Hello everyone, I am reopening my computer forum, www.syschat.com, and I was wondering, what should I do to promote it? I already submitted to a bunch of directories, bought some text links, did some SEO, created a contest, bought sig links, but Im not getting that much traffic. What do you guys think I should do? Thanks, Chris
^ I'm sort of in the same stage... one thing I can suggest is to simply keep posting... keep your forum active, even if it means posting and talking to yourself. You've got a decent start, but keep the dates and replies recent. Eventually they should start to come.
You have 50 users. I'd focus on hanging on to those 50 users. If you make it the most killer forum online to these 50 people, other people will take notice. I must admit that I'm not expert. I have 150 members in my forum that I started back in November, but I gave away $300 for Christmas and had about 200 people on my mailing list for a related subject. I've found that while I have 150 people signed up as members, only 15-25 of them are actually active. I think early on the idea is to develop the forum as much as possible and fill it up as quickly as possible with as much data as possible. I'd focus on giving your forum member something that they can't find on any other site. Self-promoting your site is a great thing and is something that you should do , but I think it's more desirable to have something so valuable on your site that your members tell other people about your site. Then it will really grow! I'm doing the paidposts.com thing. I paid back in early December and I've only gotten a few posts. Brandon
It seems that you've ot too many categries to start with.. I wouldn't reccomend more than 4 in the beginning.
I tried to sign up to Life is a Disease but couldn't get past the image verification - rejected all my attempts. I have however submitted it to my vbulletin directory so I hope that helps. I would recommend you participate in other forums and make quality posts but use your signature to promote your site.
Don't distracted by the number of members - concentrate more on making sure your active members don't get bored, so post daily, and make the posts interesting. Get some friends or family involved, but make sure they know about the topic of your forum. Stick with it, it's taken me 12 months to get my forum, in a position where people are posting daily...
I agree 100%. After starting a few different boards, it's quite obvious to me that having only 3 or 4 forums is the best way to start. If you have 100 threads spread out over 10 forums, it doesn't look anywhere near as active as 10 threads in 3 forums. You'll get more responses, more new threads, and more new user registrations. Wait for quite a while before adding extra forums/categories. Other than that, you just have to keep on things - respond quickly - set subscriptions to default to instant email notification - and be patient. You won't get a huge community overnight (usually). You're doing things to drive people to your site - equally important is making sure you get them to register once they get there.
I've got a suggestion. It's more of a question actually and it's meant to be constructive, so don't be a weuss. Why should I join your forum? Tell me how your forum is going to benefit me and I'll tell you if I want to join or not. Brandon