Reward Your Forum Moderators
If you are a forum administrator and you have moderators on your site who are doing a stellar job, consider rewarding them for their assistance. No, I am not necessarily talking about financial compensation, but other recognizable forms of showing your gratefulness.
As the forum administrator for the Corporate Flight Attendant Community, I have been blessed to have on board four members of the business aviation community who have helpfully assisted me in the role of moderator for about one year. Admittedly, I started the site on my own and only added moderators after the site's second anniversary. In retrospect, I wish I had been more diligent in adding moderators.
Because of the unique "nicheness" of my site, I can "reward" my moderators in several ways:
1. I allow moderators to advertise within their signature. This includes links to their own sites or information about their businesses.
2. Free banner advertising. If my moderators have a banner advertising their business it gets put on my site in at least one, if not two, premium locations.
3. Promotion of material. Several of my moderators are accomplished writers. When not adding helpful and interesting information within a thread, I can count on them submitting an article to my site which I will gladly carry with the appropriate links included.
4. Free services. I charge my members to list their resumes, but not my moderators to have their copy listed. If there is something, anything else I can give away to my moderators I will do it.
5. Giveaways. While my moderators cannot participate in community contests, I will give products/items away when possible. Truthfully, this hasn't happened yet, but I am certainly open to that possibility!
6. Write letters. One of my moderators needed a little promoting of his capabilities; I addressed a letter to the proper party to help him successfully get what he needed.
In all, my moderators are an important part of the success of my site. I cannot forget their importance and I urge you to remember your moderators' contributions too. You may not have the financial wherewithal to contribute money, but certainly there are ways you can manifest your gratitude.
Matthew Keegan is The Article Writer who writes on just about any and every issue imaginable. You can preview samples from his high performing site at
http://www.thearticlewriter.com
