Valued MemberHello all, I have little experience with owning my own forum but I have been apart of forums for years. I thought I would share my knowledge of free ways to bring people to your site:
Ways to NOT promote your forum:
Note: These are my opinions and you can agree or disagree.
I'll add more later if I think of anything else.
If anyone else has advice they would like to add please feel free.
EDIT: Added a new suggestion 4/24/2013
- Youtube: An underrated form of advertising I think. You can make videos on any subject so why not make a video promoting your forum? If you already have lots of people who visit your account that makes it all the easier. Personally I don't make good videos so I don't use this, but if you can make good videos I would recommend this.
- Join Other People's Forums: I know what you're thinking. I'm trying to promote MY forum, why would I spend time in other peoples forums. Well, let me tell you why. Most forums will allow you a signature with your website present in it. The more you post, the more people will see your forum link. Do this especially if it's a forum of the same genre. Read the rules of the board first and make sure the Admin. allows it. Step two, be a dedicated and active member of the forum. If you are well respected on that forum people will be likely to check out the links in your signature. You all know very well that there are certain members (even here at Off Topix) that if they added a new link to their signature you would be clickin' that link faster than it takes you to log in. There are just some members who are that way because they are dedicated, perhaps offer excellent posts that aren't just things like, I agree, or that's stupid. You're going to want to strive to be one of those members so make sure your content on other peoples sites are good. I used to have a list by my computer with the addresses of all the forums I belonged to and each day I would go down the list ensuring I made at least 5 quality posts in each. This would usually take about a half hour (as I had had a ton), then I would head to my top favs and post mostly in them.
- Facebook / Blogs: Creating an FB page for your forum or Blogging about your forum is a great way to get the word out.
- Post Exchanges: I'm a firm believer in post exchanges. First, because even if the other person doesn't stick around their post brings new content to your site which will make it seem more active. Second, I have (more than once) participated in a post exchange and returned even after the post exchange was complete. Many times people will be leery to sign up not wishing to take the time to register if they don't get something out of it. A post exchange offers that extra incentive and on the plus side. People are more likely to return to a forum if they are already registered.
---> I would recommend not doing a cheap post exchange. Like one post for one post, or a register for a register. If you're going to do a post exchange do something for at least 30 posts or more. It just works out better in my opinion because not only do you get more posts on your forum but the other person has to take time and actually search your site which may get them to like it more. A single post or even a simple register will not give someone a good feel of your forum and they'll be less likely to join permanently. Give someone enough time to get their feet wet and explore your forum they may think, Wow, this place is better than it was at first glance, and they may decide to stick around after the post exchange. Also, you should never post on another persons forum that you are apart of a post exchange. Even if you don't plan to stay after the post exchange you should pretend as though you'll be around. It's just good manners.
- Word of Mouth: Without being awkward, if you can fit your forum into a conversation with friends or family you should. I was in my class when the random partner I was assigned mentioned a really good forum she was on and I went to it. I ended up remaining at that forum for about 3 years before I left for unrelated reasons.
- Other Sites: Do you belong to other sites like deviantart or some such website? These are great places to advertise especially if you have already developed a small following there.
- Time: Unless you happen to be a lucky one in a million person with just the right forum idea and address you will likely take some time to build up your members and activity. Do not get discouraged, forums take time to grow. If you don't give the internet world enough time then you may quit before your site really takes off.
- Up to Date Content: As a forum owner you should be posting new threads everyday even if you have no members at all. If someone comes to your site and sees tons of categories with no posts it will feel very empty to them and they will leave due to lack of content. If you have threads that are really old and no one has posted in them feel free to either delete them or move them into a sort of discard pile, for old forums. Then if someone is bored enough to shuffle through them and post you can move it to a proper area to become active once again.
Ways to NOT promote your forum:
- PM Advertising: Even if the board doesn't have a rule against it you should NEVER PM your link to someone and ask them to join. There isn't to many things more annoying on a forum than this. It's different if you have been conversation and the other person asks for your link then that's okay. If you just randomly messages someone who doesn't know you (especially) if you have just joined a forum you'll earn their contempt almost immediately. I know I will typically block someone if they try this with me and I for sure never visit their forum if they try to get me to join this way.
- Post Exchange (the dark side): I have known people to ask for a post exchange and then when the other person fulfils their end of the deal they (in turn) never complete theirs. This is horrible on your part because it gives your forum and you a bad rep and will ultimately result in people steering clear of your forum. Trust me, word about bad forums will get around faster than you might realize.
- Asking Current Members to Promote: Don't ever ask the members you have (no matter how many or how few) to advertise your site on their forums or on other forums they belong. It can be seen as rude. If they truly like your forum you won't have to ask. I have gotten people to join forums I belong to and I did it because I like the forum and wanted my own friends to take part in it. Not because anyone asked me to.
- Requiring Your Members to Promote: Definitely DO NOT force members to promote your forum. Anything along the lines of you must advertise our forum on 2 sites a month to stay here.
This is beyond annoying, and you'll lose members quicker than gaining them.
- Perfecting can Kill: Having a nice looking forum is a key in promoting. First impressions can make or break a good forum. However, a perfect forum does not exist, so requiring your members to have perfect grammar or perfect spelling so that when others come to the site it looks nice and appealing is terrible as well. Forums are meant to be fun and relaxing if your forum gets that serious you'll gain a bad reputation and fast! If spelling really is that big a deal for you as an Admin or Mod correct it yourself and correct it in silence. Don't think PMing a member constantly to say I corrected your spelling here, or I corrected your grammar there, will get them to fix their mistakes. You'll probably only succeed in getting them to leave and never come back. Also having too many rules falls in this category. If you have too many rules than can possibly be followed most people will leave rather than waste their time.
- BANNING: Do not put an area up where members can request that other members be banned! (I saw this one recently). This person had a large section where a member could fill out a form requesting another member be banned and it was on display for everyone to see. Not only that it was the largest section of their forum (making it seem as though this were the main basis of the form). Then the person had a sort of reinstatement area where they could appeal their banning... This is a bad idea for a few reasons; 1.) That is basically asking for fights to break out on your forum and it will inevitably cause more problems than it will solve. 2.) This could be potentially embarrassing to some members especially if whatever they did wasn't on purpose and that could cause said member and anyone close to them on the forum to leave, and leaving is not what you want members to do. 3.) Power hungry members may abuse this, and nearly all forums will have one or two members who try to bring themselves up on a forum and in a way play God, on the board. This is never good. I handle banning or problems in a different approach and you can use my idea or not. What I have is a Questions, Request and Suggestions section of my board and I tell people if they are having problems with another member or see rules being broken to PM me. This way I can use my own discretion on the situation and decide if this is truly a banning offence or if it can be handled better and most importantly, handled confidentially. Remember your goal is to keep people on your forum, and banning takes people off. Thus it should be used as a last resort when warning and requests to stop all fail. Unfortunately it is almost certain you'll have to ban someone at some point so have a backbone and make sure you're banning them for the right reasons.
- DON'T Stick Entirely To Your Topic: No forum should stick entirely to their topic. If your forum is about wrestling. Your threads should not be 100% about wrestling. I don't particularly enjoy it. However, if there is more to your site. I might stay for a bit. For instance, my forum is Anime / RPG themed. However, not all of the people who come to my site will like anime or even know what an RPG is. All forums need a general area. A place where people can post about things that aren't apart of the main topic. So make sure your forum has a general sections for those who might not fully enjoy your topic.
Note: These are my opinions and you can agree or disagree.
I'll add more later if I think of anything else.
If anyone else has advice they would like to add please feel free.
EDIT: Added a new suggestion 4/24/2013
Elite Member
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