I have a content site that I just launched in January and the traffic is slowing climbing every week. As a way to make my site "stickier" and to engage my visitors, I'm thinking about launching a forum. I really don't have any plans to monetize the forum. I just want to use the forum as a way to get people to my content site and to get them interested in the product I'm selling. How many unique visitors per day would you be looking at before considering a forum? And the million dollar quesiton is, how do you get people interested in the forum when you first launch it? I know when I find new forums without much activity I usually click away to another forum. People want active forums but you have to start somewhere. How do you market a new forum so that people participate in it? Travis
Forums aren't the easiest to monetize. Consider how much time you have and see whether there are better alternatives than a forum to spend your time on. You will probably find that you can make more money focusing on other methods. A good list is better than a forum and can be sticky if they get regular good content from you and you can send your subscribers back to your site with each email, recycling your traffic.
First you should consider that a forum requires a lot of time. You need to constantly post new threads, answer other people's questions etc. The point where the community will run on it own is far away from the beginning. Now regarding how do you get people interested in the forum has one answer : Contests & freebies for your members
Forums are a good way of getting repetitive visitors and keeping them engaged, but moderating the forum putting up posts etc., can be a real pain. I suggest you go at it in stages and ask some friends to moderate the forum so that you will have time to do other stuff. You could get people interested in your forums in a number of ways, you need to first give them a draw - A freebie, or money making opportunities or something. Good Luck With this
You guys mention "freebies" and contests to get people interested. Can you provide some specific examples of how that would be done? Do you tell visitors you are giving away something if they participate in the forum, or what? Thanks. Travis
A freebie could be a product (good, ebook, or anything else) that may be interest to your audience. You should make clear to your landing page that members of your forum get this for free.
I don't think freebies or money is a good way to promote a forum. You will get a lot of talkers who have nothing to say but want the free stuff. I think your forum should provide useful information. DP doesn't give away freebies and most people don't even use the revenue sharing (I don't), but people come here because they get what they are looking for and this is the crowd you want to attract. The moment your contest is over, people will leave again and you will have accomplished nothing. I would recommend you take the money that you would spend on freebies and invest it in good forum posters. Pay them above average (more than $0.10/post) so you can be picky about who you choose. Those will generate enough interesting content so people who come to your forum looking for information will want to sign up and ask those "experts". Get involved as much as you can. If a new user signs up, take your time to research and answer his/her question and they will surely remember that you helped them and come back again (maybe even tell someone). As others said its a slow and painful process and I am still not sure I will get my forum off the ground, but I have people signing up and participating and I consider that a good sign.
Freebies or money aren't a good way to promote a forum. If the visitor want to join your forum, will do that, if not ... that's it Try to think ... how the other forums had you