[admin]

The two primary challenges website owners generally face in making their websites successful are:

1. making their content interesting enough that other websites will link to them and
   
2. changing often enough that visitors will return.

Those requirements tend to be extremely difficult to meet given the extraordinary amount of interesting content already available on the web. As a result, the web is littered with countless websites that have very few visitors.

Anyone who doubts the importance of having lots of interesting content that frequently changes should think about the characteristics of popular websites.

• Consider Google. Its content consists essentially of the entire web. How often does that change?
• Consider YouTube. Does it have lots of interesting content? Does it frequently have new content?
• Consider FaceBook. Does it have lots of interesting content? Does its content frequently change?
• Consider Ebay. Does it have lots of interesting content that changes frequently?

How can anyone with the resources of most small website owners compete against such massive competition? Most can't, but they don't have to out-compete websites like those to be extremely successful. They only have to "play the game" better than millions of competing website owners who don't even know what the game is.

Competition for public attention is not unique to websites. Internet competition has put some newspapers out of business and greatly reduced the incomes of most others, but think back to a time before the Internet. What did small newspapers do to fill their pages with interesting content that changed daily? They couldn't afford to produce all the content they needed themselves, so they licensed syndicated news articles, columns, comic-strips, and other types of content from national and international content creators. Small radio stations provide another example. They generally cannot afford their own national or international news gathering teams, so networks of small stations syndicate content produced by others.

One way to have lots of interesting website content that frequently changes is to start a forum that others post to. One problem with doing that is that forum software tends to be difficult to install and maintain. There are many potential server compatibility issues and ongoing technical problems as forum and server software security upgrades are installed over time. Most website owners don't have the technical knowledge needed to reasonably undertake that. Beyond that, forums attract spammers like flies on you know what. I have written software that quarantines posts that "smell" suspiciously like spam until I have time to read them and decide whether to let them appear. Members rarely see spam posts because of that, but I see and delete many each day.

The Old School Flamenco Forum is already installed and being maintained. Spam is already being filtered. It has nearly 300 members, almost 3000 posts, and a new post or two on most days. Because of that I have been thinking for some time about allowing other flamenco-related, and maybe even merely music-related, websites to syndicate it at their websites.

Why would we want to allow that? The reason is simple. Several members have asked what can be done to increase activity. Increased exposure tends to increase activity. What is the "downside" for members? There isn't any. Syndication is a win-win arrangement. Websites that syndicate will benefit from having lots more interesting content than most of them currently have to help encourage return visits and incoming links from other websites. We will benefit from increased exposure.

I discussed this idea with Sam recently. He saw no reason to not allow it, so I am announcing here that owners of qualified websites can immediately start syndicating the Old School Flamenco Forum at their websites.

Questions and Answers

What types of websites will be allowed to syndicate the forum?

Generally they should have content pertaining to flamenco, or flamenco-related products or services. Certain other types of sites may be approved on a case-by-case basis. Websites engaged in anything that doesn't seem legal or ethical will not be approved. Websites that contain malicious software will not be approved. Adult, gambling, and medical product sales sites will not be approved. Websites with content that would be generally offensive to most people will not be approved.

What do websites owners need to do to syndicate the forum?

1. Send me a Personal Message containing their website URL.
2. I will visit their site to determine suitability.
3. If their website is suitable I will return a small computer code file. The Old School Flamenco Forum will "magically" appear at their website when they upload that file.
4. The only other thing they will need to do is provide a link from their website to their new forum.

How will the forum look at their website?

It will look exactly as it does here, except there will be a link back to their website home page at the top, so their visitors will be able to return back to their other web pages.

When will syndication start?

It will start immediately when the small file is uploaded.

How can the forum be removed if a website owner decides not to continue syndicating?

Deleting the file that enables forum syndication will instantly remove the forum from their website.

Won't search engines impose a duplicate content penalty on participating websites?

No. Syndication is accomplished in an accepted way that avoids search engine duplicate-content penalties.

Will members be able to login at syndicating websites using the same usernames and passwords that are used here?

Yes. Although, logins will not be preserved across domains. If a member logs-in at one website and then goes to a different one they will have to login again at the second website.

Will there be a delay before posts appear at syndicating websites?

No, posts will appear simultaneously at all the websites.

What will the URL to the forum be at syndicating websites?

• It can be a anything website owner wants it to be, but the default URL will be like this:
  

  http://www.yoursite.com/flamenco-forum.html

  
  
• That default can be changed easily to a folder address like this:
  

  http://www.yoursite.com/flamenco-forum/

  
  
• Or, anything else an owner may prefer.

Will PHP, MySQL, or other supporting software be required at syndicating websites?

No. Furthermore, the syndication method is fully compatible with all types of web servers and server operating systems. The only requirement is the ability to upload a file to a folder the web server can access.

What changes will there be at the main Old School Flamenco Forum site due to syndication?

Nothing will change due to syndication, except that activity will hopefully increase.

Send me a PM if you have a website you would like to have the Old School Flamenco Foro at. If your website is appropriate the forum can be running there very soon.

-Bob