Xbox 360/Halo forum, I need some help on making it grow

Well It has been 12 months now, about 5 months in the site had about 25 members on at a time. Now I'm lucky to have 10. I don't know what to do to make the site grow.

Just some help on advertising, some vbulletin mods that would help or if someone could just sit down for a little bit and teach me a little bit on web-site managment.

Thanks, Steam

The Sites I own and am struggling with.
BYGforum.com

 

I have just a couple of suggestions about functionality and layout.

You home page is a little confusing to get to the forums, which is the main part of your site. At first I clicked on the BYGforums link at the top, and it opened the same page in a different window. I recommend removing the link completely, or make it say HOME and not have it open in a new window.

The links that are on top of the Xbox image up top are hard to see. They are placed in a clever position, but your eyes are not drawn there, and it is your main navigation. This should be more prominent, or moved below the Xbox image so that they aren't lost in the Xbox image.

The recent post area on the front page kind of makes it look like IT is your forum. I would probably remove that from the front page, and make a fancy looking button that says "Click here to see recent posts".

The "News" area on the front page (at least I think it is for news) is not clear. I think it should clearly state that it is for news items. If it is not for news, state what it is there for.

Make a big fancy button that says "Go straight to the forums" or something like that. It is kind of hard to find the small link on the left that says forums. If I was looking for answers to a Halo3 or Xbox 360 question, I would want to get to the forums right away.

The final suggestion that I have is to make the links for "Halo3 forum, Steam Styles, GOW Forums, H3 complete, Halo Arena, and Video Copilot" less prominent. You are in essence advertising your competitors (unless you run those sites as well). It is nice to give users other options and access to information, but these are VERY prominent on your page.

Giving attention to these things should make your site more appealing for new customers, and less annoying to existing customers.

Please don't think I am being critical, I REALLY like the look and feel of your site. However, really cool designs often times need to be tweaked for user friendliness.

Good Luck!

 

That was actually the most helpful post i could of asked for. Thanks a lot man. I'll work to get some of those things done.

My biggest issue is my lack of web-design exp. I don't know much about it to modify it the way i would like.

 

And the best way to advertise is?

 

A good way to advertise for gaming sites is having a tournament. Advertise the tournament with a few ads on other similar gaming websites and come up with a prize.

 

I've held video contests, and tournments giving away $350, and it really just doesn't make the site grow right. I need some help on marketing my site.

 

I really don't think marketing is the best way to grow. Ads cost a lost of money and they aren't guaranteed to be clicked on. A good, and cheap way, to build traffic is exchanging links with websites that your userbase would find interesting in addition to your own site.

 

I've tried that, I just don't know what to do. I think maybe the sites content is to focused.

 

Go under the Buy Sell Trade section, find Content Creation and pay like $4 for 45 posts/5 new threads or something to get posters. That helps a lot

 

I need 20 posts before i can even view the section to look around and see what goes on.

 

Massive banner Ads... MASSIVE.... Or find dieing forums, and get users to migrate to your site.

 

Lol, for sure

 

I would pay people to spread and advertise for you on multiple forums.

 

yea this is one reason I never wanted to start up a forum. It's just so hard to get people on board. A lot of work / dedication is involved.

 

I can get you hits, signups, whatever you want for dirt cheap.
PM me if you're interested

 

Your site is focused appropriately - it's a niche site, it needs focus.

Whats your competition like ? Figure out your target market and run with that - then at least you know your not spending money in the wrong areas if you do decide to drop some cash on advertising.

 

Also try to get some unique helpful content up there as well. Before i got my forum site up and running, I had a site build with useful content to attract people and the search engines. Paying for post dropping or creating fake conversations can help build in the beginning as well.

 

I understand what you are saying, but marketing encompasses more than just purchasing ads. A good definition of marketing is:

The business activity of presenting products or services in such a way as to make them desirable.

There are a lot of things that someone can do to market a service, like a website, that do not involve purchasing ads or even spending money. Creativity is the key (I usually only watch the Super Bowl for the ads). Unfortunately there usually isn't an easy way to make it work. You must find some way to make your site matter to people.

Here is some reading that I recommend you do:
Seth Godin
ShoeMoney
Entrepreneurs Mean Business

Here are a couple of principles that work (not in any order of importance).
1-Define who your target customer is.
2-Find out exactly what those people want.
3-Remember that you are marketing to PEOPLE not Search Engines.
4-Don't forget that Search Engine results DO matter, but they are not everything.
5-When dealing with social communities, small frustrations can be enough to discourage people from coming back.
6-Get new people coming to the site, but make sure you have a system in place to KEEP them coming back.
7-Make your site a 'purple cow'. (Watch the Seth Godin Videos on Entrepreneurs Mean Business for more information on the purple cow).

If you research marketing more, you can probably come up with more ideas.

 

Ok I removed the home, Add'd three new links. Add'd an introduction thread with a streamable video.

I made a banner type thing to show off that the news is recent news for the site.

I moved the links to the footer instead of the header to keep the focus on my site.

Thanks man, I think it worked for the better.


I also put $60 into google adwords.

 

More suggestions please, and thankyou.