Any business has stages of growth. Online businesses are no different.
One problem online marketers have is that they hear of some concept being taught and then immediately apply the insight regardless of where their business is at in its lifecycle.
For example there is a concept called "social proof," which means simply that people that see others interacting with your web site or blog, will be more apt to get involved with contributing also; they will be inclined to bookmark you or subscribe to your ezine or blog.
One mistake that can be made is the opposite of what we're talking about here. I guess I would call it reverse social proof. I mean that the same thing that can reveal interest in your site or blog, can also reveal lack of interest also.
An example of the mistake is when you start a blog for instance and somebody recommends that you put a feed counter on your site before you have any significant numbers to offer. This can actually cause people to not be interested as they believe nobody else is reading your blog, so why should they.
The same can go for forums. Don't promote it if you have only one comment on it. First search around for people to say what they think and post it to your forum. Some people even have alter-egos they create and put it up on their forum to get interest rolling (the big name people that do this would surprise you). The reason is that people need "social proof" to get involved.
The great majority of people don't want to be the first one, or one among only a couple, to interact with your blog or forum.
The bottom line in all of this is to take into account the stage that your online business is at before you just blindly add widgets or start campaigns which can actually cause the opposite effect of why you're doing it.
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