Advice & Suggestions on a Forum

[notlikeyou]

I'm starting out with my first forum & wanted to pick the minds of you that are much more savvy at it.
Anything that I should do, expect or safeguard against? Specifically and tips to keep everything running smoothly (preventative measures)? Any issues that you have run into that in hindsight could have been prevented with a little preparation?

I'm using SMF for the forum, I have a good host (thus far).

Thanks in advance for the advice!

 

[netzilla]

A few years ago I started a website/forum called "Ride The Red" which served as an online community for Honda ATV owners. It was a great learning experience and I am kicking myself in the rear everday for selling that site.

Here are some tips:

- If you can afford a VB license then I highly recommend doing so because of its nice functionality. If not then alternatives like PHPBB will most certainly do the job as well.

- Until members and traffic are at a steady growth keep the number of categories to a minimum. Having too many categories at launch will make the forum seem bare.

- For each category you create use descriptive keywords not only for the title but the description as well. This will be useful for both visitors and the SE's.

- Keep the ads and banners to a minimum until members and traffic start to grow. Having too much on launch may make the members feel that you are only trying to make money.

- Create a newsletter system to help keep the members coming back. I even went as far as sending "We have been missing you..." emails to members with low visits and post counts to try and get them interested again.

- Start new threads daily on your own that are based on interesting topics. This will help encourage members to post.

- To get the ball rolling initially hire a forum posters to post on good related topics.

- Put a descriptive link in your sigs at other forums.

- Have a "Member of the month" feature. This helps others learn about the others in the community.

- Once established do product reviews and sell advertising space. I was able to get approx. $800+ worth of free parts for my atv just for contacting vendors and asking for a free product to do a review on.

- Choose additional moderators wisely. I selected a few members who really stood out and were experienced to be my mods. Two were actually certified Honda mechanics which found their way to my site

- STICKERS: For some reason stickers were a BIG hit! I gave each new member a sticket upon signup and then sold additional stickers cheap just to cover the cost.

- SHIRTS: T-shirts were also a BIG hit. Just something to help spead the word or url in this case.


I will add anything additional I can think of.

 

[notlikeyou]

Thanks for the tips Netzilla, great wealth of informaiton. rep added.

 

[Captain Tycoon]

- STICKERS: For some reason stickers were a BIG hit! I gave each new member a sticket upon signup and then sold additional stickers cheap just to cover the cost.

Any chance of where you bought you're stickers?

Oh and, all that advice is brilliant. Most i already know but they're still some of the most important things you need to know

 

[netzilla]

Any chance of where you bought you're stickers?

Oh and, all that advice is brilliant. Most i already know but they're still some of the most important things you need to know

At the time I used http://www.123stickers.com/ (no affiliation) because they had the best prices. I highly recommend them they were very pleasant to deal with.