OK, i have started a website aimed at being a discussion group for green and eco issues. How do i go about getting a decent number of visitors and members? I have had a website before; skylinesolar.co.uk which was a online shop, that was different in that it has 600+ products of which most were unique; meaning i was getting 10k visitors a day with no advertising whatsoever. I am now however in a different boat, i am not willing to spend money on VB and VBSEO until i have 250+ members realistically. So how can i go about getting some people to join? I am currently using £50 of free ads from microsoft at £5 a day and £60 of free adsense from google at £5 a day. I have also created a facebook group with 700 people invited, 28 joined in 2 days of the site being opperational. BUT i have yet to see any other members join except for those who i have invited through facebook. therefore how can i get some decent members to join without costing me money. (i forgot to mention that i am a student - so paid advertising is not an option) Thanks p.s. the site is reduceyourimpact.co.uk
A little update: I got my first "natural" signup today only 24 hours after it was launched Hopefully he will spread the word.
Not sure if I am missing something but your homepage only has adsense ads with no information whatsover. I couldn't find anywhere on the site to sign up for anything. The only content I found was a page on CFL's. However lack of info aside why not leverage your 10k visitors a day from skylinesolar.co.uk?
it says register in the top left hand corner.... does that not come up? :S the adsense ads are now displaying, I am testing out adsense and adbrite, so when adsense does not have anything; adsense will appear. CFL's? are you on the correct site? reduceyourimpact.co.uk not .com Cai I cannot use the skylinesolar site anymore as i sold it. since i sold it; it has gone downhill dramatically due to the removal of around 650 products!
it really seems you need content beyond the forum. i'd consider creating a number of threads based on news stories relevant to the site.
you agree? I think it is most deffintley a niche that has't been exploited! I am studying environmental geography so i have written 50 titles down for which i need to write small 300 to 400 word articles to post. Would it be better to get some sort of Content Managment Portal for the articles? or is the forum ok?
If you have no budget,you can try do some digg exchange and stumble exchange to get traffic to your site
I'm afraid the only real way to get your site off the ground is with advertising and word of mouth. If you don't have the money for advertising, work another job, get a loan, or whatever, but that is the bottom line. There is article marketing, of course, but it is near the bottom of the barrel. Submit your best work to portal sites. Forget directories. They are overrated. You can also find similair sites as your own. Then do a backlinks check on them. See how many other sites have linked to that particular site, and then contact the webmasters to show them your site. Go to compete.com to see if they are even worth contacting. It's not accurate, but it still gives you a pretty rough idea.
You could also use traffic exchanges - it's low tech but your subject is 'fashionable' at the moment. It's also free. Paul.
That's a good idea. Get news stories and the like and link them to your site. Get "feel good" stories of volunteers working to make the planet better.