for my current site).

The problem is, he's off to a good start. He has relevant articles, about 15 or so, picture gallery, and some other decent features. But nothing too crazy. However i still consider him a significant threat to my plans for expansion.

I just sent an email to him offering to negotiate some kind of partnership. However, he seems to have put in alot of work so far and may be hesitant to work with me on my terms.

That is where i need your advice. What LEGAL and sound methods could I use to leverage my organic traffic, my brand name, basically my existing presence as the leader in this area to squash him before he becomes too big?

The main problem i see so far is that: I dont have a ton of time to devote to learning this new game and writing content as he does. This scares me. He has the content and knowledge to make his site grow quickly. I could open a forum for this game but it would be empty and, as I know because I did it myself, he could very easily pass me up.

Your thoughts?

PM me if you want more details (urls etc.)

I haven't checked out any of these sites yet nor do I know much about online games, but you could definitely consider adding someone who really knows about the topic to your team. Usually in those types of scenarios these people will love to work for you for free for just a little bit of power.

Good luck

**hav0k** · 03-09-2007, 11:02 AM

Use your already dominating domain to open up those new area's on your forums. Get some articles written by your visitors and even pay for some so you can start raking in the new game's keywords. You could throw a contest to get new members in for that new game and another contest for the current members. Copy his features and make them better, improve upon them. Also, come up with a unique feature that only your forum offers. It's up to you to decide how and when to take out your threats. It seems like he is starting to take the lead in this niche and it's time for you to knock him back down a few notches. So get to work implementing ideas as they come to you so you don't get to far behind!

**imported_Smaaz** · 03-09-2007, 11:27 AM

I would start a subforum for the new game and when you have some activity ath that subforum, you announce a new site / forum for that game.
You could also hire a paid forum posting service to get a new forum started, without having exactly the same people at both of your forums.

**nocturnix** · 03-09-2007, 02:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Moelman

I would take a look at what www.lucasforums.com does. I am a moderator there and it is a lucasarts gaming forum. The main page has links to all the different game forums but each different game has its own complete forum that could function on its own. This takes temendous amounts of traffic but its a good method to bring together different gaming communities.

PERFECT! That is almost a 100% perfect example of exactly what i envision for my network.

Now to figure out how they did it