Many new publishers out there struggle with finding quality resources that will help them in their journey towards fame and recognition. Honestly there is nothing mystifying about this, because it is easy to suffer from information overload online, simply because the sheer magnitude of disposable resources at your hand can be quite overwhelming.
In order to help all of the up and coming publishers with this conundrum, I have compiled a list of 40 valuable resources that will help you in your quest. For practical reasons the list has been divided into two parts, and today I am posting the first. This one focuses on websites where you can socialize and network, and at the same time find invaluable information.
Forums
Actively participating in forums is an excellent way to expand your horizons and discover new angles for practically everything. The good ones are also filled with knowledge, and just a simple search away from you. This is why we start our list of resources with 10 excellent forums that can help you become a more successful publisher!
The SitePoint Forums are one of the oldest and most recognized forums for online publishers. With over 200,000 members who all share a passion for online publishing and money making, it’s one of the largest collectives of knowledge about our field. Although their marketplace isn’t free to use, it’s well worth noting, because it serves as the place to buy and sell high end blogs and websites.
Another one of the largest forums around when it comes to all things publishing. It really has all the things you need, including specific sections dedicated to marketing, business, coding, design and everything in between. One great advantage over the SitePoint Forums is that the marketplace at the Digital Point Forums is completely free to use for all registered and contributing members.
Similar to both the SitePoint Forums and the Digital Point Forums in that you can discuss all the different aspects of online publishing such as design and coding, promotion and so forth. It is smaller in size compared to the former two, but still more than large enough to be considered a valuable source of information for most things that concern online publishers.
4. DNForum
Absolutely a must-visit for anything concerning domain names. If you are looking for a suitable domain name for your new venture, just throw out a few pointers, and you will be overwhelmed with the amount of affordable offers of suitable domains you’ll find. Also a great place to sell websites, and I have personally sold several grand-scale websites through DNForum.
We all need a place to host the information we are sharing, right? Not only is Web Hosting Talk the place to go to when it comes to everything that has to do with web hosting, but it is also a great place to find business partners, advertising opportunities and much more.
6. 9rules Notes
9rules is, well, to be honest even after being there for a year I’m not completely sure what it is. What I do know however is that it is, apart from an experience in design and creativity, a gathering place for an exceptionally large amount of successful bloggers and publishers who knows their trade. And such, even though their Notes section isn’t strictly dedicated to relevant discussions, it is still an excellent place to learn and make new, valuable connections.
I don’t have any personal experience with this forum, but it seems to be one of the largest forums dedicated solely to the art of blogging. Although the colour scheme might not ooze of professionality, any forum that focuses strictly on blogging and manages to gather almost 600 active members should be well worth visiting.
8. WickedFire
Forum focusing on marketing and search engine optimization. It has been given a somewhat tarnished reputation due to endorsing various black-hat methods of promotion, but overall its a valuable resource, especially for marketing ideas that do not necessarily fit into the famous box.
9. Personal Development for Smart People Forums
Being an independant publisher online often means struggling to do as much as possible with a very limited amount of time. Apart from the short and catchy name, this forum which was started by the famous Steve Pavlina, will give you all the pointers you need on how to become a more effective and less procrastinating publisher.
The second forum on our list dedicated specifically to blogging, and also the smallest. It was started by professional blogger Chris Garret. Regardless of the fact that it is still in its infancy, it has already become a considerable source of information regarding blogging, and a great place to connect with fellow publishers.
Social Media
We all know by now that the best way to market your your content is through social media marketing. Everybody already know about the big sites such as Digg and Reddit, but these days there is a social media sharing sites for practically all the popular niches out there. That is why this list includes ten of the lesser know, niche specific social media sites out there. Have fun promoting your and getting targeted traffic from these!
11. Ballhype (sports)
If you typically write about sports such as golf, hockey, basketball or football, Ballhype is where you want to go in order to promote your stories. The site has been quite successful too, so it is safe to safe that you can expect a fair share of traffic if your stories gain momentum here.
12. ShowHype (entertainment)
From the creators of Ballhype I present to you ShowHype (not sure why they are inconsistent with their capitalization of letters), already a somewhat popular social media site with a focus on entertainment.
13. Sphinn (internet marketing)
One of my favourite social media sites, simply because of the sheer quality of the articles that are successful. If you are interested in internet marketing, this is most certainly a place to be. If you manage to get an article you have written to the front page, you will see quite a bit of quality traffic, as it is something I have been fortunate enough to experience myself.
14. AutoSpies (cars)
If you have a habit of writing about cars, this is the place to focus your social media marketing. The site seems to have an active and passionate audience, and such you will be receiving high-quality, targeted traffic if you succeed here.
15. Hugg (environment)
Environmentalists rejoice, because Hugg is here to save the day! It is dedicated specifically towards stories that focus on the environment, and they have managed to gather quite a crowd already.
16. Sk*rt (lifestyle)
Not only beautifully designed, but also quite popular. Sk*rt has a main focus on lifestyle, which can be practically anything these days. Take a look around, and see if your articles would fit in with the stories that are currently popular here.
17. DNHour (domain names)
The people at this social media outlet are concerned about one thing and one thing only, domain names. If you have a habit of writing stories on the subject of domains, this would be a good place to promote them.
18. Pixel Groovy (design / tutorials)
At Pixel Groovy the users decide which graphics tutorials make the cut and which don’t. Just like it should be at a social media site. This is certainly a nice place to promote your work if you frequently write design and graphics tutorials.
19. N4G (video games)
N4G (News for Gamers) is a social media site with a focus on news articles related to video games. Just as all things video games, it has a significant audience, and such it is a nice place for all the aspiring Matt Casamassimas of the internet to promote their stories.
20. Blogging Zoom (blogging)
Although brand new, Blogging Zoom has already established themselves with a core audience. The main focus here seems to be articles that are interesting for bloggers. The best part? Bloggers are encouraged to submit their own stories!
The second part of the article with the last 20 excellent resources for publishers will focus on valuable blogs, tools and places other miscellaneous goodies. To make sure you do not miss it, you should consider subscribing to the Lars-Christian.com RSS Feed!
