1. Advertising
    y u no do it?

    Advertising (learn more)

    Advertise virtually anything here, with CPM banner ads, CPM email ads and CPC contextual links. You can target relevant areas of the site and show ads based on geographical location of the user if you wish.

    Starts at just $1 per CPM or $0.10 per CPC.

I've started a new forum and I want people to visit and sign up.

Discussion in 'General Marketing' started by z00100, Jan 31, 2012.

  1. #1
    Hi guys and girls,

    I've had an idea about a forum for a long time, and had registered a domain name a couple of years ago. Anyway, long story short, is I finally got around to building my forum.

    The idea is simple. I've seen many forums where discussions get heated, people flame and then the thread gets shut down and members banned. That's fine because it violates the TOS of the forums.

    However, I was thinking, what if there was a forum where people can go and start a flame war, cuss people out, rant about politics, basically whatever floats their boat, and don't get banned.

    Hence the idea for [URL REMOVED BY MOD] was born.

    I've just started the forums a couple of weeks ago and I've tried myself to populate some posts, but as you all know, a forum isn't a 1 man show.

    So, my question is, I'm willing to spend some money on the forums. Perhaps $500 or so, but may extend to $1000 if I feel it's worth it.

    How do I drive visitors to my site?

    Another problem is, that if I do drive visitors to my site right now, they will see it as fairly empty, so what can I also do to boost up content so that when people do come, they see something compelling and can start posting immediately.

    Any and all suggestions are welcome. I do know getting a forum to a healthy, self sustaining forum is not easy, but I am willing to throw some money at it to give it a kick start. As of right now, I'm not thinking much of advertising on the forums, I can sustain the forums myself even if it gets to a couple of hundred dollars a month of expenses, but if this thing explodes I may think of other avenues.

    Anyway, looking forward to all the comments from the experienced members of this forum.
     
    Last edited: Jan 31, 2012
    z00100, Jan 31, 2012 IP
  2. GIF

    GIF Peon

    Messages:
    391
    Likes Received:
    2
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    #2
    First of all you need few posters who can post into your forum.
    Only 1 poster can create multiple accounts and make posting like from different people.
    It will make your forum alive and you'll start getting Search Engine traffic.

    I can do this task for you. PM me or post your email here.



    Thanks
     
    GIF, Jan 31, 2012 IP
    z00100 likes this.
  3. z00100

    z00100 Member

    Messages:
    11
    Likes Received:
    0
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    31
    #3
    I've had exactly 2 strangers sign up to the forums. Other than that I have 2 accounts, and the rest are friends and family. But I will PM you and we can discuss this off line.

    I am still looking for advice though :)
     
    z00100, Jan 31, 2012 IP
  4. qwikad.com

    qwikad.com Illustrious Member Affiliate Manager

    Messages:
    7,151
    Likes Received:
    1,656
    Best Answers:
    29
    Trophy Points:
    475
    #4
    You can try craigslist's rants and raves section. It's designed to get people all out of shape with rage toward each other. Just read some of the racist posts there. Unbelievable. Seriously, post a few ads in NY section of R&R and maybe you'll get some folks to your forum that way.
     
    qwikad.com, Jan 31, 2012 IP
  5. Widdico

    Widdico Greenhorn

    Messages:
    36
    Likes Received:
    0
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    18
    #5
    Try hiring a few good writers to write some really controversial stuff and then tweet about it or comment on a FB page.

    You do need to be careful though as getting racist and hate posts could cause you problems. You certainly don't want to be putting Adsense on a forum like that.
     
    Widdico, Jan 31, 2012 IP
  6. sweetcrabhoney18

    sweetcrabhoney18 Banned

    Messages:
    1,296
    Likes Received:
    28
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    140
    #6
    I agree with Widdico.. it could cause some problems.. you need to make sure that you have set guidelines with people who write hate postings and racist statements. When it comes to marketing.. it's best to go with SEO marketing and classic word of mouth. Using social book marking and news sites like Reddit and Digg can also build your site. You can hire writers to start things going but that might not be worth it instead find moderators that support your idea and forum. Lastly don't plan on making a ton of money from this forum right away.. it should be a labor of love instead of profit because it's not going to be easy to earn money from.. Best of luck!
     
    sweetcrabhoney18, Jan 31, 2012 IP
  7. Seo Novice

    Seo Novice Peon

    Messages:
    56
    Likes Received:
    0
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    #7
    You might want to try to market the site with a topic and use the rule free section as the main attraction. I know that worked really well with a website called d2jsp who created a section called the battle floor. The battle floor was for the users who were banned/angry with moderates/bored. It limited insults to scare off tamer members and allowed the focus of the site to remain on other things, but it also let people interested in insulting each other still have their fun. It also kept banned users still on the site.

    Actually, send me a PM. There is a guy I know who kept the names of all the people who used the battle floor and might be interested in trying to revive it on your forum.
     
    Seo Novice, Jan 31, 2012 IP
  8. CrazyIM

    CrazyIM Peon

    Messages:
    3
    Likes Received:
    0
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    #8
    Go to your local school and hire a group of students. I guess this will be a fun summer project for them while not costing you arms and legs.
     
    CrazyIM, Jan 31, 2012 IP
  9. thsadmin

    thsadmin Notable Member

    Messages:
    4,889
    Likes Received:
    133
    Best Answers:
    1
    Trophy Points:
    240
    Digital Goods:
    2
    #9
    It's nothing new... and I love the fact the mod's removed your spammy URL in post LoL... it's called trolling and there's many sites dedicated to this... forums are old and out dated anyway... try something new.
     
    thsadmin, Jan 31, 2012 IP
  10. AddisonTorres3047

    AddisonTorres3047 Greenhorn

    Messages:
    75
    Likes Received:
    0
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    16
    #10
    You can also try this. Find a few forums with lot of content. Then hire a good programmer and create a crawler that will copy the content from those forums, merge it and fill your forum’s database. The crawler itself is quite simple software and it takes about a few weeks to create it.
     
    AddisonTorres3047, Feb 1, 2012 IP
  11. z00100

    z00100 Member

    Messages:
    11
    Likes Received:
    0
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    31
    #11
    That's a good idea, I will try out Craigslist. Thanks for the tip!
     
    z00100, Feb 1, 2012 IP
  12. z00100

    z00100 Member

    Messages:
    11
    Likes Received:
    0
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    31
    #12
    Can you please recommend to me where I can hire such writers? As I said, I am willing to pay, but I don't want to pay out of the wazoo!! Slow and steady and lets see where the forum leads.
     
    z00100, Feb 1, 2012 IP
  13. z00100

    z00100 Member

    Messages:
    11
    Likes Received:
    0
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    31
    #13
    I've read in several places that forums take 1 to 2 years to "mature", and I'm willing to wait that long.

    As for advertising and Adsense, yes, I agree that such a forum would cause an Adsense account to be banned, but I'm not thinking of monetizing this right now. I want first a very busy forum, I will think of monetization at a much later date.
     
    z00100, Feb 1, 2012 IP
  14. z00100

    z00100 Member

    Messages:
    11
    Likes Received:
    0
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    31
    #14
    I think the moderators, were a bit too harsh in penalizing me.

    My intention was not to "spam".

    I disagree that forums are "old". If that was the case, digitalpoint would be on another "platform". Forums have their place and are a good meeting ground.
     
    z00100, Feb 1, 2012 IP
  15. alamlinks

    alamlinks Well-Known Member

    Messages:
    992
    Likes Received:
    8
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    140
    #15
    Hi z00100,

    You can send invitation to hundreds of people for registering. If you have not so many contacts then you can PM me. In my Email there are around 13 thousands Email ID added.

    Best of Luck
     
    alamlinks, Feb 1, 2012 IP
  16. PHPGator

    PHPGator Banned

    Messages:
    4,437
    Likes Received:
    133
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    260
    #16
    Just tired of seeing people say, "Hey, i've got this question, in the meantime, visit my site and signup". That's not what this section (or forum) is about. If you wanted a website review, you posted in the wrong category. :)

    Besides, I don't get mad when passing out infractions, view them as warnings, nothing more. :)
     
    PHPGator, Feb 1, 2012 IP
  17. Econox

    Econox Well-Known Member

    Messages:
    478
    Likes Received:
    13
    Best Answers:
    2
    Trophy Points:
    140
    #17
    If you are looking for content writers to hire, you can try using PostLoop
     
    Econox, Feb 1, 2012 IP
  18. qwikad.com

    qwikad.com Illustrious Member Affiliate Manager

    Messages:
    7,151
    Likes Received:
    1,656
    Best Answers:
    29
    Trophy Points:
    475
    #18
    Which one is the site review forum? Trust me it's hard to figure everything out right away. To me, at first, this thread looked like the right place to ask people to review my site.
     
    qwikad.com, Feb 1, 2012 IP
  19. thsadmin

    thsadmin Notable Member

    Messages:
    4,889
    Likes Received:
    133
    Best Answers:
    1
    Trophy Points:
    240
    Digital Goods:
    2
    #19
    http://forums.digitalpoint.com/forumdisplay.php?f=23 - That one is.
     
    thsadmin, Feb 1, 2012 IP
  20. z00100

    z00100 Member

    Messages:
    11
    Likes Received:
    0
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    31
    #20
    I still disagree with you, I think you were harsh in just slapping me with an infraction. Don't forget, this is a big forum with complex rules, people make mistakes.

    Anyway, you're the moderator and you're right (since this is your forum), and I don't want to argue much.

    You have your opinion and I have mine, but I've learned my lesson. :)

     
    z00100, Feb 3, 2012 IP