Please list your TOP 5-10 ways of getting active Forum Members

You can invest money in different ways, like to advertise your forum, to hire someone to be active in your forum, to hire someone to introduce your forum in related forums and many other options are there.

 

Exactly why obvious wannabe clone sites fail. Most problems I see with new forums is originality.

As for my own view to gain members.

1. Be active
2. Be courteous
3. Be professional
4. Have well written and easily nagivated forum structure
5. Don't have too many rules to begin with

 

I agree with your Points (1, 4 and 5) and would like to add another Point # 6 - Be Friendly with your users.

 

2. Be courteous

I have that. It's basically similar.

 

Thanks for all the replies...

-C

 

The "contest" idea is thrown out there quite a bit, but it brings with it some issues.
I have conducted MANY contests in my forums over the past 10 years.
The single most glaring statistic I came away with?
The contest participants are there to win something you are giving away.
When the contest is over, they are gone...long gone. EVEN THOSE THAT WIN BIG PRIZES.
You can't force anyone to like your site- they will or they won't, there is no gray.

I closed up shop on one of my forums and opened up a new one immediately.
Big mistake.
I've learned very much about these in a decade, and still have yet to figure out how to get a rush of members registering.

As Shawn said- it isn't easy to come up with that something unique.

Oh, and Facebook is stealing your members' time these days already.
It's a tough climb from the basement to the roof.

 

Have a specific niche. If you're going to aim for the big dog niches with go after large established communities, you better offer something unique. Too many newbies start "web development" forums. Really, guys? Maybe you should start an empty "forum marketing" forum so we all can learn from your success.

Since you have a specific niche (you do, right?), create a minimal amount of forums within the community. Too many communities present you with a clusterfuck of forums and subforums and they don't even have an established member base. Blows my fucking mind.

Do things better than the failed communities in your niche, and then market to them. If you can establish yourself as the up and coming big dog. See if you can soak up the small communities with residual userbases. Especially those communities that don't even own their own domains. You'll have to think outside the box to market smartly. Those that aren't clever just end up spamming.

 

Social Media & Invest time for your forum from posting, managing & executions of your plans

 

sadly, but that is true.

 

1. Be honest
2. Give it for free
3. Get traffic from anywhere
4. Be Patient
5. Update your contents always

 

Surprisingly, no one has said this ... or rather very few people understand it.

You should start a forum when theres a need of it. For example, many new webmaster forums are still coming up everyday when big-foots like DP, V7N etc etc are already there. In fact, DP and V7N are serving the same purpose on the bigger scale, so whats the point of your forum then?

Its really important to understand the "need of the forum". If its required around, then for sure you're gonna have a good successful forum very shortly. A little marketing and branding is required ofcourse.

I read shawn saying he did not invest a single dime in marketing of DP , but that was way back in 2004. Now days, Every third guy over the internet is a webmaster and "marketing & branding" are 2 very essential aspects of a successful forum/business.

 

Depends on the forum type . What is the subject for your forum/s ?

 

i have bene hired to post on many forums. Frankly, some of them are terrible and I never want to see them again. But a couple are actually fun to drop in on. If i establish a forum with 500-1000 posts i will flip back and log in to keep the dates up top fresh.

 

Money? Didn't you get any other ways? I don't think money is the whole unless you just buy a forum from othres.

 

You have never said what your forum is about, but you appear to be promoting Appetite Suppressants, which, in my opinion, would be something that would appeal to younger woman, so why don't you tell us what you are doing and maybe help you by giving you some tips on that, but yes, great content and great discussions would be a good starting point, but just a starting point.....

 

Why invest money do everything your self you obtain more love for you forum or site

 

Offer something unique, don't annoy your guess with disturbing banners and sign up notice. If they find it good, they will join.

 

u need the most unique idea and success will follow

but its the most difficult thing & never loose hope.......

 

Yes I think I am starting to see the ways to make my forum active and thriving. best way is to spend enough quality time in the forum giving out the best content.