Best Way to Advertise Your Forum?

Started by SN, February 21, 2009, 05:17:02 AM

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SN

Hi, im new to SMF but not new to forums. I really like this whole SMF community is set up and seems to be very Helpful. On other forum software sites they do not seem as helpful as this... and i almost get the impression that i'm encouraged to ask if i have any problems, its Great!

anyways, i would like to know more about advertising. I would like to know how most of you go about Advertising and what you think is the best method to use to et you website known?

My site has been going for two years now and we have just switched to SMF.

We have 50,000+ Posts and 1,600+ Members - which i know compared to some of your forums isn't that good but i think its ok.

Over the years though we have had alot of up and down periods, where the forum is Buzzing - non stop activity. and then all of a sudden it stops which i find very strange.

My forum is a Football Fan site Forum and we offer quite a few features, such as a prediction league, always keep them up to date with the latest news etc, we used to have a front page but it became to much hassle to keep it running.

We have tried many Advertising Methods, such as Youtube Videos, Signature Links, NewsNow (when we had the front Page) and we are on google (2nd page when your searching for a Fansite and At the top when you type our name).

But i have kind of run out of ideas. I would Like to get the NewNow back up and running because that seemed to be the most effective, I was looking to do that with the SMF article Mod, but i couldn't get it to display on my Theme.

I would love to how you advertise and any suggestion you have for me

Thanks for Reading!

zagrom

#1
I know where your comeing from, I had two sites before the one
I have now that failed Epically due to poor advertisement.

Some free advertisement I can suggest off hand,
-Make a youtube Video
-post it everywhere that wont get you into trouble
-tell ppl, and tell them to tell ppl
-topsites
-affiliations
-sig banners

just to name a few,
I keep thinking of stuff all the time ^^

SN

Thanks mate,i have just made a new Youtube Video so i will get posting it everywhere

zagrom

Quote from: SN on February 21, 2009, 05:38:32 AM
Thanks mate,i have just made a new Youtube Video so i will get posting it everywhere

>.<  keep in mind I made a typo,
It was suposta say "..it everywhere that wont get you into trouble"
not "post it everywhere it wont get you in trouble"

sorry, Im sorta tired  XD

SN


SN


bullbreedluverz

depending on your forum type social networks like facebook can be a good way to get the word out about your forum - as your forum is a football site look for social network groups based on football and join the groups, post links and description of your site and add people as friends and get them to come join - best thing of all, you can reach thousands of people for the grand sum of ZERO cost

Confusimo

I know it's really hard to get users to a new blank website.  Nobody wants to post on an empty forum.  That's why I started a new site just for the purpose to let people advertise and show off their creations.  And let other share advice on how they made their forums successfull.

http://www.activeboards.org/index.php?action=forum

ApplianceJunk

Quote from: SN on March 04, 2009, 10:00:42 AM
any boy else got any more tips?

Fill in your SMF profile with the URL to your site.
Add your site to a sig line here in SMF.

Don't forget about advertising in print, not just online.

The last car we just bought had the dealers .com URL in the rear window.
I thought to myself that's a good idea, but why should I advertise his website for him when I have my own.
It's going to be removed and replaced with ApplianceJunk.com :)

We are also looking at placing some ads in newspapers and magazines.

Going to check out a embroidery shop this week to see what it would cost to get some baseball style caps embroidered with ApplianceJunk.com

I would give the caps away on our site.

I thought about getting some pens with ApplianceJunk.com printed on them, but then I got to thinking how many times do I read what a pen says on it. :)


_Anthony_

What I did with my old forum, is I got a bunch of cheerleaders(My mom is a coach) to write JustBabbelen.com in big print with window paint all over the car, that actually worked quite well as my dad was driving around in his car :) I saw a boost of on average 10 new members a day.

S.T.A.R.S

Currently Developing a Gaming Site and Forum. Providing forums for all gamers around the world to socialise and dicuss with others. We support all genres of games!

Currently underdevelopment!

Need any Website Based help? PM me on Facebook

PM Me for Details, in need of sensible reliable moderators.

charles245

Here everyone share important details regarding how to advertise the forum in efficient manner. The tips shared with here is very useful one for everybody thanks for sharing such a important tips with us.

smartblogz

Thanks for sharing guys.
I've just started mine (about a week ago) and so far only 10 members signed up (most of which are people known to me). So I ask myself, will this work?  :laugh:

GraphicJunki

In my control panel with my host i had the option to submit my site to the most popular search engines.
also I submitted information on my google this was advise to me by host.


makememanager

Hi all,

Its nice to see so many experienced people running forums from long time.

I have just started a new forum which will focus on management discussions and I am totally new to this other than my management experience and a bit of technical knowledge.

I would like to know how to start and advertise my site.

I liked the idea of youtube video.

makememanager.com

davidkk

Create more content, and then tell everyone you know about your website. Word of Mouth is one of the biggest ways to gain traffic. Especially early on.
Later on you may want to consider things such as adverts.

Account Abandoned

Some unique things I have done with one site I have... not an smf powered one, not even a forum but still it could be helpful...

1. I payed 25 bucks and had an online streaming show (associated with my niche) recommend people to join my site. My membership when from a 2 weeks of having only 5 members to having about 62 members in 10 minutes. I got so many members that it crashed my server LOL I then went ahead and did it again on the next show and the numbers tripled and now I have the biggest type of site in that niche on the entire world wide web :) its a social network

2. On the same site above, I spent $150.00 on a banner advertising on one site, it was convention site associated to my niche. It brought about 15 members the first day and every week after for about 6 months, I would get 10+ members saying they found me on that site.

Two sources of advertising I recommend up there :)

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