Hi guys strikes me as a tricky subject to post in a Forum as administrators probably think you are trying to steal members!
However having just set up a new site http://www.Plooka.com the forum is key to the success of the site so how to get it kick started?
Have sent out emails to friends, messages on Facebook etc but need to get some momentum. I guess other forums are a good place to find members (it targets people that like forums) but I doubt this is going to work.
So any advice / ideas - think I am going to see if I can find some forums for people that own forums
Well, there's always the case that the forum has to be of a niche that you can post enough about. It's one of the reasons why I don't particularly like celebrity forums, because there's the fact that there's a certain amount you can post about and it can get redundant after awhile. It has to be something where new stuff is always happening like DIY, sports, collecting etc.
Find a couple of free places to advertise (other forums are fine, but limit it to your signatures). If your forum software has a forum where you can show off your site, try looking for critiquing as if the person likes the site and the subject, they'll most likely sign up.
Post, post, post. Even if it's just you in the beginning, it'll draw in a couple of people because they'll actually see that the forum is active. I know sometimes people pay a few cents when they first start a forum, but I don't think it's right to make people post that aren't in it for the long run, it just tends for them to become spammy in the end.
Try and get a blog on the same topic to sponsor you, look at their reader count and maybe aim for at least 50-100 readers. That way, you're guaranteed that the word's getting out.
I used to have a forum and what helped was that I got the word out to a lot of people on different sites, so your original effort isn't a waste, you just need to push it up a notch.
get a group of friends who will work endlessly to the success of your forum. i myself have been exploited many a time doing stuff that would've cost more than a shiny penny for a friend.
I would consider registering a few dozen dummy users and generating conversations yourself. A forum is like a restaurant, if its empty people are more likely to go elsewhere.
Ethical or not, it is often done. If you prefer to be more on the "ethical side", you could pay people a small amount to post -- Namepros used to do that a long time ago.
Other ideas:
- Have contests (eg. biggest forum contributor, member of the month, etc)
- Offer incentives (eg. try and negotiate deals for your members with certain ski resorts)
- Banner Exchanges with similar websites/forums
- Classified Advertising
- Business cards ("conveniently" leave them whereever you go)
- Google Adwords advertising
- Place your forum link in your signature at all forums you participate on (most forums will allow this provided your forum is not targeting the same market demographic as your members -- that's not to say you won't find some ski enthusiasts on Namepros however!)
- Consider issuing a press release -- PR Web is a good choice for this
Thanks all, so really good stuff! Ok so I have emailed a lot of people, started a competition, added the site to my signature, done press releases, deposited some money for google adwords, and started a campaign with facebook, oh and I sponsored a guy for the Iron Man running competition with my logos on his tshirt. Seems that I am getting some registrations as well. I get impatient but think it is going well!
__________________ http://www.Plooka.com - Get on the Piste!
Checkout my Skiing Website, and join in if you love the mountains...
I think you'll be surprised, you're greatest source of growth will come friends, family, and the large friends of friends tree that develops. It will take time but its nothing that can't be done, good luck!
If you post a contest with an actual giveaway (something to do with skiing - preferably) then you can go to the big sweeptakes sites and list your contest. That will bring in lots of people.
Getting them to stay and post is another issue - you have to have interesting forum topics to do that.
Few good ideas in here, but a few I'd probably stay away from a couple as well.
- Creating fake users to generate conversation
This could come back to bite you. You'd be better off finding some friends to help make conversation vs creating fake users. Fake users and fake conversation has potential to damage your forum's credibility. I'm sure even though many forums have started off this way, I wouldn't want to run the risk.
- Contests for top contributers
If you were to do this, you'd need to lay down some major rules at the beginning. If you were simply to measure post count, you'll end up with a lot of non-contributing and one-word replies. Quality vs Quantity here.
Even if you were to set up rules that the post must be x number of words, or contribute in some way to the discussion, you risk having members second-guess your judgement in deeming what a valid post is. What is valid to one person won't be valid to another. You'll end up having people fighting over the contest once it's all finished, and surely whoever places second, third, etc. will feel slighted.
Something I did see that seemed to work very well was an incentive for new registrations. The forum gave 50 cents to a related charity for every new user who registered within a 4 week span.
Even if all of those new users don't pan out, it sounds like a great way to generate new members who would potentially post, and for existing users to do some word-of-mouth advertising. Something like that seems win-win.
Often forum administrators will not look too poorly upon you if you are honest about what you are doing - and if your forum is not a direct competitor. Yours certainly does not appear to be one to this one!
I must say I like your subject area - you might also really look into doing some Link Exchanges. It is a subject I have some knowledge of - and some sites that you could do it with automatically - as a way to boost traffic a bit.
best of luck & PM me if you are interested.
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- PM me to build Link Exchanges automatically -
As for me, You`d better ask your friends to register in your site and exchange information with them concerning different themes of discussion. Also you should register on the other forums and make references to your site while communicating with users!
If you're SO worried about the ethics of creating multiple fake accounts, just hire some people to start some conversations and pay them $5 to start a bunch of threads and posts ---like you're hiring writers on elance. I'm sure the bidders will be entertained by the work description.
Better yet, if you're not so worried about multiple accounts, have each writer register several XD
Or even have a content writer write a few related articles of interest.. seems to be some very reasonable rates for both article writers and posters in the market place section.
Great Ideas Reece, that answered lots of questions I had in regards to forums. I have a few domains that would be perfect for forum or community. Thanks Rep Added.
You try to write anything first on each forums or make a survey in all forums and look what is the most attended topic forum and chose whats on the top 5 at least. and promote it also in other forums.
Thanks for all the posts and ideas! Creating lots of topics and threads seems to have been a good way to get people involved and friends have been contributing as well. 2 months and 45 members I think is a promising start.
__________________ http://www.Plooka.com - Get on the Piste!
Checkout my Skiing Website, and join in if you love the mountains...
I'm still amazed that with the vastnest of the internet and the hundreds of millions of people flying about out there how genuinely hard it still is to attract people to a new site! Trying all the techniques and I mean all still only produces limited results!
If you have a small budget it is very hard to get started and I am sure every webmaster will agree with me that having a great site is not just about creating a great site!
I am going to venture in to the Namepros incentives section this week!
__________________ http://www.Plooka.com - Get on the Piste!
Checkout my Skiing Website, and join in if you love the mountains...
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