Best way to increase forum traffic?

[Rerun]

I have a site that has a relatively new forum. I can get small traffic to the site but have only had a few sign ups for the forum. Anyone got any tips?

 

[SimpleDomaining]

i will sit here and wait some answer on this nice question too )))))
but. i had a new forum created sometime ago. all i did i went to another same kind a forum, picked some active writers and sent them personal letter invitation to come to my forum. i send about 100 personal letters, something like " i like the way you post, you think , and your thought would be really valuable on this particular forum... etc". i was lucky, that forum where i was sending invitations at same time inserted a membership fee, and my forum was a nice and ready place to go for people who dont want to pay. so it worked really good. One told another, and my traffic jumped really unexpectable. But it worked only one time. Now i am trying to bring people to another forum using same technique, but nobody comes.... so its interesting to know.

 

[aween]

offer content to your users. like scripts. templates, tutorials etc.. or give away prices and such

 

[135791]

any recomended scripts, i heard alot of people say about shoutbox etc

 

[StudioWorks]

Add unique content - be sure it's optimized well for search engines and visitors ( users ) will come.

All the best,

SW

 

[Mark]

Bid on PPC listings on smaller Search Engines - You can usually find some related keywords that fit your site at a decent price

 

[Rerun]

What is the best way for a forum to show up on google/yahoo, etc?

 

[Mark]

Patience and time is the best way .... But , You can list them here :


http://www.google.com/addurl/
http://submit.search.yahoo.com/free/request
http://dmoz.org/add.html

 

[bluenoser]

I am having the same problem getting members, the SEs have finially been good to me, I have the majority of the sites pages indexed, I get about 2 or 3 searches that end up at my site a day, however I still can't get people to sign up and post.

I spent about a month of trading posts, alter egos, bought traffic, advertising, PPC, joined about 50 related forums and put the URL in my sig and posted like crazy, just about everything, and still few sign ups.

So if anyone has a way to gain users please let us know

 

[rcep]

a

do what I done to my boards so that I got over 1920000 posts in few months only
have many affiliates with other boards
give away Gmail invitations( I sent around 200 when Gmail was rare)
make contests like best poster contest like go into boards similar to NP and tell them I will give u 1000 posts if u make 300 posts at my boards
make ur boards main page look active make some SPAM threads so that it make the boards look active ( this is a bad idea but makes people register) make sure u hid the spam from the places member or guests can see like sub boards [if u need more tips or help concerning that PM me I will help more telling me what is ur boards software)

give away stuff like T-shirts or so in low prices or even free
search engines a good idea I get many daily people from search engines but these people 99.99% view boards but don't make posts
if u don't have much posts hid boards statistics
never and ever be strict to ur members because people need a nice place to post in not a place for u to make them rules(personaly I removed the rules section I just warn members and guests and I never had to punish people at all )
be kind and welcome members and guests , make them feel welcome and they r important up to a limit
never show them that u really need there posts
make a support board
make weird topics which are not very comment so that search engines catch ur site in first pages as comment topics such as health computing ..... got loads of sites with high ranking which will hide ur site
don't put ads at the beginning at all


if u want more tricks contact me to show u how a great forum I have that got pop just in few simple steps

 

[duskdawn]

Hey Ryan, really nice ideas, thanks for that.

 

[Rerun]

do what I done to my boards so that I got over 1920000 posts in few months only
have many affiliates with other boards
give away Gmail invitations( I sent around 200 when Gmail was rare)
make contests like best poster contest like go into boards similar to NP and tell them I will give u 1000 posts if u make 300 posts at my boards
make ur boards main page look active make some SPAM threads so that it make the boards look active ( this is a bad idea but makes people register) make sure u hid the spam from the places member or guests can see like sub boards [if u need more tips or help concerning that PM me I will help more telling me what is ur boards software)

give away stuff like T-shirts or so in low prices or even free
search engines a good idea I get many daily people from search engines but these people 99.99% view boards but don't make posts
if u don't have much posts hid boards statistics
never and ever be strict to ur members because people need a nice place to post in not a place for u to make them rules(personaly I removed the rules section I just warn members and guests and I never had to punish people at all )
be kind and welcome members and guests , make them feel welcome and they r important up to a limit
never show them that u really need there posts
make a support board
make weird topics which are not very comment so that search engines catch ur site in first pages as comment topics such as health computing ..... got loads of sites with high ranking which will hide ur site
don't put ads at the beginning at all


if u want more tricks contact me to show u how a great forum I have that got pop just in few simple steps

Great advice. I am running a website based around the university I attend. I put up flyers around campus and am having a hard time attracting kids to come visit and sign up.

 

[peter phillips]

You should add some interesting topics, news articles and good contents in your forums. I would also like to suggest, you should contact those members who are not visiting your forums from a long time after few postings. You should send them e-mails mentioning that you have updated your forums with some fresh contents and articles and request them to visit and start posting. You can also implement referral program with your existing customers.

 

[cooljeba]

but as far as possible try to avoid contests that involves money becasue once ppl taste it they want more and won't post till you run another contest. If you are richie rich then regular contest is best for you :D

..:: peace ::..
Jeba

 

[Matrix1976]

Bid on PPC listings on smaller Search Engines - You can usually find some related keywords that fit your site at a decent price

Any particular 'smaller' search engines you would suggest for this? Adwords is costing me a fortune especially since they changed to their dumb new system, and overture would most probably be more of the same....