Please Review My New Poker Forum - RocketAces.com

[BrandonSolutions]

Rocket Aces - Poker Community, Online Poker Forum - Powered by vBulletin

Rocket Aces is a new poker forum that has just been launched. We really need some new members to help the forum grow. We will be offering private freerolls and buy-ins at the end of November. More private tournaments will be happening at a regular basis. Rocket Aces will be the number #1 spot for online poker talk and news and we need you to help make it grow!

Join our growing poker community at Rocket Aces - Poker Community, Online Poker Forum - Powered by vBulletin.

Any tips on how to promote a online poker forum would be greatly appreciated. This is my first time creating a forum and I really hope it turns out well.

 

[wwwweb]

Nice to see you develop your domain, wish you best of luck,
Only way to go is drive traffic, maybe buy up cheap exisiting one time
Sites and use their backlinks. Sidebpoker.com is on auction at sedo

 

[Mr Spy]

Great start! I think some personalisation would go a long way though. The default vBulletin theme is awful. Even a basic text logo with a couple of solid colours would be a good start...but for something like poker - it can't be too hard to find some card vectors or something like that to turn into a nice fitting logo.

 

[BrandonSolutions]

Nice to see you develop your domain, wish you best of luck,
Only way to go is drive traffic, maybe buy up cheap exisiting one time
Sites and use their backlinks. Sidebpoker.com is on auction at sedo

Thanks for your output. I may consider buying some domains to use as redirects.

Great start! I think some personalisation would go a long way though. The default vBulletin theme is awful. Even a basic text logo with a couple of solid colours would be a good start...but for something like poker - it can't be too hard to find some card vectors or something like that to turn into a nice fitting logo.

I plan to get a proper design made in the future but that is not cheap and I want to spend on promoting the website and tournaments first.

 

[maxeaus]

Good luck with it, not much to say realy except to "pimp it up" a bit IMO.

 

[andr69]

Quite perfect design, I must say. But to my mind, there are too many ads on the page. At first sight I saw mainly the ads and only then I saw forums.

 

[Lulu]

Theres nothing much to review. just the default theme there. you need a good vbulletint heme. and a good logo too. its just too simple, nothing much good. moreover, no posts

 

[evermore2000]

As already posted there is not much to review. Its just the standard skin. Get a theme up there or better yet get a custom theme designed. Also advertise for a logo to be made in the forums here, there are some great designers that will surely do it for a good price.

I'd take the second cake poker logo off. The wide banner is enough.

Also its very hard to start a forum, it takes a lot of work and patience and even that is sometimes not enough. Although it sounds bad, a lot of people starting a forum sign up as different users and start topics and reply to them to get the forums started.

Good luck.

Rob

 

[EricH]

You've probably already paid for the vB license, but if you decide to change forum programs when your license is up, I built a 2Aces Theme for a Simple Machines Forum that I used to have with my poker blog. If you can figure out how to customize your vB site, you're welcome to use my graphics if you like.

 

[johname]

i remember making comments on this in the aprasial section, good to see your doing something with it.

Number one thing going for it is the cool name that lends its self to a neat logo. Get a bitchin logo! Then beg/pay people to post. Good luck.

 

[BrandonSolutions]

A new logo will be coming when I get my next pay cheque. However, a new design will take a bit longer because the designer I picked out is a bit pricey but I know it will be worth the price.

 

[Robin]

The domain is different from your site theme, No design review since you are using Vbulletin default theme.

 

[DomainMOD]

Personally I think you need to break the forums down more, otherwise they will become a mess after a short period of time.

For example, instead of a "Strategies" forum I would create separate forums for different strategies, such as "Cash Game Strategies", "MTT Strategies", "Sit 'n' Go Strategies", etc. Lumping everything together will make the forum hard to navigate if someone specializes in one form of the game. Maybe even have one Strategies forum but then having the various types in sub-forums.

 

[BrandonSolutions]

Personally I think you need to break the forums down more, otherwise they will become a mess after a short period of time.

For example, instead of a "Strategies" forum I would create separate forums for different strategies, such as "Cash Game Strategies", "MTT Strategies", "Sit 'n' Go Strategies", etc. Lumping everything together will make the forum hard to navigate if someone specializes in one form of the game. Maybe even have one Strategies forum but then having the various types in sub-forums.

Thanks for the suggestion but from past experience in running a forum. I found out that starting with less forums is better, because the forums don't look as empty and then when the forum gets larger and has active members posting everyday. Then I will start to break it down with sub-forums.

 

[EricH]

Thanks for the suggestion but from past experience in running a forum. I found out that starting with less forums is better, because the forums don't look as empty and then when the forum gets larger and has active members posting everyday. Then I will start to break it down with sub-forums.

X2

Agreed. You should always start small(ish) and then branch off sections as needed.

 

[BrandonSolutions]

I also installed a new theme from vbskins.com. Does everyone like it?

 

[EricH]

I like the colors, but not a fan of the on/off icons. You may want to change those for diamonds/clubs or something of that nature.

 

[Lulu]

If you brought THAT skin then its not a good one, trust me.
but you can try customizing it to make it look better. try getting icons from deviantART: where ART meets application! and smilies too.
change the look to something poker style, as EricH said

 

[BrandonSolutions]

I like the colors, but not a fan of the on/off icons. You may want to change those for diamonds/clubs or something of that nature.

Thanks, I will get some icons made like that.

 

[EricH]

If you brought THAT skin then its not a good one, trust me...

Beauty is in the eye of the beer-holder, but I would have to say it's actually a really nice clean crisp theme. With the exception of my previously noted icon suggestion, the rest of the theme feels very clean.