Hi guys I was wondering if there was any way I could kick start my forums without having to pump to money into it? I currently have around 5 members none apart from myself are active. So I was wondering how I would go about generating enough people to kick start its growth. I am thinking about running a competition on who can post the most interesting and relevant threads and giving whoever wins a game or something. I was also thinking about digging some threads that I start up so that more people will look at the forums and hopefully sign up. I have always wanted to start up my own community so if you could offer any advice I would really appreciate it! My forums can be found here http://www.gamercity.co.uk/Forums/phpBB3/index.php Although I am going to try and move my forums so that you just have to type in http://www.gamercity.co.uk/forums Thanks a lot guys!
You should move the forum to a better url without the phpbb on url. Two things you should do: post quality content as much as you can. participate on other similar forums
He moved his forum directory to /forums ...just like he said he would in his thread. :/ I suggest you google "forum promotion" I'm sure will find useful forums to advertise your forum in.
make a myspace account look for groups and target them by using a adder (zero cost) and they convert like crazy. i have sites that are 4 days old with 1xxx posts once they hit about 1000 members let it cool off and climb in the serps make a few mods and sit back and start a new forum. wait a few more months and sell it on flippa for a few buxy you will get 500$+ easy. domain should be SEO freindly and also your urls. if you want to kick start it more talk to your self with 3 or 4 accounts real members join in and its all sweet move it from phpbb and go mybb easy to use also you should look at google keytools and stick your cats as things like xbox games so your links show up as like urls.co.uk/xboxgames/shootinggames/cod4/urlthreadtxt.html if you have no idea what i said i charge 50$ and i can show you what to do all you would do is stick capchas in i also do some one page seo for you and you will have a few 1000s members in no time.
Sorry to break ur bubble but phpbb3 sucks and is slow and bloated, only way to succeed is to create ur own custom software like the top 100 people at big boards dot com... they make the $ not a phpbb3 forum. lol
I'd like to help but I can't even access you forum... 1st rule is to have a website that works. That's the bare minimum
@emforce I decided to start a new and dedicated topic on this issue, you can view my recommendation here: http://forums.digitalpoint.com/showthread.php?t=1611865
Thanks for all the suggestions guys. I changed the domain last night as some person spotted, it is now http://www.gamercity.co.uk/forums which I feel is a lot better than forums/phpbb/... so please feel free to check them out at the new domain name. I am not going to create my own forum software as I have too many exams to go through this year and would rather spend time just continually adding quality content. I have already started 1 or 2 accounts on my forums but I will create more and start a conversation. Make it look like its active. I will also try that myspace tip, I haven't heard of that one before. I hope it works! Thanks a lot to everyone who gave advice!
Start posting on it yourself and make sure your posts have a keyword density of about 4% That seems to be the current rule of thumb for search engines... If you run out of topic ideas, just go on other popular gaming forums
For promoting your gamer city you need to participate in forums related to your field. Also give them more space for participation. Also use print media for your marketing if you have any budget in this regard.
You could seed the forum with common questions and answers. Also make sure you have an RSS feed available for the forum.