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Topic: More members

I have a forum, and I always seem to run into this problem, I cannot get enough members. I was pondering why, my forums are usually well-rounded and pretty much cover everything, is that it? Should I specialize my forums? And does anyone know any tips or sites to go to that can help me get more members?

my forums: www.aio.trap17.com
politics, religion, science forums

Re: More members

Erm... But you have one post. How do you mean 'my forums are usually well-rounded and pretty much cover everything'?

I think of it from a personal point of view. What keeps me going back to certain sites......

For me...
Content
Simple Navigation
Content
Content
oh and good content.

Re: More members

Forums fail when they have no main goal. Unless there is a reason to join a specific forum, people probably won't.

If you want a general board that covers everything, you will have trouble. Generally the users you would get would be people looking to join the actual community atmosphere, rather than joining for the content (if they wanted content they would probably goto a specific forum about the subject they are after). When starting, people won't join for the community, as there is none.

I would suggest trying to specialise in something, give people a reason to use your forums instead of others.

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Re: More members

I totally agree with Reines.
Think of a subject you are good in for your forum, this will give you easy moderation, improvement in the subject you'r good in and one-goalled members. Although think of a subect that is NEW and not repeated so your forum can have a unieque idea.

فهد

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Re: More members

Thanks for the advice, the forums are now specialized, but I'm still thinking of ways to attract other members.

And fhd_21, your signature has the equivalent of fhd in farsi, I'm not sure if that's in arabic or farsi, however, because they share the same alphabet, but I love the sig!

my forums: www.aio.trap17.com
politics, religion, science forums

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Re: More members

The first problem is getting visitors. Work hard on getting the word out, spread the word on other sites and search engines.
You have to figure out where your visitors should come from, they won't drop out of the sky.

Then, you need to make them stick around.
You need to show that you have something to offer, so people keep coming back.
My keywords for a successful community is:
-Updated content
-Interesting topics
-User friendliness

Re: More members

TAZ is a great source for all kinds of info about forum building, especially promotion. Have a look around there.

Looking for a certain modification for your forum? Please take a look here before posting.

Re: More members

Endre wrote:

Work hard on getting the word out, spread the word on other sites

Be careful about how you do that. There is a fine line between promoting your site, and annoying spamming your site everywhere. If done properly it works well, however spamming everywhere will simply give your site a bad reputation.

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Re: More members

Reines wrote:
Endre wrote:

Work hard on getting the word out, spread the word on other sites

Be careful about how you do that. There is a fine line between promoting your site, and annoying spamming your site everywhere. If done properly it works well, however spamming everywhere will simply give your site a bad reputation.

Well, of course. I didn't mean "spam some forums", I meant that he should get in touch with other webmasters and exchange links and such.
But it's important to get in touch with potential users at the sites where they currently hang out.
Showing good internet behaviour I consider a given smile

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Re: More members

thenr wrote:

And fhd_21, your signature has the equivalent of fhd in farsi, I'm not sure if that's in arabic or farsi, however, because they share the same alphabet, but I love the sig!

Thanx.
Actually this is my name in Arabic. hope it doesn't make any problems while surfing threads comtianing my sig.

فهد