How to increase new memberships to a forum ?

Discussion in 'General Marketing' started by galaji, Nov 21, 2009.

  1. #1
    hi you all.
    I have created a new general purpose forum
    how do i promote it ?
    I have like 5 members only...

    this forum is for making friends and sharing knowledge so please join it if you can:)
    and if you really have knowledge about something i will make you moderator ;)
    thanks for reading this
     
    galaji, Nov 21, 2009 IP
  2. galaji

    galaji Member

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    #2
    galaji, Nov 21, 2009 IP
  3. sweetcrabhoney18

    sweetcrabhoney18 Banned

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    #3
    First I would remove the phpbb logo and place your own.. can confuse people a lot.

    You can promote it with test links and banners. Because your forum is for everyone.. you can market just about everywhere.. maybe even gpt's Good luck :)
     
    sweetcrabhoney18, Nov 21, 2009 IP
  4. Ascendancy

    Ascendancy Active Member

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    #4
    You should try and create a more customized theme for the board, and then just market it around to your target market on the internet. It's really not that hard to gain members to forums and blogs and such, you just need to make sure you're hitting your target market.
     
    Ascendancy, Nov 21, 2009 IP
  5. jasontn

    jasontn Well-Known Member

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    #5
    I would hire some people to start new topics and make posts on old topics. If there are enough topics on the site then outside people might be attracted to it. You can find people to hire on this forum if you don't know anyone interested.

    Watch out for spammers. You might get thousands of free posts (and members) but probably it would all be spam.
     
    jasontn, Nov 21, 2009 IP
  6. webcosmo

    webcosmo Notable Member

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    #6
    Find out similar forums, and start posting there regularly.

    You also gonna need to be patient, forums take quite a bit of time to kick off the ground.
     
    webcosmo, Nov 21, 2009 IP
  7. adsonline

    adsonline Active Member

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    #7
    there's a lot of ways to promote your forum. blogreviews,twitter,facebook,myspace and all chat rooms. That will help you more.
     
    adsonline, Nov 21, 2009 IP
  8. BizDetail

    BizDetail Peon

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    #8
    The key is making it interesting, and for that you need regular posters and content.

    Try:

    -Installing a script that emails people when there are responses to topics they have posted on, similar to how Digital Point does it.

    - Offer a free give away to those that post at least 50-100 times per month.

    - Delete all spam instantly, and keep the forum tight, with 3 or less sub-forums.

    Do whatever you need to do to make it interesting. Create a few accounts and have discussions with yourself. Beg family members and siblings to create an account and post regularly. Pay a few people $5 a week for 5 posts each. In order for it to grow, you need to get it going and it requires momentum.
     
    BizDetail, Nov 21, 2009 IP
  9. galaji

    galaji Member

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    #9
    Ya I know I need to change the logo, but I am not getting the good ones, do you have any site that provides cool logos ?
     
    galaji, Nov 21, 2009 IP
  10. mainstreet

    mainstreet Peon

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    #10
    Dont you think those forums will say get pissed and delete your entries?

    How To Finance a Business

    Ronnie Springer
     
    mainstreet, Nov 21, 2009 IP
  11. bobchrist

    bobchrist Active Member

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    #11
    The domain name is difficult to spell and remember, I would just suggest to get involve with your local contact for participation in your forum it may help you to build a community.
     
    bobchrist, Nov 21, 2009 IP
  12. janspter43

    janspter43 Peon

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    #12
    Giving freebies like ebooks, templates, tutorials is a nice way to encourage members to post and new members will also register.
     
    janspter43, Nov 22, 2009 IP
  13. jasontn

    jasontn Well-Known Member

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    #13
    Advertising your site in other forums annoys people (unless it's a forum full of spammers) even if you have good material. They don't like spammers.

    I'd pay some forum posters and work on SEO. In addition, as I said before, get rid of spammers. You might need to moderate your posts at first to keep spammers out.
     
    jasontn, Nov 22, 2009 IP
  14. chandan123

    chandan123 Prominent Member

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    #14
    sorry its best to choose one own domain and try to host ( lot of hosts gives free hosting ) even u can get free hosting in dp too ( search in freebies ). the url looks really weird :(

    when u create a forum first start with friends , relatives to invite they can help u bit initially but u need to keep some useful info threads to keep forums active :)
     
    chandan123, Nov 22, 2009 IP
  15. cecille20

    cecille20 Peon

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    #15
    Just keep on particiapting in all active forums and put your forum link in your signature. Also, create a contest it will create a buzz from your forum :)
     
    cecille20, Nov 22, 2009 IP
  16. Stelian

    Stelian Peon

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    #16
    Stelian, Nov 23, 2009 IP
  17. webcosmo

    webcosmo Notable Member

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    #17
    You can always have the links on the signature and participate in threads.
     
    webcosmo, Nov 23, 2009 IP
  18. CEO254

    CEO254 Peon

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    #18
    The link leads me to a 404 page
     
    CEO254, Nov 23, 2009 IP
  19. galaji

    galaji Member

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    #19
    hi you all...
    I have made a few changes as you suggested,,,,,

    I have changed the site name to ....... http://ask-the-experts.co.cc/
    I am going to change the logo of forum, just now I have kept "India's national flag"

    I am having a few problems though...
    In site navigation, how to fill addresses in buttons?
    currently i have put direct link addresses in them, is it the correct way ? ...because earlier all the navigation buttons had "#" only.
    how to have a icon (like you have in the left side of address bar on browser, what it is called anyway?)
    I have registered a domain name as some of you told, can I have full navigation based on that domain name ??


    How do you rate the homepage ? I am completely new and I dont know anything about the HTML coding. this all i have done (after downloading template) by trial and error.

    any suggestions are welcome (please).....
    thanks to you all and specially to DP i have learned so much in these 2 days, all this stuff is amazing.....:D
     
    galaji, Nov 23, 2009 IP
  20. keshavsyzel

    keshavsyzel Peon

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    #20
    marketers are taking any respects from other if you will help them through free posts ebooks, articles.directories.rss directories,etc facebook are main focus for traffic of more people in forums.

    your forum to nice existence would be probably better if you contact all your visitors and by helping them.:)

    thanks:D
     
    keshavsyzel, Nov 24, 2009 IP