I've played this online game for 5+ years and left it about 2 years ago, but alot of people knew me in the community, so when I opened my site for Gamers to have there own "Gamer Bio" page, I knew my first place to hit, that I thought would be a great starting point to get the ball running for my site.. So I posted on a few forums I used to be on all the time or was a Mod on and I did very well the first 24 hours like over 260 hits (Small community now since games so old) but still not a bad first day, and I gained 20-25 members, since then the traffic has gone down about 1/2 each day and the members I do have do not return as much as I'd like. I've posted the site to many link directories, stumbleupon, and many other game forums. But I'm kinda in a rut right now and not sure where to go from here, I'd like to get back to the 250 hits per day figure. Any idea's will help, the site in question is in my sig or here. Thanks for taking the time to read and I hope you have idea's for me!
You've done a lot of free advertising, and you've probably made a bit of money in the process. I love the site idea and it has a lot of potential, but don't you think it might be time for a bit of paid advertising? Try experimenting with Google Adwords and see what results you get. Good luck!
try some ample digging, though it might constitute spam but start a thread on gamer forums asking gamers opinions of the site. Forums like gamespot etc.
Your problem is that it looks way too much like myspace. Be creative. Be original. That script you are using is nice (I almost bought it once). But, so are all the other copies of this script. I'm talking more than just a graphical upgrade. Re-arrange the layout. Come up with something truly unique. No one sees the point in returning to a website that just reminds them of a different website...
Have you tried any offline marketing by chance? I was thinking that you could possibly go up to a local cyber cafe that offers gaming and ask if you can put some flyers down on the counter. A lot of the times, owners are very friendly with local residents.
I've done this on a few sites listed here and so far they have all been a waste of my money, even the one I put on mygamer for $18 that has given me a huge amount of traffic (2 hits) lol Yes I've already got plans to redesign the whole main site so that it doesn't look like the rest of the online communities, the site already has some features not on other sites... Just a general statment - (NO its NOT phpfox, why do ppl keep asking?!?!) I've thought of this a few times, and missed a great chance this past 4th of july (Site wasn't done yet). My now ex's house sits right infront of the city fireworks that gets 1,000's of kids, but as already stated the site wasn't up yet then.