I'm a new forum owner and would like to get some advice from more experienced forum owners. What are the basics that I should be doing to grow my site? Marketing Building the Community Getting people to Participate Other
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When you get a couple of mature posters who are there on your website daily, reward them immediately. They're key to your success.
Provided they are reliable and trustworthy, making them mods is always a good way to reward them and make them feel an integrgal part of the site.
I like rewarding members, it has the power to make them stay for sometime in your forum. 1) Grant them the the rank of Mod, it will surely drown them in a pool of happiness, but you must make sure the forum has some active members or else they will feel meaningless to moderate a dead forum. 2) Reward them money. This is one of the most effective way. To reduce "migraine", you can set up a contest, e.g. $10 for the most contributed member Actually to get members stay is to get their mind molded. Keep giving them good words, they will appreciate it
As crazy as it may sound, the mods on some of my forums have turned down financial incentives to work on the forum. It is nice to shoot them something once in a while (Christmas or their birthdays etc.) and I know they appreciate it, but most of them do it for the pleasure of participating at some level other than a casual user on a forum about something they like.