Updated about 15 years ago on . Most recent reply
Use forum tags correctly to get best benefit
I've been seeing a lot lately the forum tags not being used properly. The idea behind the tags are to easily search relevant topics based on the tag words.
When you go here: http://www.biggerpockets.com/topics/tags?page=1 you'll see that tags are used in either 1 word or short phrase.
For instance the tag short sales would be acceptable as a two word tag. Sub2, Subject2, Subjectto or Subject to would all also be acceptable tag phrases.
When you combine to many keywords into the tag field without separating them you're doing yourself no justice. I'm going to pick on Cory Bray (for no reason, it was a random pick).
As you can see here: http://www.biggerpockets.com/topics/tags?page=10 Cory has tagged "bill finance congress" the problem is he did not separate them with a comma therefor his tag ended up like this "bill-finance-congress"
he could easily have his post in three separate categories by using the comma and keeping the keyword/tagword relevant to the topic.
Cory should have done it like this: bill, finance, congress
then he would receive three different tags instead of one tag. This tag method is not only helpful to the person searching for relevant key/tagwords but also the thread starter. If you have relevant key/tag words and your posts are informative and relevant to the key/tagword it will add credibility to you.
If you have a website listed in your signature you have an even better chance that the person searching for the key/tag word will also visit your site and quite possibly either be a potential client or a potential partner in a deal. Either way you don't want to lose out on such a possibility as long shot as it seems by simply not putting the commas between the tag words, and make sure the tag words are relevant.
You don't have to place four key/tagwords all the time. If your post only really relates to one particular thing then it is ok to only place one tagword. Just keep it relevant and the tagword function will work for everyone involved.