Unattractive, not innovative, and doesn't display what the site has to offer on the index or the forum index well.
I like the site theme but the forum is not matching the theme. There are cooler themes that you can pick. Also, if the forums is the main attraction then you should make it the frontpage. If you can convince your friends to join the talks - even better. If you have the opportunity, get in contact with skiing organizations and suggest your forum as a location to promote their events and talks (this works well in small local events) to get more people talking if they see your URL as recommended.
You need something that grabs people's attention as soon as visitors hit the page like a great video with some excellent content right below it.
I am still working o the layout of the forums.video gallery. I will have the front page with our latest video and also frequent updates related to skiing
You need to wait like 3 to 6 month maybe longer to get 30 to 50 decent posters. A few things that you can do to make you forum grow faster promoting it on the right website & to the right people, getting yourself and 3 to 4 friend to make like 750 to 1500 posts before you open the forum to the general public & pick a subject for the forum alot of people want to chat about do noy pick a subject that only you want to chat about.
Everything can be a success. Its all about how much resources you have. Like money. The design itself is just a minor factor, but of course you must make sure you have an appealing design....
Another thing the host your with needs to have good uptime & loading speed if you go with a bad host where you forum is down like 6 to 8 hrs a week & slow load speeds that will surely turn away people. Try to stay away from a free host that has been open less that 6 months I had found out the hard way 2 times in the last 4 months now the free hosting I am using is top notch
I don't know what the site is but if you search on google. There are actually companies that will help you get your forum started. They create conversations and info which draws in real members. I used to have a forum that made about $5k a year in ads. It isn't easy to start out but once you get it going it's like auto pilot till you get boneheads that need to be moderated.
A newly launched forum site will undergo birth pains. Are you willing to go through it? So be patient. The Roman Empire was not built overnight.
Hi A forum takes time though skiing is a very good sport and like by thousands. Im sure your board will pick up with time
took 5 years for my forum to get where it is now and it still isn't huge. Then again there were management issues in the first couple years. forums seem to grow exponentially from what I have seen, assuming they grow at all...Meaning that the first year or two may be slow.