Hello, and welcome to the weekly member community interviews. This week, we are interviewing @ZandraJoi. She owns Host, but without giving too many spoilers, shall we dive into the second member community interview? If you are interested and would like to be interviewed, please raise a support ticket or email info@bizdustry.com for further information.
Our weekly member community interviews are to "recognise" the efforts of small website and business owners, who will not be afraid to help others. At Bizdustry, we believe in giving back so we hope you enjoy reading this series! Many thanks to @ZandraJoi for answering my questions.
Can you tell us a bit about yourself, including your skills and what you do for a living?
I’m a happily married housewife so I don’t work outside the home. I’m child-free by choice. I’m into eco-friendly, holistic living. My skills would be writing & being able to learn new things. Even if I don’t become adept at them!
Can you sum up the purpose of your community in one sentence?
To learn & grow with others in being environmentally conscious.
Who are your competitors & what makes you stand out?
I created my forum when I couldn’t find a holistic & secular community. I don’t know of any competitors. Being holistic tends to stand out on its own it seems!
How is your online community unique?
While I have general boards, the main focus is on being holistic & eco-friendly.
What are the aims and goals for your community in the next week/month/year?
For the next week & month, avoiding burn-out & keeping activity going is my main goal. For the next year, it’s similar only I hope to have more of a membership database. If ever possible, I would like to move out of Proboards without having to start over.
How do you deal with abusive posts/members?
I private message them to see what is going on. Sometimes a person is just having a bad day & I want to give the benefit of the doubt. If however they have time to cool off & are still quite abusive, they will get a warning. I will give 3 warnings but honestly, I’ve only had to warn one member & unfortunately, had to ban them.
How do you recruit valuable moderators and how will you retain them?
While I have had temporary Staff to help fix problems, I’ve been the only permanent Staff on my forum since it’s inception. If I did have need of moderators, I would see how they have acted while being on Staff on other forums. I would retain them by keeping in communication. I think that’s one of the most vital components needed for Staff.
Is your online community fun?
I would like to think so. I have some good members who have a good sense of humor & make others laugh. Forums are supposed to be about community & being a community means being there for the good times & the bad times.
What proportion of your members are active and why?
I’d say a small 10% are active on a regular basis. I believe they remain active due to caring about the forum as a whole. That is the reason why I’m active on some forums myself.
What are the most popular topics in your online community?
The Question of the Day goes over quite well. Then since I have a variety of boards, the popular topics can vary from talking about gardening in the summertime to general forum talk.
What subjects raise the most passion in your online community?
Fortunately, I have many members who are into being eco-friendly so they tend to add to those subjects.
Who are your most important members?
All of them
Who are your most influential members?
Again, all of them! All are influential in their own way. Whether they contribute to talking about pets or technology.
Do your members feel welcome when they join?
I’ve fortunately been told members feel welcomed on my forum & that they feel comfortable. I definitely like to see that continue & would hope that if there are conflicts, we can resolve them.
Do your members feel valued?
I try to interact with my members & acknowledge pertinent questions & topics. I want each to feel valued as a human being first, that means being listened to, even if it’s the Agree to Disagree. If they feel they are being heard, they will feel the value.
Do your members know your name?
It’s rare I give out my real name. Plus, since I never change my username, people get to know me “around the forums”. Not to mention my iconic avatar!
Do your members know how to contact you?
They are able to PM me anytime. I have also given out my email address to several of them. Plus since I’m on several forums, they can message me on one of those if they are having an issue, say, with logging onto my forum.
Do your members trust you?
I certainly hope they do! I try to invoke a trustworthy attitude. I have some boards closed to guests so members can feel more open & trusting in their posts.
Are you developing relationships away from your site to benefit your community?
If they are members, we already have a relationship. Whether it benefits my community is irrelevant. If HOST is not for them, I am just fine in maintaining the relationship via other avenues.
What external links to your community bring you the most active members?
I would say Affiliate Exchanges, Signatures, & Posting Packages.
Is running a online community a hobby or a full time job? If it's a hobby, can you explain whether you have any intentions to monetize your content and if so, how do you plan on doing so?
Running my community is a hobby. I don’t have plans on monetizing it at this time. If I did, I would look into ad space & learn tips from other forums on how they earn money.
Do you have a good relationship with your competitors?
I don’t have any competitors who are holistic & eco-friendly. For the general realm, I would say I have a good relationship with other forums. We need to help each other out & not feel we are in competition.
How does social media affect your branding?
I don’t use social media. I’m of the notion people are either Team Forum or Team Social Media. Those on Team Forum prefer the community of forums whereas Team Social Media have made comments on how intimidating forums are. So to me, they are in different leagues.
What is the most difficult decision you've made?
To keep running my forum through the lulls. It’s hard to have forums in this era. Pushing through but avoiding burn-out is key.
Do you plan on selling any merchandise, or otherwise developing any "partnerships"?
Since I don’t need to monetize my forum, I have no plans on selling merchandise or having any kind of partnerships.
How would you describe your management style, is it more externally focused or very hands on?
I’m very hands on. I have a system where I read all posts within a few days. I keep it moderated. I reply to inactive topics to get them going.
How did you come up with your forum name?
My husband helped me come up with it. I wanted an acronym that fit what my forum is about. Holistic, Organic, Secular & Tolerant. Aka HOST.
Would you ever consider selling your forum or are you in it "for the marathon"
Since mine is free from Proboards, I cannot sell it. Even if I could, I’m in it “for the marathon”.
Most forums are lacking activity due to social media evolving over the years. How are you overcoming this?
The typical Content Content Content. I just keep posting & carrying on with Post Exchanges. I also recognize there will be lulls & not worry about them.
How do you market (advertise) your forum?
Affiliate Exchanges & Signature advertising. I have done the old posting flyers but bulletin boards are very few & far between in this technological day & age.
Anything else you'd like to mention?
I want to thank you for the opportunity to let me do an interview for Bizdustry
Our weekly member community interviews are to "recognise" the efforts of small website and business owners, who will not be afraid to help others. At Bizdustry, we believe in giving back so we hope you enjoy reading this series! Many thanks to @ZandraJoi for answering my questions.
Can you tell us a bit about yourself, including your skills and what you do for a living?
I’m a happily married housewife so I don’t work outside the home. I’m child-free by choice. I’m into eco-friendly, holistic living. My skills would be writing & being able to learn new things. Even if I don’t become adept at them!
Can you sum up the purpose of your community in one sentence?
To learn & grow with others in being environmentally conscious.
Who are your competitors & what makes you stand out?
I created my forum when I couldn’t find a holistic & secular community. I don’t know of any competitors. Being holistic tends to stand out on its own it seems!
How is your online community unique?
While I have general boards, the main focus is on being holistic & eco-friendly.
What are the aims and goals for your community in the next week/month/year?
For the next week & month, avoiding burn-out & keeping activity going is my main goal. For the next year, it’s similar only I hope to have more of a membership database. If ever possible, I would like to move out of Proboards without having to start over.
How do you deal with abusive posts/members?
I private message them to see what is going on. Sometimes a person is just having a bad day & I want to give the benefit of the doubt. If however they have time to cool off & are still quite abusive, they will get a warning. I will give 3 warnings but honestly, I’ve only had to warn one member & unfortunately, had to ban them.
How do you recruit valuable moderators and how will you retain them?
While I have had temporary Staff to help fix problems, I’ve been the only permanent Staff on my forum since it’s inception. If I did have need of moderators, I would see how they have acted while being on Staff on other forums. I would retain them by keeping in communication. I think that’s one of the most vital components needed for Staff.
Is your online community fun?
I would like to think so. I have some good members who have a good sense of humor & make others laugh. Forums are supposed to be about community & being a community means being there for the good times & the bad times.
What proportion of your members are active and why?
I’d say a small 10% are active on a regular basis. I believe they remain active due to caring about the forum as a whole. That is the reason why I’m active on some forums myself.
What are the most popular topics in your online community?
The Question of the Day goes over quite well. Then since I have a variety of boards, the popular topics can vary from talking about gardening in the summertime to general forum talk.
What subjects raise the most passion in your online community?
Fortunately, I have many members who are into being eco-friendly so they tend to add to those subjects.
Who are your most important members?
All of them
Who are your most influential members?
Again, all of them! All are influential in their own way. Whether they contribute to talking about pets or technology.
Do your members feel welcome when they join?
I’ve fortunately been told members feel welcomed on my forum & that they feel comfortable. I definitely like to see that continue & would hope that if there are conflicts, we can resolve them.
Do your members feel valued?
I try to interact with my members & acknowledge pertinent questions & topics. I want each to feel valued as a human being first, that means being listened to, even if it’s the Agree to Disagree. If they feel they are being heard, they will feel the value.
Do your members know your name?
It’s rare I give out my real name. Plus, since I never change my username, people get to know me “around the forums”. Not to mention my iconic avatar!
Do your members know how to contact you?
They are able to PM me anytime. I have also given out my email address to several of them. Plus since I’m on several forums, they can message me on one of those if they are having an issue, say, with logging onto my forum.
Do your members trust you?
I certainly hope they do! I try to invoke a trustworthy attitude. I have some boards closed to guests so members can feel more open & trusting in their posts.
Are you developing relationships away from your site to benefit your community?
If they are members, we already have a relationship. Whether it benefits my community is irrelevant. If HOST is not for them, I am just fine in maintaining the relationship via other avenues.
What external links to your community bring you the most active members?
I would say Affiliate Exchanges, Signatures, & Posting Packages.
Is running a online community a hobby or a full time job? If it's a hobby, can you explain whether you have any intentions to monetize your content and if so, how do you plan on doing so?
Running my community is a hobby. I don’t have plans on monetizing it at this time. If I did, I would look into ad space & learn tips from other forums on how they earn money.
Do you have a good relationship with your competitors?
I don’t have any competitors who are holistic & eco-friendly. For the general realm, I would say I have a good relationship with other forums. We need to help each other out & not feel we are in competition.
How does social media affect your branding?
I don’t use social media. I’m of the notion people are either Team Forum or Team Social Media. Those on Team Forum prefer the community of forums whereas Team Social Media have made comments on how intimidating forums are. So to me, they are in different leagues.
What is the most difficult decision you've made?
To keep running my forum through the lulls. It’s hard to have forums in this era. Pushing through but avoiding burn-out is key.
Do you plan on selling any merchandise, or otherwise developing any "partnerships"?
Since I don’t need to monetize my forum, I have no plans on selling merchandise or having any kind of partnerships.
How would you describe your management style, is it more externally focused or very hands on?
I’m very hands on. I have a system where I read all posts within a few days. I keep it moderated. I reply to inactive topics to get them going.
How did you come up with your forum name?
My husband helped me come up with it. I wanted an acronym that fit what my forum is about. Holistic, Organic, Secular & Tolerant. Aka HOST.
Would you ever consider selling your forum or are you in it "for the marathon"
Since mine is free from Proboards, I cannot sell it. Even if I could, I’m in it “for the marathon”.
Most forums are lacking activity due to social media evolving over the years. How are you overcoming this?
The typical Content Content Content. I just keep posting & carrying on with Post Exchanges. I also recognize there will be lulls & not worry about them.
How do you market (advertise) your forum?
Affiliate Exchanges & Signature advertising. I have done the old posting flyers but bulletin boards are very few & far between in this technological day & age.
Anything else you'd like to mention?
I want to thank you for the opportunity to let me do an interview for Bizdustry
. Also did my bits at Forum wheel which is where it all began back then. 
