News:

Want to get involved in developing SMF, then why not lend a hand on our github!

Main Menu

How did you get your forums started?

Started by DonaldJ, October 18, 2007, 07:16:49 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

DonaldJ

Just wondering how you guys, as individuals, started your forum. How'd you get your forum over that first hump and get your members/posts rolling in? How'd you get your website noticed? How'd you keep people interested? What exactly did you do? Where are some good places to advertise your own forums, websites, anything, for free?

I've read all the threads that give advice on how to get your forums started, but Im wondering what your guys' personal experience with this is.
Help me out and Expose Your Music!


christicehurst

You just start with putting content on your forum first. I know alot of people on the internet so that helps too. You need to know about the subject of the forum very well. Too many peple come on to SMF and promote their forum with 20 Posts and 3 members and they have no clue about their subject.
www.brisbanelionsunited.com - A forum for everyone!

Noddegamra

The trick is to never give up.

With low member activity and post rates it can be very disheartening. Try to post a few times a day, get a few friends online and be as polite and helpful as possible.

I started by adding a few friends, joining some other forums (with my forum as a sig link) and generally being helpful. If you have a good attitude and people like you, they will visit your sig link and maybe join your forum. Having your friends boost the post and member count a bit helps the place look active.

Once you get a few, try a simple competition with a prize. Get your members to spread the word and maybe contact a few blogs to get them to advertise it.

Traffic takes a long time coming, but those who try hard get there in the end :)

KGIII

In my case I had piles of traffic and tossed the forum up. It was really busy for a while but then died down but I leave it open just because I can.

My PC Support Forum
Please ask in-thread before PMing
                   SMF Help
                   Visit My Blog

How can we improve the support process?:
http://www.simplemachines.org/community/index.php?topic=163533.0

SMF vs. Godzilla? Who do you think will win?

christicehurst

Quote from: KGIII on October 23, 2007, 01:29:35 PM
In my case I had piles of traffic and tossed the forum up. It was really busy for a while but then died down but I leave it open just because I can.

It happened to my forum in the past. Goes well for a while then it dieds abit. But it bounces back from death. Have no idea how it does it, but I love it for it!
www.brisbanelionsunited.com - A forum for everyone!

L.G.S

I've tried for three years now (almost four) and my forum still hasn't taken off. Of the 700 members I only have the 3 or so members that joined from the start still there, plus 2 that joined later on.
FREE and LIVE World Cup + Premier League football streams:

www.gamesandgoals.com


christicehurst

Quote from: L.G.S on October 23, 2007, 02:00:18 PM
I've tried for three years now (almost four) and my forum still hasn't taken off. Of the 700 members I only have the 3 or so members that joined from the start still there, plus 2 that joined later on.

Now now, 144 000 posts is pretty damn good for four years of work. You have done very well to make that forum last and be successful over the years. After my first two years I'm execpting to only have 44 000 posts. So don't put yourself down!
www.brisbanelionsunited.com - A forum for everyone!

L.G.S

Well to be honest 20,000 were from RSS feeds but I stopped that rubbish when I saw just how useless they are.
FREE and LIVE World Cup + Premier League football streams:

www.gamesandgoals.com


christicehurst

I tried the RSS feeds idea but they tend not to work that well. But still without the feeds, you have done well. Come and join up to my forum if you wish. We have some topics and sories to tell.
www.brisbanelionsunited.com - A forum for everyone!

kelz784

Quote from: L.G.S on October 23, 2007, 02:00:18 PM
I've tried for three years now (almost four) and my forum still hasn't taken off. Of the 700 members I only have the 3 or so members that joined from the start still there, plus 2 that joined later on.

Oh wow your patient! Ive just started my forum and Im not the most patient person so I guess Ill have to learn to be lol! Good luck with it!

L.G.S

Quote from: christicehurst on October 23, 2007, 02:18:11 PM
I tried the RSS feeds idea but they tend not to work that well. But still without the feeds, you have done well. Come and join up to my forum if you wish. We have some topics and sories to tell.

heh only if you join mine too ;)
FREE and LIVE World Cup + Premier League football streams:

www.gamesandgoals.com


ArkServer

Well, my start was letting my students know that their course materials were on the site. The site is doing pretty good.

ladyluvbird

I got a lot of members from other forums where I was also a member. After being a member on the other forums for years, I became personal friends with a lot of people, they joined my MySpace page, we exchanged emails and the like. When I opened my first forum, they wanted to come and check it out and support me. I just recently moved my forum from a free service to my own domain and changed to SMF and I love the new possibilities. I am very happy with the software and am very lucky to have a lot of online friends.
hxxp:www.whispering-wings.com [nonactive]
Allow you heart and soul to take flight!

SlyBaldGuy

I entered as much content (topics) on my forum as I could think of.  When I'd make the post, I'd try to end it with a question or two so that it gave an opening for people to post in response.  I would also send a personal email to each person that joined thinking them for joining.  I did this for the first 200 or so members or until it got too difficult to keep up with it.

One rule that really helped was to never leave one of your member's posts unanswered, even if you didn't know that best answer, let them know.  Ask for more information so that you can prompt another post.

To promote, I created a myspace profile for my form and added as many friends that I could that I thought would relate to my forum.

Right now I'm at 1130 members and 56,000 posts after just one year.

L.G.S

I think I'm about ready to close up. I tried everything I can think of and most things other people talked about.. I give up.
FREE and LIVE World Cup + Premier League football streams:

www.gamesandgoals.com


christicehurst

Why are you crying about your forum doing badily, it's still made 1200 posts for the month. PM me with your troubles.
www.brisbanelionsunited.com - A forum for everyone!

L.G.S

Because for a forum with 700 members, there should be more than 5 posting. 1000 posts a month is great, but not after three years and all the work that's been put into it.
FREE and LIVE World Cup + Premier League football streams:

www.gamesandgoals.com


christicehurst

It's not about the numbers, it's about what members get out of it.
www.brisbanelionsunited.com - A forum for everyone!

L.G.S

Well "the members" aren't getting anything from it, because there are 5 of them and it's because of the small amount of members that they don't become more active. When one or two members come along and post a bit, everything is good and the members are like normal.

It's when it's just us originals (which is most of the year) that they become unwanting to even visit the forum, let alone post. I create at least 50 topics a month, and they don't reply to half of them. Yes, they are what they like to talk about as well.
FREE and LIVE World Cup + Premier League football streams:

www.gamesandgoals.com


nc3man

#19
We are a cycling club, and we have a website which we have had for years, which is quite useful for monthly news, ride information, general cycling information. On every page of our website, I have a navigation button "Message Board" - I don't even use the word "Forum". Realize this is a carry-over from an old-fashioned simple BB. Once people realized that the "Message Board", now being run by SMF, has SO MANY more features, and is really a website unto itself, things just picked up. We have 200 people in the club, 48 members of the Forum so far. Page viewing has tripled from the original simple BB to the current SMF and we get about 2 dozen posts a week, just about right for what our club does. The SMF changeover occurred in June, 2007.

Bottom line is that if you can link your Forum as an ever-present link from an existing, active site, it really helps.

Advertisement: