I need help marketing a webmasters forum i have had the idea to have a contest giving away a domain name and featured links etc... and paid forum posting but im only 17 so i dont have that much money so i need cheap ways to market it.
If you want to promote without money, you have to create an awesome idea that unique to keep people coming at your forums, for the contest, it's a good way but not cheap and many people used them already so it's not new for peoples. I suggest you to spend all of the time to think about great idea before thinking about paying any money or it may be waste out.
Post in related & semi-related forums w/ your forum link prominently displayed in your sig. Offer valuable replies in threads, the content of which clearly shows you know what you are talking about. That alone will attract consistent quality traffic. Remember masses of traffic is useless if it winds up being people who are (a) basically not interested; or (b) clueless. A handful of high-quality members will give your forum much more than 1,000 disinterested one-time wonders. Bailey