So I have a forum with about 1,000 members, but not many of them are active. I started this forum in October, and I am really losing momentum. The forum is dedicated to Social Bookmarking and am the third result on google for "Social Bookmarking Forum." Does anyone have any good tactics of making my forum popular. My Domain is http://TalkSB.com
Why would someone want to talk about social bookmarking? I'd have put the SB forums over the general discussion forums *shrug* but then, I don't think that is any cause of trouble. You do have over 200 active members, how long are they kept? That seems like a decent amount for the time you've been up. Promote discussion yourself, promote the site, and treat it like any other site that you'd promote.
honestly i haven't promoted it at all other than a few SEO steps. I get about 800 unique a day and haven't looked at in a month and a half (been too busy with other projects)
That is no way to make he site take off Treat it as any other website. Directories, articles, etc... it all helps. Get help from your members... Promote your forum with a Street Team You can also use this bit of advice, as it certainly applies to your niche... Promoting your site by promoting someone else's Hope those help... if not, I have other threads.
Wow you began great ^_^! Hmm, maybe try getting a better team and try paid posting. It will bring back members they would see activeness. And They will become active. XD!
if you go with paid posting, then look at previous work of the members. Paid posting may LOOK like it's making your site popular, but in many/most cases the quality sucks donkey chips (on a stick). Do something like 'best post' contests or something to get people active. offer prizes of cash or something. You should find that you are saving money if you can actually get folks involved. Alternatively, offer "gold status" to winners... add a few perks to a new usergroup (gold) or "contest winner" and offer that up *shrug* not as good as cash, but it's better then nothing.
Well since SB is often associated with webmasters you might want to have a contest and offer a WM related prize such as a free domain etc. or even a month's worth of advertising in your site.
Why not spend a Saturday afternoon creating fake accounts and posting on your forum? That way, you'll know the content is good (because it's yours) and it won't look fake if done right.