How to promote a forum with no members/posts

[JimmyGibbs]

Hello,
I've read many articles and posts about how to promote your forum but I haven't see a post any post on how to promote your brand new forum which has no members and posts and how to get your first members.

Thank you 

[KensonPlays]

I'd like to see a guide for something like this happen too. Mine doesn't have "no posts" but it only has like 1 active member and around 30 posts

[JohnS]

Getting contributors to a new forum is not easy. You can't just put up a forum and expect it to work. A forum with few members or few items is self defeating, people will visit see nothing and go away probably never to return. You have to attract them on that first visit so they want to come back.
What kind of competition does your forum have? It takes a lot to attract people from existing forums that are working well, not many want to belong to many forums, especially on the same subject.
Expecting Google or any other search engine to feed people to you just is not going to happen.
Therefore it is hard work, ideally you need three or four helpers who will post items, and reply to them, in my experience an article that has had a few visitors will get more, an article showing only one or two visitors often never takes off.
There should be some community of interest that you can address and use other means, word of mouth, advertising emails (be sure to stay withing the spam regulations for your country) and get the people to visit.
Be prepared to ensure that when they post they get replies, and good replies, preferably from more than one person.
I have set up many forums for myself and for friends/clients, some take off some just die. You have to reach that intertia point quickly where the forum is self sustaining.
You have to think what is the purpose of your fourm and why they would want to join your forum, then find a way to target that audience with the information it is available.
Don't expect everyone to be active, there are more passive observers to a forum than there are active contributors. Typically you will only get a few % of your joined up subscribers actually making any contribution.
In sort a lot of hard work is needed to get it moving, go out and find those first few contributors that will act as the core to get things moving. You can try and do it on your own using several user names, but that is not easy and many would frown on it.

[floridaflatlander]

A forum with few members or few items is self defeating, people will visit see nothing and go away probably never to return.

That's true I know a site I use to go to that had up to date  articles but no one ever posted in the forum. I always looked at the site as being dead. They eventually gave up on their forum

You can try and do it on your own using several user names, but that is not easy and many would frown on it.

Also true, people can tell after awhile that the same style is being used with different names.

[TheListener]

@Jimmy Gibbs

It helps if a link is given so readers know what the forum is about.

I'd like to see a guide for something like this happen too. Mine doesn't have "no posts" but it only has like 1 active member and around 30 posts

Maybe if you didn't keep changing the forums platform every week (or month) then people will register. Also good quality posts are a bonus.

A decent theme helps although these are hard to find.

[kat]

For what it's worth, the greatest number of searches done on Google is for the term "Free sex"...

[floridaflatlander]

For what it's worth, the greatest number of searches done on Google is for the term "Free sex"...

But can we get on the first page or two?

[PatrickForum]

A good way to get active members is to participate in the community. Make sure you show up on other websites and add value.
Also, it doesn't hurt to make friends with webmasters. Send him or her an e-mail and ask about his/her business. Why not make an appointment with each other and talk a little bit about the business. Getting to know people can pay off in a lot of ways.

Not only you can make friends and get new active members, but you can also get some links to your forum from your new friends.
Also, some people follow the big guys if they see that the "guru" is on a forum. Most of the times, his/her followers register too, especially if the "guru" will send an e-mail to his/her list.

So make sure you show up on related websites, talk with webmasters and so on. Creating great content on the forum is also a great way to get new active members. There are a lot of ways to get your forum from the ground, but the quality of the content on the forum is one of the most important factors.

Work on your content and build up your reputation.

[kat]

But can we get on the first page or two?

You'd need content to do that.

I believe that starting a forum, for the sake of having a forum, is bound to fail.

Unless, of course, you have content that people want.

If you're part of something and a forum is an extension of that, whatever it is, you're on a winner.

I'm currently helping to start-up a local radio station.

Interest is growing and, fairly soon, a forum might help all of the interested parties keep in touch, bounce ideas around and that kinda stuff.

I often wonder if the most successful forum might be one dedicated to nothing but Spam.

Sad bastards Spammers could then post their pr0n, saddo ads and all that crap, leaving the rest of us alone!

[Account Abandoned]

To get AAF going, I visited each day and posted 5 to 10 new topics in each section (mainly the niche sections) for about a month. I had a couple thousand topics and posts in a month. Its the dedication you are willing to apply to your forum Then after I had all those posts, I focused on getting more members and got a lot using Post Loop to help get me started. You can also exchange posts with others by joining admin and promotion forums and requesting it. Once topics start getting more discussions going, it should start to pick up I rarely do post exchanges or post loop anymore because I have quite a few real members who enjoy coming to post at the forum We are nearing 10,000 posts and are less than 4 months old at AAF, PR3 and I think its either the largest or one of the largest admin forums powered by SMF

If you build it, they will come

[smartblogz]

Oh man, I know how you feel. same issue here and I'm pulling my hair out.
Just don't know what exactly to do but well, I will see to it that it WORKS! 

My forum is more or less a "regional" thing so I've printed flyers/hand bills and distribute myself as I go around. Word of mouth is a very powerful tool.

I tried postloop but will NEVER go near them again. NEVER!!! The %^%&&^ cheated me. Yes.

Anyways, good luck!

[Account Abandoned]

How did they cheat you?

[smartblogz]

How did they cheat you?

Well, let me try and explain
I registered, entered my site details etc... and was required to make a certain number of posts (which I did and even more) on their forum in order to enable my site.
Unknowingly to me and to my utter suprise, when I tried to enable my site, I got this:
You must have a positive balance to Enable your site. Your current balance is -1.34

I cant even understand how you can have -1.34 posts??? plus, when I tried to find this out on the forum the topic got locked.
How cool eh?
nah, ain't going back there.

[warrior4christ]

What do you do when you start a forum that you KNOW will be the most unpopular forum on the Internet?

You Remember..  You didn't Create the Forum to be Popular. 

[Account Abandoned]

How did they cheat you?

Well, let me try and explain
I registered, entered my site details etc... and was required to make a certain number of posts (which I did and even more) on their forum in order to enable my site.
Unknowingly to me and to my utter suprise, when I tried to enable my site, I got this:
You must have a positive balance to Enable your site. Your current balance is -1.34

I cant even understand how you can have -1.34 posts??? plus, when I tried to find this out on the forum the topic got locked.
How cool eh?
nah, ain't going back there.

For the locking of the thread, I don't understand. It may of been one of them "lock the newbie question" type things and if it was, I am against that because everyone is new one time or another

However, to understand the point system, you should have resorted to their clearly linked FAQ section:
http://www.postloop.com/pages/frequently_asked_questions

Its explains everything you need to know

[smartblogz]

For the locking of the thread, I don't understand. It may of been one of them "lock the newbie question" type things and if it was, I am against that because everyone is new one time or another
However, to understand the point system, you should have resorted to their clearly linked FAQ section:
http://www.postloop.com/pages/frequently_asked_questions
Its explains everything you need to know

I have checked and read and nothing explains what they have done. To deducts posts, you must have a reason and they had none. Pure cheating. simple as.

Why on earth should anyone "lock the newbie questions"? You either answer it or let it be.

[Account Abandoned]

Its like a tax system, you have to stay active on forums you subscribe to-to keep your points up. You don't just get points for free, what sense would that make!?!?!

[KensonPlays]

<SNIP>
Maybe if you didn't keep changing the forums platform every week (or month) then people will register. Also good quality posts are a bonus.
<SNIP>

I haven't done that for like half a year, or maybe even a year. I have some users that made a couple posts that I knew nothing about their joining, (except that their posting came from Postloop, how I got them).

[smartblogz]

Its like a tax system, you have to stay active on forums you subscribe to-to keep your points up. You don't just get points for free, what sense would that make!?!?!

I'm sorry but this doesn't make sense. I was told to make a minimum of certain number of posts which I did and thereafter, my site was to be activated which they never did. its called cheating! scam! end of...

[Account Abandoned]

Then post loop isn't for you if you don't understand what is going on.