Getting my forum more popular?

Hello everyone!

I really am having a tough time getting my forum popular. I bought the hosting and the domain as well, but I am just not exactly sure where I can advertise for it. Can you give me some guides? Free or low cost advertising would be the best !

 

You could try Google Adwords

 

increase traffic.

 

You can try to advertise in other website.

 

Also, you could try to go to Freelancer or Fiverr to find people who can post on your forum in order to increase its social proof. But a more long-term solution would be to increase traffic via ads and SEO.

 

You definetly need to get people posting only a active forum can attract new users on its own. Also starting contests will help you getting started. SEO is hard for forums as it really needs some good content but once you have the content it's a good opportunity.

 

Facebook, seo, adwords

 

I completely agree with Sensei.Design. I`m pretty sure it took awhile for even digital point, warrior forum to rank up with google. You need active posts and users, maybe you can ask your friends to talk about good topics.

 

For new forum, it will need enough niche-related content to make people stay. You might want to get some niche-experienced users to interact with your visitors. People often seek solutions for their problems on forums. You can try to invite your niche related network friends to jump start the forum or simply hire someone to do it for you.

 

Getting a forum off the ground can be pretty hard but, there is some ways you can do it:

1. As someone above said ask your friends and family to register and make some threads and posts.

2. You could pay other people to post on your site also or buy posting from sites that specialize in providing that service. Something like postloop, they have pretty strict guidelines on post quality.

3. Develop a split personality. What I mean is register some users yourself and add threads and posts from your various accounts(make sure some of them got more posts than the others)

Now, when it comes to actually getting more real users to know about your site. What I would suggest you do is, to make a fanpage for your forum and then sign in as your fanpage on fb(you can choose this if you have a fanpage when you are logged in) and then find fanpages that are related to your topic/niche and make some good posts, not just short crappy ones. Possibly comment on how much you like the fanpage and especially liked one post/update a few weeks back(only do this a couple of days after you became a member of the fanpage or they will probably notice)

This should make the owner of the fanpage more likely to let you do a little advertising for your own fanpage(not direct, but just by being logged in and comment and stuff). Possibly make a great update on the fanpage with good stuff around your topic and include a link back to your fanpage or your forum where that thread should be. And say please repost this great article about what ever you niche is.

Btw this thing only really works if it's a somewhat active fanpage wall with at least 5 new posts a day.

 

Advertising is great way......

 

First of all you need some good and fresh content to your forum. Merely advertising may not work in this case. What you actually need is some forum activities in a continuous manner.

 

You need to incentive people to contribute. This could be special information or giving them a bonus if they keep on coming back. For example with DP Forums you have to post 15 times before you can post on the link thread. This encourages members to participate.

 

Focus on creating content/posts at the beginning stage, people wouldnt join the forum without any active member or good posts

 

PM me I will post your ad on 100+ classifieds for only 10$.
It will Seo your site and your ad will also be seen by thousands of people.

 

To attract users concentrate doing Social Media Marketing, Use ad campaigns for it. Site should be user friendly, fresh content, easy to use , hassle free, no messy sort of things in it.

 

Just do an SEO thing in your forum in order to get popular. Or else make something a giveaway by signing in into your forum.

 

Can you tell me what kind of contests can be started on forum????

 

The two most important aspects will be getting people there and then getting them to contribute. You can use social media and niche related forums to drive the traffic to your forum. You will also need to add relevant and fresh post on a regular basis to keep your visitors engaged. Try a little humor as well. It can at least lighten the mood on your forums and everyone likes a little fun.

 

Content in very important, more index, more traffic, please check this: http://forums.digitalpoint.com/showthread.php?t=2231929