I just did this, thanks alot! hehe.. yeah, our reggie count went from 10 users to around 50 now in just 3 days!! im so excited but now i juts have to get them to post, haha!
I am going to be making a similar gaming forum so please do post what works and what doesnt. Right now, I've created a bunch of dummy sites which provide people with an incentive for the game (hint / trick) if they input their name and email (ive been doing this for a week and have about 1000 registrants). Once my count hits about 10000, I will launch the forum and mass email everyone on the list. I haven't tested this method out yet but I'll tell you why I think it will work. #1) The site will receive a huge surge of traffic and when people see that there have been XXX amount of people on within the past hour or so, they will think it is a very frequented forum. #2) I will have sections blocked off for only registrants with X posts. Once they get that post count, they get access to a hidden part of the forum. This gives them that sense of VIP treatment and would be more willing to join and post #3)The people already know that the information that is provided in the forums will be of quality because they already received good results from my dummy sites.
That is a GREAT idea! i wish i had had the time to do something similar, however the content my site is focused on was just released and I am trying to capitalize on the fresh market of people interested in my topic before it ends. I probably will do something similar on any other websites I launch, I like your thinking!
If you want them to post, bait them to show you what they know. Start hook style threads that inquire about certain things like what they think of particular situations or products. Consider creating an ID for your forum that will ask questions needing assistance for registered users to answer for them. Start Viral style posts. Good Luck.
Yes, I've been doing that with one of my "users". Lay down sticks, then as my regular account, I add kindling to the fire.. or wait for some of our posting users to add it themselves! But yeah.. I need to give them more incentive to post.. i've been brainstorming all day
... or leave the site. I would restrict posting to registered but if I would visit a forum that would not let me read the content of posts, I would leave immediatly. To the original question: Offer good information and nice atmosphere on your forums and the people will register, you probably want to post yourself quite much at the beginning. These are the only way, believe me, I own 2 forums with over 5k registered users in other and over 2.5k in other. oh and good domain helps. A LOT.
irun, I think you really need to skin your forum to get any sort of return visitors. If it looks like you've put some effort in to the site, you'll probably get more people to stick. Cheers,
well now i'm glad to say this.. the last 3 days i have been consecutively receiving over 2300 visitors (unique) each day, and 2 days ago i coded a unique skin for my forums, if you wanna check it out, here is the url: http://forums.gnomeproblem.com now i just need to get people to post! i am sponsoring a contest in which players can win in-game currency but this is not striking up as much interest as i thought what can i do to get users to post now!