The boards look nice, there are loads of features, there's good content and the member there are cool - but I'm having real trouble getting new members :-/ You can only rely on referrals so much, because not everyone knows people who want to post on forums. Are there any good ways to get new members, that isn't spamming?
What kind of software are you using for your forums? Personally, I would try smth like 'Welcome Headers' for vBulletin (vB.org is down, so I can't give you an url to what am I saying about). But, if you can't make it - tables with text encouraging sb to do smth - work for all (that's: guests, members awaiting validation, members who have never posted, members who post rarely, etc.) try making it work at least for guests & members encouraging them to post more often. phpBB will do that easily. I did a custom welcome msg for guests when I had forums based on phpBB and it gave me twice as much registrations after I've added it. Can't imagine what it would give me if I encourage forum members to post more often, I suppose at least 70% growth of posts. From that one, I know for sure that 'Welcome Headers' Hack for vB is one of the first to add to my forums You could also make a great refferal system connected with some bonus if an already registered user gets, e.g. 5 referrals. Need more help?, write a PM or just post your thoughts in the thread. I'll reply ASAP
Offering incentives is definently a great way to attract additional members. Getting expert contributors to make "guest posts" on your forums can help stimulate interest and even become an opportunity for PR. Think about it, if you have any quests, let me know. http://www.spartaninternet.com - Corporate Internet Consulting
You have started a forum but so have hundreds of other webmasters that may or may not be better than you at developing a good forum, so what you need is something that will distinguish yours from the rest. If you want to make money you have to spend money. Get a contest going that will make bloggers, webmasters, anybody talk “write†about what’s happening on your forum. Create a buzz around your forum and you’ll see people start flocking in.
I would actually start out blogging. If you blog everyday and write stuff that will interest your intended audience, you will create a following. Once you have that, you can point them towards the message board and bingo. Andrew Nortwell
But I'm not looking to make money, mainly thansk to the fact that Google [unfairly] kicked me off AdSense and any other decent Ad program requires X amount of visits or something like that. This also means I can't really spend either.