I woudl like to know if your hosting companies have a community area? Forum/chat rooms etc etc

Reason im asking is im trying to raise the profile of the forum on the webhost I run, im guessing having a active forum on your webhost would deffinetly improve your chances of gaining new clients.

My Hosting forum has less than 10 registered user yet we host lots more, they dont seem to be interested in the forum checking updates etc etc.

So what would you guys suggest to get clients more active on your webhost?

if you would look at my forum and see if its upto scratch or have any suggestions for me let me know.

the area im talking about. http://sr3host.net/forum

The answer is definite "yes", it's worth having a forum on your company's site, for your existing customers it's one more possible way for getting support, for your potentials clients it's a proof that your support is alive and the company is popular, of course it's only if the forum is regularly updated.

Well there is NO correct answer as each host is different.
We've been in business since 99 and have never had an active forum. We stiill have the forum but currently it is offline.
You cannot make people post and that was our problem. Not enough interest.
Back in 99 when we started very few co. even had a forum.
I did not want our forum to become the venue for support but had it online more or less for pre-sales and general community chat.
You might be able to get some tips over at www.forumuniversity.com

its true that most giant hosting company have their forums at this time.
you might see dreamhost, startlogic, hostgator, and many others had their own forums.
i been to their forums, and the traffic is quit high. they had been there for years.

My opinion on it is if you can make it work then it is great but you need to get your current clients into it or your prospectives will be discouraged by and empty forum

my opinion is just create few sub forum,later when got more clients,then create more sub forum,so it would not let the clients think you have no clients....

A forum is a great way to demonstrate your support staff's skills.

Unfortunately it can take 6months to a year to build a decent size forum. A forum with only a few registered users and posts may look a little dis-inviting to people who wish to host with you.

agree with latter

I always believe building your own community is always a smart thing to do, this way it will keep you and your customers a lot closer. However, the biggest mistakes is to neglect the community after it's all setup. At ServerPacket.com, we pay attention to emails and tickets than our community forum, which is also a mistake that we've made. We have clients deciding to post a problem or an issue on the forum, and for months their problem didn't even get a reply... And we all know where that leads to after all. My point is, if you're going to start a community, make sure you take good care of it.

As many have said a community can be a benefit or a hindrance.

The registered users is more important than the amount of posts. You might consider setting up your system to automatically register your customers.

If you have 300 registered users and only a few posts many will take this as a good sign.

Also be sure to keep up on it, not just in responding to clients but in removing SPAM.

I agree with this.