Hello, i am starting web hosting and web design forum. It is not problem to set forums, threads etc. but how forums start their lives? How to attract people, do i first need to make 20 accounts and start answering my own questions?
In start you'll have to post a lot on your own forum. Forum posters don't work that well, so better do it yourself. Also go to a relevant forum(s) in your niche, and see if they have any "review sites' forum". If yes then just post in that section asking other members to review your site etc. This method works well, have personally tried it to gain many members for my forums.
I had success starting a design forum 6 months back. I have sold it since now but in the first week I already reached 1K posts and 30-40 members (with no paid forum posters or any of that crap). Make sure you do the following: - Good Design - Good software (does not have to be VB) - have a few accounts (I had 2-3) and make around 25 posts in each per day - it does not matter about having too many sections, as long as you make a few threads and posts in each. The best thing you can do is get some genuine users that are willing to post everyday. This is what really helped me because I had 2 dedicated members that were making as many posts as my main posting profile (I soon made them into mods) and a dozen other members that were less regular.
You should read Tips For Forum Owners which I wrote sometime ago. Just remember one thing, forums are not easy to make popular, you should just keep working hard and have patience.
* contests * revenue sharing * recruiting a core group of posters from various other boards and friends * create a community and reason to come back with bonuses for reaching post counts etc.
Ya..this should be the right way to go about it...just look around for similar forums and try to figure out the most happenin topics...
i guess starting your our accounts would not hurt, also if some of you pals helped out by making an account and posted everyday. building a good forum with alot of members can take time so just stick it out Good Luck
i think you should iniciate it... do not wait for people to come develop keywords and eventually they will come be friendly with your (first) visitors develop interesting threads