Hi there, I have a great untapped niche that will engage many types of people.. From you (webmasters) to your Average Joe.. It might kick off amazingly but it also might not.. I can gain a small userbase but often struggle grabbing a lot of loyal users. Does anyone have any tips on how to engage visitors and turn them into posters, and ultimately, loyal quality members? All tips will be greatly appreciated! Thanks!
Really comes down to giving the users something they want/need that they can't get elsewhere. As far as what that is, I have no idea... it's going to be specific to the niche.
Well I can do that, but my problem is getting users there to actually know of these benefits My previous forums have done well as small-time groups of 50 people or so who get to know eachother so they tick over nicely.. But nothing near what I deem as successful. Are there any decent promotion methods for forums? From what I understand, a loyal forum users is a certain type of person (I am that type of person, but I only ever join forums as a place to discuss that company/team's service or product.. Apart from DP, which I joined for the cheaper marketplace than sitepoint originally, but became a loyal fan of. (No ass-licking intended). My problem really is general promotion I guess, I am good with SEO, I can dominate google SERPs pretty easily (natural skill I guess, not sure if I actually know what I'm doing or not..).. My problem is gaining users.. I guess thats what people pay for with advertising.. but unfortunately I cannot afford to pay for advertising.. And I'm really not into spamming people's blogs with promotion link comments or anything. I guess I just suck at promotion And that's fine with most of my websites, as over the years they have spread through word of mouth.. But for a forum, activity needs to be visually evident. Which requires fast userbase growth.. I guess that's what I'm stuck on really.. How to actually go about luring people in so they can see what I have to offer, why it benefits them, and why they'll love it..
Well, if the benefits aren't blatantly obvious to the user, or you need to sit down and explain to them why they need your site, then the reality is they probably don't need it. And that's the trick... you need something that people are beating down your door to get. For us, it was our tools. Our tools were around before the forum was, and the forum was partially started because we needed a support venue for our already large user base. For example, our search engine position tracking tool has around 100,000 REGISTERED users tracking 3,000,000 keywords... http://tools.digitalpoint.com/tracker.php and like I said, it was something everyone was after and it was around before the forum was.
Sorry, maybe I worded it wrong - I don't feel that I'd have to explain it to them, just that I have to actually get them there for them to see for themselves that I have something they want. I think perhaps I'm just stressing too much due to my previous part-failures.. But then I've never produced a forum with no rivals.. There is a reason why the niche I've found is untapped - when I first found it, I dismissed it because I didn't see what it could possibly be of use for.. But I feel that the value of a forum on that particular niche is undervalued.. I think I will set it up slowly, make sure I have all the tools and functions possible for the niche, and then begin spreading the word. I guess considering the spectrum of potential interest, it will not take much to spread the word.. I could probably just advertise cheaply to your average joe at places like facebook or w/e, and then target the more development orientated minds perhaps through digitalpoint (maybe even use DP Ads since average bids seem quite low away from really common things suck as 'SEO Services' - I think DP Ads are underused for things away from SEO).
Well really you need to let people know about this niche, get them interested in the niche, alot of SEO as it's been mentioned would be good aswell as easy types of advertising such as twitter and facebook etc
You could advertise??? Sometimes it's hard to make users see that they need this new thing, when they've done fine without it.
Well thats why you need to tell them that it's worth it! it's worth signing up to this forum because you will find out loads of things about....... and you can get unique stuff such as ....... etc
You gotta keep the interesting discussions going, controversial topics help sometimes too if you have good moderation and a civil userbase as people love debating...just make sure it doesn't turn to flaming which is counterproductive (with some rare exceptions).
Do advertising, give moderator positions for the members who can support you, if you have some active members give prizes to the top members who refers your forum to others, do post exchanges with other forum owners, use a link to your forum as a signature in high traffic forums if they allowed such signatures, Major thing is add good useful posts to your forum daily and this can help for SEO as well.
Your best bet is to go to other forums and see how they are increasing their traffic. Ask about improving your traffic at other forums, just like you are doing here. Always use a signatures and use social networking sites. Engage anyone who engages you in the social media scene.
Some people might count this as spam but if you post your forum link in youtube videos that have a REAL relation with the content of your forum then I think it is acceptable. I´ve done it a couple times and I´ve gained some users thanks to exactly that.
I'm using Twitter to help...seems to get the people coming into the site. I'm also setting up a YouTube channel with my own related, but unique content. I'm hoping that will help draw in people...we'll have to see!
Its not an easier answer. I just started a new forums as well. My guess is this: Create something people want or need. At least content. The beginning is the hardest part. But just do it. Be active on allot of forums like Digital Point, I know most people don´t click on signature links, the ones that do, the 0.00001% could or not become a member on your site. This will take allot but allot of time but eventually some will. The best advice I saw from other people creating blogs or forums and having 10,000 visitors per day after one year are friends. Talk your friends into visiting your forum or blog and be active. You need to post each day something new to keep attention and eventually this 2 or 3 friends will become 10, then 15, then 30, then 100. Another option is to build relationships with other people that are new and starting websites, link to them, post an article, there must something you can give for free, if its not money then its time but you need to give something in value so people will be in your website. Use social networks.
Is that real? Just because of that simple tool? No offense but allot of websites offer plenty of tools and attract no people because to use this tools first people have to know the website. And I think the biggest problems is getting those first visitors.
Yep... when the tool came out in 2003 there was nothing like it so there was no competition... and it's still the best one out there (and free).