How to promote a forum

[Niche niche and again niche]

Well this is a tough one, as there are too many forums out there, and it is too difficult to enstablish a good one.

So I will start from the basics.

Niche niche and again niche

People don't signup general forums, and they usually care to registered to a forum with a niche topic that is interesting for them. I think that this rule can be aplied to any type of site, because internet is about niche. So before creating a forum I think that you should have first decided a very particullar theme for it.

Lots of members & posts

Do not invite people to register to an empty forum. Forum means community and a community with no people is a disaster... Create some users and post a lot of threads before you start promoting your forum. Another way especially when you can spend some money is hiring people to write a few hundrend threads before you start.

CPC campaigns

I never used them for a forum but other webmasters have mentioned to me that cost per click campaigns works good with forum sites.

SEO

Search engine optimization is a key factor for a forum's success, and you should have in mind that the most forum software packages (eg. phpBB) has no good setup for this, so you may have to install some MODs or hack yourself your forum. What you should check for sure is to remove the session variables in the urls, for the search engine bots.

Contests

It is allways usefull to offer something to your best members but have in mind to give away something relative to the main theme of your forum.

Newsletter

Create a monthly newsletter and let your members know of your 'best of the month' threads

Yea from my personal experience it is extremely hard to get a forum filled with members and posts. I will try some of the methods mentioned above

You might find it weird, but I kinda like emptier forums; less members means a better chance to get to know each other. 

You might find it weird, but I kinda like emptier forums; less members means a better chance to get to know each other. 

Yeah this is true. But have in mind that people like forums with lots of users and posts

Yeah in the early stages of forums great friendships can be formed due to there being a smaller closer community. But a busy community is just as appealing

I like forums with about 300 active members. You know the few popular posters and the other ones and you can remember some of the poeples names so its easy togive them a rep in your mind.

getting started is the hardest part, so sometimes you have to throw money at it (advertising, contests) until things get going

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getting started is the hardest part, so sometimes you have to throw money at it (advertising, contests) until things get going

That is true. See what are your creterias to get registered in a forum. Personally I have to see 3 digits in the statistics (at least) which means that the forum has to be active. That way you must give something that the 3 digit stat forums wont give to their users, in order to get new members.

As long as there is a decent amount of active members a forum can be great. Its a really good way to share information and you learn a lot from what other people say. I have had experience trying to find members to join and it is really difficult.

I am no expert but one area I have been working on to promote my forum (www.talkcyprus.org ) is to try and get coverage in 'traditional' media for it like newspapers and the like. Of course this strategy very much depends on the kind of forum you are running I guess. Just a thought

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I am no expert but one area I have been working on to promote my forum (www.talkcyprus.org ) is to try and get coverage in 'traditional' media for it like newspapers and the like. Of course this strategy very much depends on the kind of forum you are running I guess. Just a thought

Did that worked for your forum?

Did that worked for your forum?

To be honest it is very early days and we have only had a mention of the site in the 'traditional media' in one small local weekly newspaper (that does not even have web version either). I am hoping that this any future mentions of the forum in the press will drive traffic and new membership signups to the forum but can not really say right now how sucsessful this has been, if at all.

erolz, It would be interesting to let us know the results of this action when you have them.

I will keep my eyes to this topic

Yeah I will as well, I've never tried to advertise anything in a newspaper or other printed form.

I have to say the results of our first newpaper mention seem to have been very disapointing

We got a mention last Staurday in a week english Language paper published in North Cyprus and so far have only had a couple of sig ups since. So not looking great

A scan of the artcile that mentions the site (right at the end) is here

http://www.visionmatters.co.uk/cyprus/Scan10064.JPG

A thread about the 'effort' reffered to in the artcile can be found here just in case anyone is interested.

So all in all not a great response from this mention of the site. However the article is not about the site per se and the ciruclation of this paper is probably only a few thousand. The effort did get some coverage in South Cypriot papers but the site was not mentioned in these.

However I will continue to ry and get mentions or reviews for the site in 'traditional' media where ever I can. So far it has not prooved too sucsessful, but if at frist you do not sucseed and all that.

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First of all, thank you very much for sharing these experience of yours erolz.

About the traditional media, the fact is that you can't have instant results, because this advertising method is about brand name. That means that you have to invest much, but then the people will know you, and when they want to 'use your product' they'll have you in mind.

I've never really had the chance to promote a forum before (since all the forums I was hired to create were made for private organizations or I was only hired to create/admin them but not promote them).  What types of forums have the most "luck" when it comes to becoming a strong community?  I know that fansites tend to have a lot of members - but is this lasting?

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What types of forums have the most "luck" when it comes to becoming a strong community?  I know that fansites tend to have a lot of members - but is this lasting?

I am not sure about this. Propably it doesn't have to do with the type of forum, as it is something that have a niche. If you create a general forum propably it won't have very good results. As for the type of forum, you should do it regarding to your own 'needs' and interests.

I mean that if you are going to create a forum for pets, and you don't like pets, it is obvious that you wont be able to manage it. On the other hand if you love pets, you will be able to manage your forum, and give good advices to your members. This way your sattisfied members will bring more members to your way.

Do you agree?

Some of the busiest and long lasting forums around in my experience are consumer based forums relating to one company or class of companies. I am am thinking of forums like www.ntlhell.co.uk for example that is aimed at NTL users (NTL being a cable company in the UK).

These forums are not without their 'problems' of course. NTLhell is itself a splinter forum from an earlier forum nthellworld.com, which was historicaly 'vociferously anti NTL' and where the forum owner sold the site to NTL, took a job with them and neglected to tell the users of the forum that this had happend. NTL eventualy closed the forum down and the former site owner left the employ of NTL under less than amicable circumstances.

I agree with erolz.

In other words you should allready have a big audience to start a community

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