What's the key that you guys consider to make a very large size forum. I was thinking about paying 5 cents per post so my forum gets very large. Would that work?
I am ready to post in your forum 5 cents per post. I am doing this for past 1 year. Pm me with more details
Paid posting may be good to start with, but make sure that your forum gets filled with junk, meaningless posts. Also you should not continue it for long, once your forum have minimum number of threads and posts to get the visitor interested, stop the paid service. You may have to buy some traffic initially, from similar forums or so. Forums are difficult to get started, easier once you reach minimum number of members. Make sure that your forums have some interesting threads, something extra - that makes people to post and discuss.
I don't think paying money per post is the right way to go. If you do want to provide incentives there are a lot of better ways. For example you could prvide something as a prize to the first person to reach a milestone - I mean a prize that everone would want as a gift. Of course there are also lot smaller incentives such as doing things like reputation.
If you want to go down the paid posting route try The Forum Fairy I can highly recommend them. Quality posts and good price.
I think paid posting has its place. In addition, do not under estimate the concept of good moderation and support.
If your forum covers an interesting theme, is well designed, and regularly updated, the traffic will come provided you tell others about the forum's existence. Be diligent to drive spammers away, consider holding contests to entice members, and keep it as positive as possible. Over time you just may have a forum that rocks!
Paid posting is just for the first days, to make the forum look active. After that you need buzz, and you can achieve that with a contest that gives good prizes.
Getting a forum growing is a very hard thing to do. Nobody wants to post in an empty forum, and a forum will stay empty until people post. A classic catch-22.
Exactly, paid posting forever won't work. lol. Definitely hard, you have to be dedicated. desiguru, I don't think there's a key, there's too many factors, but you'll need plenty of time, patience, and resources...etc.
hey I just started a forum..... Its bloody hard work.. www.topukstudents.com My advice is if you havent got at least 3 hours a day to concentrate on recruiting members and making posts your self you should considder paying someone to do it for you. Any New Forum needs, Backlinks or advertising in the field you want the forum to be in. You also need to get content on it... You also need to think of reasons why people should come to your forum and not others.. The list is long and you really need to plan it out before hand.. You also need to have a lot of time or a lot of money.. j4md0nut PS Help is always on hand though. You can pick up some really good info on this site.
Guys, I have a new RC forum at my website: www.shay-rc.com I read your comments and I find them very interesting. I am looking for someone that can help me with the forum, better someone who deals with RC. Cheers, Shay
we opened our forum in november and it has grown very well from offering incentives to our members. alexa traffic rank is now 54.000 and growing. the forum is getting very busy and lots of new members joining, well not bad for a new forum. we offer revenue sharing to all members via adsense, and also users get paid for the posts that they make. 5 cents for a new thread 2 cents for replys cashable at just $2.(this is when members can claim there money) this has become very popular and we have a good mod team inplace incase we get someone come by and spam to try and get more money. it is working very well, if you want to see my site,check out the link in my sig. also these advertising methods we are using sig links adwords free directory submissions article submissions thanks
its very essential to focus on the community and give your full time to it for its growth patience is the key , atleast give 3-8 months period for the forum to grow, check on daily visitors, new members & spend as long as you feel forum is self sufficient to get new members without further promotions
Another way to bring in traffic is to set aside some PPC advertising to help people find your site. Bidvertiser was recently giving new customers the chance to use their services for free by issuing a $25 credit which you can use then move on.
Why didn't I listen to John before I started my forum... Man, that thing has been an enormous time investment with negligible financial return.