I have a new shopping relate forum (well, not the one in my signature though). The content is solid, and i am trying to build better content than many popular sites... However i am facing hard time promoting it to gain traffic and active members. Possible promotions I am thinking of right now: -- SEO, directory & article submission: done, and i guess i will only see some results till the next time google update PR? -- hire poster to reply to my original posts? This doesn't solve the problem as not many ppl register -- one prize per day for the most active poster? How to start with very few active members? I am really puzzled and looking for REAL solutions! thanks... or if there is any marketing guru to hire?
Most people seem to be "paying users to post" on there forums to get it started. Theres alot of great threads here about this, just use the search for some answers.
Hire a company and put as one project. If you can think something out of box in shopping domain then it will do wonder.
You may want to: 1. Write quality articles on your niche and submit to article directories 2. Put the link in your sig. 3. Let the users advertise their services for free in your forum (this will attract some members) Good Luck!
Do you have a site supporting your forum? I think a good idea will be to have a shopping site also along with the forums. You can promote products from affiliates on your site and ask people to come and review those articles in your forum. I think promoting a site is much more easier than promoting a forum. Once your site kicks off, the forum will also.
thanks all for your response... now i realize it is the problem of not generating enough traffic to my site... I do have a site front to support the forum. And it may be true that once there are 1000 visitors per day, about 1-2% may actually sign up? Currently I am using googld adwords to get some traffic, very little... What's the better way before my pages get indexed by google? I found it's really hard to start with a brand new site...
1. Participate in other forums. 2. Add your forum to other forum lists. 3. Buy forum member list if possible or do advertisement on other forums. Remember once you get the ball rolling then the things will be easier. Regards/Puneet M.