just for the first month try to use paid to post method. Then after that regularly use contests and maintain your sign ups. But in the mean time just be sure that your forum is not getting spammed. Just clean the forum regularly and also try to keep moderators who are active. I am not sure if this works but trying new is really important. Just keep elections or sort of that and use members votes to elect moderator. Well thats my idea.
Everyone keeps saying contests are the way too go. Any ideas on what type of contest I could do for my particular site?
How do I find people who can make 1000 relevant post to my MBA Forums. Here is the link to main site: aspiranthunt.com Link to MBA Forums: aspiranthunt.com/mba/forums/
I suggest you advertise on social networking sites please do not spam just send message (or scraps or comments or wall or whatever) only to interested people (please check out their profile if they are interested in your sites topic). Needs hard work but it's very rewarding... And please apologize as soon as you get stinkers. I run a forum http://www.disneyfanclub.org and I send messages in social networking site like facebook, orkut and myspace.. I send messages only to people who are interested in Disney.... I did not get any paid members.... I got lots of loyal members who just be active only for the joy of Disney.... If my plan works for you please come by and give me a rep lol... And I strongly recommend you use anti-spam systems in your forums... please visit http://techbunker.blogspot.com/2008/05/anti-spam-for-phpbb-forums.html for info
hamis here provides some really good pointers: - prizes & competitions are great. - tie them into "referral count" and they might be even better (unless of course somebody starts faking them... ) - you could also consider "the most contributor member of the month" style of competition. Qryztufre - the guy with such an easily pronouncable & memorable name - gives good tips here: paid posters most likely are interested only in the "paid" part... and posting crap. Crap such as "yeh, that's cool" or "I agree on you - how many likes chicken wings here?" (no matter what the forum is ) With paid posters... you end up with just that: paid posters. I would not create second account, but simply ask "dumb" questions on your own - and reply them in FAQ manner. Also get your friends to join the forums - and tell them to get their friends to join there too. A small group of interested & intensive posters is the base you need. Yes, and also set up a newsletter (or ask permission to email those who register) and invite your forum members back now and them. Never spam though: don't email without asking permission (even if it's their "user account email"). I hate getting emails such as "we miss you X, please come back on our forums"... [/quote]and if you have a brick & mortal shop, encourage your employees to post in the forums, lol.[/QUOTE] Heh, that's true! And also invite customers!
I've never tried the following one, but I think it's worth the effort: Start a contest, but not the regular kind of contest, ask members or people on forums to bring new members to the forum. The winner will not be the person who brings the most new members but the one who has brought people that post relevant post contributing to the forum. If you manage to pull this off you will make others seek for people that are interested in your forum topic and they will eventually build your "true fans" core. So, let's suppose I bring you 5 guys and each one of them has like 5 quality posts and another guy brings you 30 new members with one crappy post each. In this case I win the prize. Something like that, based on referrals and recommendations by others not you. And make sure you have attractive prizes cause nobody would be interested in finding you members if you do not provide the quality prizes.
This is just silly. Contests and paid posters are the two main things people recommend to someone that needs help getting a forum kicked off. The truth is - Both methods suck! Who says the paid posters will know anything about your niche? music gear for example. I don't want that kind of content on my forum. I want my forum to be the go-to place for guys needing help and advice, not a place full of dumbarses that know nothing of the topic.
A car would be a nice 1st prize, but at the end of the day it all depends on your budget and your target audiance.
First few thousand members are hard to get. You have to work your ass off to get that number. Once you pass that, life would be much easier.