Hello, I have started two forum based websites recently. http://www.digitaldjforum.com - This one has been going for a few months, I have a few members but it's not growing as fast as I expected and its difficult to get people to be active on the site. I started the site as there are no forums currently like it dedicated specifically to the topic of "Digital DJ'ing". I've done as much as I can to promote it, I have a myspace and I have the link in my sig for a lot of other forums I post in. I've made it SEO compatible. For those of you who have forums, did you just have to wait until they become popular naturally, or did you have to drive traffic by promoting yourself. How do you go about getting an active community? Any advice appreciated... Thanks
Contests work well for forums, run a contest to win some software or DJ hardware or some sort of gift certificate. You could try a "first one to reach this number of posts" contest, an "every 10 posts gets you an entry" contest, or some other sort of contest you have in mind. Advertise this contest and watch the new users roll in
Forums are difficult. Make it look active and advertise. Remember, to build plenty of backlinks. You can get so much traffic from SEO.