What do you mean 'content'? A forum is for discussion groups, I can't just post a bunch of content...
I've seen some forums giving away something free in the beginning (e.g. free hosting from reseller account). They also have moderators posting related news. I guess that's where the content comes in. It'll probably have to stay that way for a way, till the members can carry on the momentum and keep things going....Hope that helps
If your forum is part of a larger site, increase traffic to that site and make sure that your forum can easily be found, link to your forum on your site on the most frequently visited pages (in addition to the navigation menu) and promote your forum on other sites. Set up fake members to make the board look busy, add content, avoid adding too many categories in the beginning, be patient and be nice and helpful towards your visitors.
I'm running contests on my forum and giving away some prizes like $100 gift certificate to Amazon. Just a heads up, I''ve changed the contest a little. My wife thought it wasn't interesting or provocative enough. The stories will now be about the most embarrassing moment at the workplace. I've also made the prizes more appealing. DP won't let me link yet but if you go to careercube.net you can see my contest details. Basically it's a way to promote engagement from your members.
first off, start off with a few categories and add more as the need demands. Eg, if you have a general car category and ppl keep on posting stuff about BMWs, you can create a seperate category for BMWs. Also, if you have a blog or something similar, instead of allowing ppl to leave comments, start a thread on the forum where ppl can discuss things. Normally after a while ppl start creating threads on their own another thing to do is try and get a hook to attract ppl. http://forums.digital-m.co.za/ (another SEO forum) for example, offers a free site review after a certain number of posts.
you might want to try adding contests, giving freebies and maybe forum posters but if you will be doing make sure that their posts looks natural. good luck
My advise would be to 1.) Kepp it clean - AdSense or lots of other ads will put people off and you aren't going to make any money with no visitors anyway 2.) Keep it simple - Don't add 50 categories. Instead have it down to 5 busier ones and grow them as visitors grow. 3.) Make it look busy - Heres a review of the options availbe - Use this sparingly but remember that there is tons of competition out there. If your forum looks dead, it won't attract new members I'm not real big on contests unless you already have a user base and have enough of a budget to make it an attractive contest. You probably need at least 5 regulars and maybe 10-20 lurker/posters and then maybe a $250+ contest which you can get a little publicity for. Anything less and people don't really care...Any less members and you are just wasting your money
If its an easy to remember link, stick it on a tee-shirt and walk around in it telling people is "funky new merchantdise"... No seriously, that's what I'm gonna do when I've finished my game xD cafepress.com
Some of the things I've has sucess with, Paid posting Hard work on your part making lots of interesting posts Contraversy Competitions for signing up and making 5 posts Sig links in other forums
Thanks everyone for your ideas. I'll start off with a link in my signature here! by the way, how can I find paid posters, and how much should I expect to pay?
I would browse the B/S/T Services section here as there are a wide variety of companies at equally varying prices. Definately some gems though. I have used this service twice in a row with great results (They have a trial package which I would suggest as they may be different with other subjects)
I would suggest you to add your signature in your profile and be active. Posting in number of good forums will keep your online presence. Lot of forums allow each user to create his own signature. So each time you post something over certain forum your signature would be automatically attached.
I got a SMF forum to about 160 posts in a day from 3 active posters. just people I knew on msn, I offered a game enthuisiast a job posting game news, and I made topics which I knew people would reply to.
I'm now trying the forum exchange program at ***NO AFFILATE ID's****, hopefully get some posts/users through it!