Hot to get people to post on forums?

[Lynn Terry]

I find it interesting how some forums do SO well, and others are so difficult to get people to join and stay active on... I've set several forums up in the past for clients, and even helped them to promote it. (Some of them are *still* sitting stagnant). I'm not entirely sure what the secret is to hosting an active forum, except to say that I have noticed that those who are not active in other forums dont tend to have active forums themselves... and those that are, do.

I'm still looking for that magic key that will double the activity on this forum If I figure out anything definite, I'll be sure to let you know!

[Kevin Robb]

[Lynn Terry]

[wahmcafe]

Hello

Thank Kevin, those are good points. I experience the ohter one myself sometimes. I try to keep up with the posts, especially those I start myself, but, sometimes I simply forget to answer.
As Lynn, I am also amazed how some forums just explode and some fail to reach the public. There are many WAHM sites that don't offer much content but forums and are still very successful. That is what confuses me. You can't just start a forum and have nothing else to offer. Hmmm
There are also many WAHM forums where the moderator/owner stops by once a week to lock the posts or move them, without participating much.
Anyway, I will let you know if I figure out the secret
Biki

[wahmcafe]

One more question. What do you think about incorporating two forums into one, those that deal with same issues of course.
Does that help boost the forum?
Just a thought, I have seen many forums do that.
Thanks
Biki

[Lynn Terry]

[wahmcafe]

[Lynn Terry]

[wahmcafe]

OK, thanks
Biki

[altyfc]

I have experience with three phpBB forums which are as follows:

http://www.aardvarktravel.net/chat
http://www.aardvarksport.net/chat
http://www.aardvarkbusiness.net/chat

By my experience, forums are *very* difficult to get going. Even if you have quite high traffic levels, it doesn't mean that people will necessarily post.

Of the three sites mentioned above, only one has so far become successful. Admittedly, it is the only one we've tried to promote that much as yet, and that's the travel one. That domain gets around 80-90,000 unique visitors per month, but it has still taken around a year to get going.

I guess I've now got to turn my attentions to the other two and see if I can achieve the same with them also...

Aaron

[Lynn Terry]

Very nice forums, Aaron!

Do you publish newsletters that include Top Posts or forum news (to keep your visitors/subscribers "involved")? If not, that may help

How about Ryze.com? Its a *great* place to get international exposure! Thoughts?

[altyfc]

[Lynn Terry]

[altyfc]

[Harmony Major]

Hi there.

Just wanted to share my experience in getting forums going.

First, I think it has a LOT to do with the setup of the forum.

For instance, about three years ago, I started a forum using
WebBB (or whatever it's called?) that most people like Tony
Blake and Jim Daniels were using.

I only had about 3,500 subscribers to my ezine back then, I
believe. I sent out a special mailing announcing the opening
of the forum, and asked them to help.

No bribes, no nothing.

Just the simple request to come help me get the forum started.

You wouldn't BELIEVE the amount of posts that started flooding
in. I mean, the response was amazing ... and that was all it
took. After that, I simply checked in daily (usually several times
a day) and posted really helpful, detailed advice whenever I
could (leaving site reviews out, for the most part), and things
flourished on their own.

But there are two key things here.

I had a panel of moderators (I think three or so) to help out,
and posted links to their bios at the top of the forum, including
pictures. Those little pages got a good amount of traffic.

Anyway, the first key is that I *WOULD NOT* just jump in as
soon as someone posted to answer their question. I'd wait a
while (I honestly don't remember how long) to see if anyone
else would help out FIRST.

I did this because I found that when I jumped right in and
answered a question, I cut off the traffic/responses to that
post. I guess others were intimidated by the depth of my
responses and were afraid to contradict my ideas as "the
expert", so they shied away.

But if I waited to post, I could add my own little two cents
after the fact, which would actually INCREASE response a
little more.

I used to get a lot of traffic from top dogs in the industry
like Jonathan Mizel -- he was a regular there -- who said
that I was giving Tony a run for his money. He said that
he'd told him that, and ol' Tony didn't seem to like it too
much. ~LOL~ ;-)

Like I said, I DID get a lot of traffic -- though not NEARLY
as much as Tony -- but Jonathan was mainly referring to
the quality of the posts.

The second key, *I* think, is the fact that I used a threaded
forum: WebBBS (or whatever).

There are pros and cons to using this kind of forum vs. that
kind, and one of the main advantages to a forum like that is
the ease of use, and the organization of it.

Incidentally, I use a forum similar to THIS now, but it gets
frustrating that you can't tell whether or not a thread has
remained relevant until you go in a forum, and into the
thread, to check it out.

People will also tend to start chattering away about irrelevant
stuff in the threads in this type of forum, and not even think
about keeping it on topic really. They feel that "on topic" is
simply continuing the banter (which I can understand) ... and
people end up talking about circus elephants when it's all said
and done.

And the SUBJECT LINES of the posts aren't prominent in this
kind of forum, so it makes it hard (and a little frustrating) to
follow what's going on. With the WebBBS (or whatever!) it's
a lot easier (and less time-consuming) to see, at a glance:

* What's going on
* Which threads you want to respond to
* Which threads AND posts you're interested in reading
* Etc.

Not knocking your choice, Lynn, because as I said (or did
I??), I use this kind of forum now, too.

I'm seriously considering switching back to that type of
forum. Even though you can't categorize stuff the same
way you do here and keep it all compact, and you can't
force registration (to avoid abuse) of members, I'm really
beginning to miss the advantages of that one.

Besides, I figure there's a reason Tony Blake has kept
his forum using that system for so many years.

It WORKS!

It's been VERY hard to get this type of forum constantly
active, but I did achieve that for quite a while by running
a contest. At the risk of making this any longer than it
already is, you can see the type of contest I run at:

http://HarmonyMajor.com/forum/

I sent out an announcement to my list on this NEW forum,
and mentioned the contest, and that got things going.
Business was boomin' for a while there, but when I pulled
the contest (because it was hard to keep up with the posts
made by each user month after month) ... I could hear
crickets again. ~LOL~

And still do, as a matter of fact. :-/

Only other bad thing about running that type of contest is
that it tends to affect the quality of the posts. People will
get on there asking dumb questions, or posting just to say,
"Oh okay, thanks -- I agree" ... just to win the contest for
that month.

And I mean "dumb questions" as stuff like: "Hey, should I
type my URL in my signature as http://www.Me.com or as
http://me.com? Which one looks better on the forum??"

:-/

Anyway, there's my $2.00. ;-)