How to market this ?

I opened a new site called HP7F (HP7Forums.Com)

I am unsure about how to market this. On the same time, I want some members quick, because Harry Potter 7 books & 5 movie are about to be released, so I don't want to be left out.

 

Reskin your forum to make it more interesting looking.

 

I have the following stats in 1 day:

I have 5 users, so that is about 15 posts per day per user.

 

that's good number of post to start with but i agree that you should reskin your forum. at least get any free phpbb skin which look better than default. ^^

 

2nd day stats

Our users have posted a total of 106 articles
We have 6 registered users
The newest registered user is andyzavar

I'll reskin it today.

 

Add SEO hacks to your forum. If you're starting from scratch, you're dependant upon word of mouth and search engine traffic. Word of mouth is up to you, but you won't get any google traffic unless you make it more accessible to the SEs.

 

Start with SE submission,move on to article marketing,then announce on social networking sites.

 

How does it look now after skinning ?

 

Well done.

 

There's quite a bit that you could do here, but the way that I have successfully run forums in the past is to put the users to work for me. Meaning get them to spread your forum around.

Many forum goers have blogs. Give them blog posts that they can put onto their blogs. Even allow them to personalize the forum posts if they'd like.

I've also paid for my forum members to review my forum. I paid $5 a review and had about 20 people write reviews for me. I submitted those reviews to several places (with their permission), and got loads of traffic.

Create a video about your forum, and allow others to give it away. You could even submit it to the forum directories out there. That works REALLY good for some forums in certain niches. I have no clue what your forum is about (sorry), but this may work for you if the topic of your forum gets a lot of searches.

Basically anything viral will get you a lot of visitors. Put it in the hands of your forum members and they'll gladly work for you.

To keep people coming back to your forum, you can also do a weekly or bi weekly or even monthly "top posts". Email everyone out 5-10 of the best posts on your forums and ask their thoughts. Really put some time into this because this is a great way to recycle traffic back to your forum.

Also keep up to date with what you're doing with your forum. If you're working to get more traffic, tell your members, and ask them to help.

I could go on and on. This is just my two cents and I hope it helps.

Liz

 

But how to get the initial traffic from ?

 

There are my 11th day stats

Are they good enough ?

 

Not bad for just beginning

 

What are a stats of a medium sized successful forum ?

 

yeah your forum look better but still a bit dark. (just my opinion though) it good that you start to get member even it's only about 2 per day. keep doing promoting and try to do something to let member involved your forum will be big before harry potter 7 out.

ah yeah another suggestion is maybe you can add more sections into your forums. i thin 5 is too less. just dont add alot at a time do it maybe one per week.

 

Not too much traffic today.

Thanks for your suggestion tradeya, I am looking for new skins regularly to further improve the forum, I am also promoting it on Orkut. I'll take your suggestions seriously, rep added.

 

thanks for that. glad to help you out. tell you the truth, i never watch or read Harry Potter.

 

But if anyone of you comes across a related template, do PM me.

 

nice forums you have out there. will go to visit more often. Mind if i ask when will Harry Potter 7 come out?

 

July 21. I am looking for a forum-in-charge, you'll get 25% of the income. Tell me if you're interested.