[spyro]

I started this thread to find out what peoples best ideas are for getting a forum going.

Buying posts, how to spread by word of mouth, etc...

[fattony]

The secret isn't in how the forum is promoted, its all down to what the forum is about. Find a niche, create a forum on a topic that doesn't have any big competition or that has no competition at all. Ok you may only find a very small niche but at least it will be easier to attract users.

-O

[Aletheides]

To start out a good idea would be post exchange and/or buying posts. Try www.forumposters.org.

A big part of it is promotion - people have to find out about the darn thing in the first place. But, if you don't have any activity there people won't stick around. This is where you've got to prime the pump w/ paid for posts or exchanging.

also try www.forumer.com

[Slevin]

COMPETITIONS! the bigger the prize the better, make it niche related so that you dont attract randomers after the money. Post in similar forums. Ask for link exchanges with information sites on the niche in question. Pay for posters, try and get mid-teen posters, get some google image ads up. They will click the ads and lessen the cost of their services. Try and go directly to the posters instead of going through a company. Offer 15cent per post

[Steve Thomas]

Creating forums is easy but getting people to the forum willl take extensive advertisment from your end. it would attract users but to keep them coming back, the forum should show activity

[Wowzerz]

I don't think having just a forum is good enough anymore. People can chat anywhere...you need content. Real content that members can benefit from. It has to be social, educational, and functional and wrapped up in a pretty little package with a big red bow (i.e. well designed - not just a stock install of phpbb or vbulletin). There are some examples in my sig.

[Morpheus]

Find a niche and become an authority/expert in that field.

[DaVinci]

the most important is to get together a core group of people and start a serious conversation about your subjects. If you get good active dialogs going right off the bat then you havew some much easier to attract new members.

There are a ton of small techniques like trying to answer all posts with a follow up question etc. Set it up and then invite some key people to join. I also like to say that you must spell out the reasons people should join your forum before it is obvious.

[MikeEagle12]

Originally Posted by DaVinci

the most important is to get together a core group of people and start a serious conversation about your subjects. If you get good active dialogs going right off the bat then you havew some much easier to attract new members.

There are a ton of small techniques like trying to answer all posts with a follow up question etc. Set it up and then invite some key people to join. I also like to say that you must spell out the reasons people should join your forum before it is obvious.

A good place to start out is to go to this place called forum success (http://forumsuccess.com/community-building/). It's a great resource to find all the information you are probably looking for and help you get it started. It helped me get www.bikecoalition.com going.


I'm sure DaVinci has heard of it :P

[solid]

Starting a forum from scatch will be tough to get it going unless its a really good niche, but then you may have trouble trying to get members of that niche.

I think it would be better if you already have an established website/blog an add a forum to that, Its what im planning to anyway.

Solid