Getting a forum started/attracting members?

How does a new forum go about attracting new, interested members that will stay? In other words, how do I start once I get past the tecnical point of actually setting it up?

 

See also http://www.theforumzone.com/forums/index.php, http://www.vbwebmaster.com/forums/, and http://www.staff-lounge.com/ for more ideas from forum owners who've already been where you are now.

 

Hire people who can post and fill your forum with content and interesting topics/articles. People will be encouraged to join a forum with lots of activity.

 

Why is every one after the quick buck?

If you have to hire people to post in your forum, maybe you should think twice about starting a forum... or start one on another topic.

Build slowly and solidly - it will come if people are interested in the topics and what you and other members have to say.

 

Yes truly there is no use of opening a forum without any traffic.

 

How can their be traffic before the forum ..

All forums dont have accompaning sites....I have seen many forums that are just forums.

I agree with minstrel that it has to be done slowly.

All conventional methods that are useful for internet marketing can be applied to forums as well... link building, ads etc .

I have observed sometimes an "invite a friend " feature works very well for forums - one of my friends nearly doubled his user base (three figure only ) after he put an "Invite a friend" link.

 

Personally it really does depend on one question, the answer of this one forks off into another multitude of set options. Are you willing to pay? If you are then make use of paid sponsership options on relevant themed forums such as yourself to get in members who are more inclined to not only join but become active because of their already propelled desire to discuss your forum issue. Of course investing in advertisements on Google and other major online advertising programs can help spread the word.

For those who are unwilling to pay, or spend more substantial amounts then your options are obviously more limited and restricted. This way you will usually find yourself partaking in a series of Indirect Promotion methods; whereby basically good, active, reliable posting on similar themed forums with a link to your forums in your signature can often lead to members and guests joining your forums because of the quality of your posts. This method tends to be more successful in the long run because instead of an impulse click from Google Sponsered Listing converted members tend to have more of a desire to learn and spend time at your forums.

As you can see Indirect Promotion has been adopted in this very thread, i myself am the founder of The Staff Lounge which was a link recommended in the above posts, hence, good work in the community can lead to other users feeling more inclined to promote your services without spending a dime.