What type of an approach would one take when starting a forum. It looks to be very difficult b/c many ppl wont join or even stay when they see an empty forum. Any tips or suggestions? Thanks
If it was me , and your asking ,,..so ill tell.. I would hire 3-4 forum posters , or have friends post, plus you post. Put your link in all of your other forum signatures. Article advertising,SEO, thats all free unless u pay the posters.Also if you have some money some adwords would be great! -C
Hiring posters is really the only method if you don't have other credit to yourself. The best way is to become a trusted poster on other forums and build your own followers.
i was facing this dilemma aswell Maintain the forum is going to takes a lot of time. To simulate the community aspect of a forum i would use a blog and wait until the comments build up and traffic is high. Then i would setup a forum, this all depends on the situation they both have there unique purposes. Forum= jumbo jet for only a family blog = car for only a family
1. Create a forum with an affiliate program. Where members get rewards to refer others. 2. Add an ad-revenue sharing aspect to it. 3. Populate your forum using a script like: icomotion.com/ico-content/
Cool man!! All great tips!! Besides this you will have to work on every method available to generate as much traffic as you can. Yes it's hard work and time consuming but it pays off well specially because you don't have to work on content, it's all user generated And you can't expect to earn big bucks without hard work
I started a forum about a month ago and it is hard to get it rolling. I finally have a few people stopping by and leaving some posts. I like the idea of a revenue sharing forum, any info on scripts or plugins to help with that?
You can also create about 20 accounts on your own and make some posts so it won't look so empty. And then after the forums get rolling just let your accounts fade away. Don't make it so obvious. you don't want people thinking you suffer from schizophrenia by talking to yourself
I wouldn't buy paid forum boosting services, you can read my review about them here: http://www.profitbaron.com/2007/11/28/is-paid-forum-posting-really-worth-it/ You should be more focused on getting friends/family to join, as well as, offering incentives for users to join i.e. if its a webmaster forum - free domains? revenue sharing? etc.
First of all, Make the site interactive... Like Chat room etc.... Then, Give prizes to highesst thread creator , poster etc and you have them in your pockets..
Nice ideas, I am also starting a Forum now and finding it hard. I used to have a huge forum in the Adult industry but its not the same as building a forum in the area i am trying now (Football).