11 Ways To Increase Forums Activities
11 Ways To Increase Forums Activities
Getting people to post in your forum is probably the hardest thing to do. First, not all of your readers will post messages. In fact, only a small percentage will post regularly, and most will never post at all. Second, nobody want to be the first person to post a message. In fact, topic starters (people that start new topic of discussion) will be a small percentage of your posters; the rest will simply reply to topics that have been started.In order to get the forum to a point where it is self-sustaining, you will have to do a lot of work. Here are some tips that you can use to get your forum rolling:If nobody will start a post, start it yourself
Register yourself as several members (you with multiple identities) and talk to yourself. (Note that this will not work in forum with logged IP). This will create enough "seed" posts to get people to read and perhaps add replies of their own.Find topics that interest people
If you get a mental block and cannot find anything interesting to talk to yourself about, then go to other web sites and see what people in those communities are talking about in their forums. You can also look at usenet newsgroups. Digest these ideas and regurgitate them using your various identities.Advertise your forums relentlessly
Make sure your forum is accessible from every page of your site, particularly the index page. Make the link highly visible, or outright talk about it on the home page. Add a link to your web site and forum as part of your email, usenet and forum signature. Frequent other forums and mention your site and forum from time to time (be careful to comply to their rules and not to spam).Use your forums to support your web site
You can ask your visitors "What do you think about this article?" (or tool, tutorial, etc.) and ask them to post their comments in the forums. Additionally, use it as part of your customer support program. For instance, I use our web site forums to support our free PHP scripts.Use your forums to annouce new changes to your site
This is a great way to make announcement because people can write their thoughts about the new feature (or article) you've just added.Find allies
There are many webmasters that have the exact same delimas as yours. Look for sites with empty or low traffic forums and email these webmasters. Offers to join their forums and post a few messages, then ask them if they can return you the same favor. If they want to know why you are bothering them, ask them to read this article.Barter
Even if they don't have a forum, offer to write about their web site or add a link to their site in exchange for some posts.Recruit moderators
As your member population grows, find a few good posters (the ones that post high-quality messages and replies) and ask them if they want to help you moderate the forum. Give them more rights than other users so that they can edit and/or delete other people posts at their descretion. They will help you keep the forum in order, make sure all the rules are followed and help you answers questions. Many people are happy to take on this challenge.Do email follow up with your members
Send email to members that registered, but have not returned in a long time. Tell them what has change since their last visit and why it may be worthwhile for them to return to your site. Try to do this about once every quarter, but do not do this more than once a month. Be sure to respect their rights by including appropriate unsubscribe information and take their name off the mailing list at their request.Offer incentives
Some forums like this one offers incentives for forum members to make posts. For instance, we offers free advertising in exchange for posts.Hire a Professional
This would be my last option, but it may work for you. There are professional message posters out there that will participate in your forums by starting threads and posting replies. This is a good solution if you are really stuck and need someone else to help you get the forums going.Some other things to keep in mind is that you should start your forums small with perhaps 3-4 categories, then slowly expand and create more categories. This way, the forums does not look so empty. Additionally, some forums software has polling features. Use these to your advantage. Controversial polls and topics can create flurries of activity.Pinyo Bhulipongsanon is the owner of GreatNexus.com Webmaster Resources offering visitors with features such as webmaster forums, webmaster directory, webmaster dictionary, programming scripts, and webmaster articles.
Make Money From Forums
Make Money From Forums
If you have a website about a topic you enjoy, you can make money from discussion forums. Talk, post links to your site, get traffic. Traffic means money, right? If not, try different affiliate programs or Google Adwords. The worst sites should get a couple cents per visitor. Now here's how to talk and make money.Search "forum" plus the topic of your site on Google or Alta Vista. For my first site, I searched "backpacking + forum" and in the pages of results I found several good forums. I also searched related topics like "hiking" too. You can also check about.com, and other sites that have forums on many topics.Registration is usually giving your email address and choosing a password. Some forums allow guests to post without registering. Once registered, browse the forum topics, and post a response to anything, just to "learn the ropes".Income From Discussion ForumsThe point of posting in forums is to get readers to come to your web site. Sure it's fun to give advice and discuss things of interest to you, but that's secondary. With that in mind, do the following:1. Always link to your site. If they don't allow any links, find another forum.2. Don't "spam." Sales pitches will be removed. Offer honest advice, or express an opinion, then sign off with your name and the link to your site.3. Ask for help from others. This is an effective and acceptable way to "advertise." Enter a topic like "Can I get some advice?" and post something like, "I just started a meditation site. If some of you would visit and tell me what you think, I'd really appreciate it." Have a link to the site. People love to help, and to give opinions, and they'll click on those ads while they're at your site.4. Look at total "views." Many forums show the total times each "thread" has been viewed. When you see some with many more than others, get in on those, or start a new thread on the same topic. Go where the traffic is, and get some of it.I didn't like the idea of forums until I made a few posts, and saw my traffic and revenue climb for days afterwards. That convinced me. Just be polite, offer some value to others, and always have a link to your site. Many other secrets of using forums are covered in my newsletter, but this should be get you started. Talk and make money today.Steve Gillman writes on many money-related topics. To learn more, and to subscribe for FREE to "Web Site Optimization Secrets," go to: http://www.TheMoneyMakerSite.com
The Benefits of Hiring Forum Posters
The Benefits of Hiring Forum Posters
There are many business benefits to be realized by including a forum on your website. A forum is an area where individuals can converse on a regular basis about different topics and ideas as well as discuss your services and products. Of course, you can have different threads and decide more or less what topics are in your forum, but you will need to have people posting in your forum to keep interest and people returning.You know by now that the more repeat traffic you have the more likely you are to make sales to these individuals. A forum will have repeat traffic because individuals must return to your site to take part in the forum, and thus will look around your site at their leisure and ultimately buy something. However, you must be sure your forum is something worthwhile to return to and this is the reason to hire forum posters.Hiring forum posters simply means you pay certain individuals to write about specific topics in your forum to keep the conversation interesting and people returning to your website. This has been proven to work by many web pages and will most likely work for you as well. The only way this will not work is if the forum posters you hire do not post to the forum or else post threads that are completely off topic and not of any interest to your forum members. As long as the forum posters are doing their jobs you will realize an increased interest in the forum, your traffic and ultimately your sales.Of course, forums are not just for bonuses. Many people start forums to discuss topics which interest them. Even if your forum is run as a hobby, you could still benefit from using paid forum posters to increase your content and build interest for your guests.The bottom line is, no one will join an empty forum. This has been proven many times. In order for your forum to become successful, you need to have members posting. So why not spend a few bucks and hire someone to help build your community?Ron is the CTO for Dice Ventures Inc an internet holdings and development company.For more information on directory submission services check out Ron's website promotion service site or our visit our hosting forum to discuss forum hosting and other issues.