Need to make people participate on my forum

Kolmir · 11-21-2011, 11:47 AM

Hello everybody,

My friends and I started an Online Gaming Forum a month or so ago, it has been quite challenging since the start, however, we seems to be improving lately (we've reached 1000 views yesterday, without a contest this time ><). The problem however, is that people seems to come on the forum, read the articles posted, then fly away for new horizons.

While I understand the act, I would like to know if someone have some suggestions to make people register on the forum and post, casually or often.

If it is of any use, my current publicity campaign is based on Twitter (following people who follows online game companies who says to like video games in their description and hoping to get followed back... then, tweeting news articles we have written about the Online Gaming world), posting links to our articles on a general board named Reddit, posting the website on multiple directories, posting our articles on the game website with a link to the official article on our forum and finally telling our friends about the site. (By the way, I am quite interested in new ideas to add to our publicity campaign too

)

Thanks everybody !

Kolmir · 11-22-2011, 09:21 AM

Hi there,

thanks for the feedback. However, I must say that I am not so sure about what I could add to the website which would be reserved to members. So far, our contests are reserved to members but that's it... Being a highly informational forum, it would be hard to hide any more content.

As for recruiting active people, we are working hard to do so, but with no luck yet.

I was thinking of adding a bigger "JOIN US" or "REGISTER NOW" button on the right side of the website since the Register is rather small (using phpBB). But I am afraid this might be seem as agressive marketing or something similar, what do you think ?

yukon · 11-22-2011, 10:52 AM

This is just me & I'm a cheap SOB, lol.

I would target blogs with decent traffic that are very active in your niche, offer the blog owners 1-week free banner space for every single blog post they create (on their blogs) about your forum & with links pointing at your forum.

The point of doing this free banner space is about long term free traffic & building up your membership on the forum.

Get traffic now, earn money later (long term).

Get your name out there, get people motivated...

dvduval · 11-22-2011, 10:56 AM

Certainly the answer to your question begin with why someone would want to participate. what would be the benefit?

Kolmir · 11-22-2011, 12:17 PM

Hello guys,

As far as I know, the number of relevant and active blogs in my niche is rather small, also, after looking at their web stats, they are rather small too. Another problem might be where to place the banner on my forum since it was not really built to have banners anytime soon. I guess I could add it just above the forum content like many free forums do... As long as it's temporary :P The idea is definitely worth trying though, but should I avoid blogs with articles too similar to mine ? Like, I post mostly articles about news going on in our market, some blogs do the same while some talk about specific subjects, which means that they are not entirely "competitors".

For the reason why someone should participate, I would say that the whole point of the website is to allow online gamers to share the news going on in our world (it's a rather huge market with lots of stuff going on), share their points of view on multiple subjects affecting the market, get a groups of other interested people to try games and even help eachother to find the game which fit ones needs the most. Also, we are having contests reserved to our members (sometimes for now... it's rather hard to run these without the backup of companies)

Thanks a lot !

cagliostro · 11-22-2011, 12:34 PM

Well to jump-start a forum is something very-very hard.

Try:

1. Make some people moderators and make them participate.

2. Remove any ads for a while.

3. Post yourself and open some really nasty threads. Like a bait.

good luck.

Kolmir · 11-22-2011, 12:59 PM

Ummm, so should I try to advertise bigger blogs when they link to my forum or not ? It's kind of contradictory here lol...

When you say some nasty thread, you mean controversial ones ? Because the moderators and myself are trying to get a name in the industry so we are mostly posting informational articles and soft articles, we were planning to post these later when the forum have enough members to get a real discussion going on, should we rush it now ?

Thanks

yukon · 11-22-2011, 01:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kolmir

Hello guys,

As far as I know, the number of relevant and active blogs in my niche is rather small, also, after looking at their web stats, they are rather small too. Another problem might be where to place the banner on my forum since it was not really built to have banners anytime soon. I guess I could add it just above the forum content like many free forums do... As long as it's temporary :P The idea is definitely worth trying though, but should I avoid blogs with articles too similar to mine ? Like, I post mostly articles about news going on in our market, some blogs do the same while some talk about specific subjects, which means that they are not entirely "competitors".

For the reason why someone should participate, I would say that the whole point of the website is to allow online gamers to share the news going on in our world (it's a rather huge market with lots of stuff going on), share their points of view on multiple subjects affecting the market, get a groups of other interested people to try games and even help eachother to find the game which fit ones needs the most. Also, we are having contests reserved to our members (sometimes for now... it's rather hard to run these without the backup of companies)

Thanks a lot !

One of my competition has been paying me to have his link on my site. Another guy has my link on his blog sending me about 1k traffic most days (from a single link), I returned the favor after I started getting his traffic.

My point is not all competition is bad, some guys will help you earn money even If they don't realize your converting that free traffic they are sending you. Play nice with the competition & you might be surprised how it benefits your site.

cagliostro · 11-22-2011, 01:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kolmir

When you say some nasty thread, you mean controversial ones ? Because the moderators and myself are trying to get a name in the industry so we are mostly posting informational articles and soft articles, we were planning to post these later when the forum have enough members to get a real discussion going on, should we rush it now ?

I mean make noise about something. Without knowing your details is it hard to say, but for me worked to a couple of forums. I made an issue about something that worked like a bait. People came to say bad things to me because of that, but i got their attention. You can also do that indirectly, using a user name and not yours.

Just an idea.

Kolmir · 11-22-2011, 01:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cagliostro

I mean make noise about something. Without knowing your details is it hard to say, but for me worked to a couple of forums. I made an issue about something that worked like a bait. People came to say bad things to me because of that, but i got their attention. You can also do that indirectly, using a user name and not yours.

Just an idea.

That's great actually, I recently asked my team to create fake accounts to entertain the forum from the inside, I guess it would be the perfect opportunity to create some topics to create reaction

As for my details, it's a forum about MMORPG & MOBA (Online Gaming), if it can be of any help

mosthost · 11-22-2011, 01:48 PM

"Online gaming" is way too big of a topic for a forum, IMHO. Better to narrow it down.

Kolmir · 11-22-2011, 01:55 PM

The problem with this is that it's way too easy to get out of the frame. This is why our main subject are MMORPG & MOBAs, however we added the online gaming section to be able to talk about games such as Diablo 3, Path of Exile, Tribes: Ascend etc. Which are not considered MMORPG nor MOBA, but still reach the same players pretty much. It is extremely common to play MMORPGs + MOBAS or MMORPG + MORPG.

With our online gaming section though, we are displaying a "Looking for a game" forum to help our members find a game they would enjoy and a "Game specific" forum, where a game of any kind can have a subforum to support it. This can happen when a game have multiple topics created about it. So far, it is mostly a placeholder though.

Does it make any sense?

cagliostro · 11-22-2011, 04:01 PM

@Kolmir

One suggestion also. Start with a few forums, people do not like "empty" ones. And expand as needed. This is VERY important.

good luck

Kolmir · 11-23-2011, 07:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cagliostro

@Kolmir

One suggestion also. Start with a few forums, people do not like "empty" ones. And expand as needed. This is VERY important.

good luck

Thanks for the suggestion, however I think this might be a little bit too late since most of our forums have some content.

I contacted a rather big blog in my niche, he thought the articles posted on the forum were quite interesting and will link an article on his own blog. However, he said that all <a> links in the comments were no-follow. But when I look at the code of the posts, there is no no-follow in his article link so I am wondering, is there another way to make links no-follow than in the <a> tag ? I don't mind too much the no-follow since the traffic would be targeted.

Also, I've added a kind of "WANTED" poster at the bottom right of the forum with "JOIN US! BECOME A MEMBER". It scrolls with the user, however, I made it so that if the screen or window is too small, it goes BEHIND the forum content. Otherwise I had some trouble with iPhones where it would become hard to read the forum content. This poster disappear as soon as you log in though.

What do you guys think ?

cagliostro · 11-23-2011, 07:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kolmir

Also, I've added a kind of "WANTED" poster at the bottom right of the forum with "JOIN US! BECOME A MEMBER". It scrolls with the user, however, I made it so that if the screen or window is too small, it goes BEHIND the forum content. Otherwise I had some trouble with iPhones where it would become hard to read the forum content. This poster disappear as soon as you log in though.

What do you guys think ?

Also offer LESS displayed ads for registered (logged in) users/members. Even for a while.

Kolmir · 11-23-2011, 07:33 AM

The forum currently have no ads at all... To keep it clean, I was planning to avoid any ads until I could get the CPMSTAR ones, which display beautiful and completely related publicity on the two side of the website. Even I, as a web surfer, like to see these publicity on competitors website since they are really good looking and seems to ADD a plus-value to the site, instead of giving the idea of "ads" lol

11-21-2011, 11:47 AM	#1
Kolmir Warrior Member Join Date: Oct 2011 Posts: 17 Thanks: 1 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	Need to make people participate on my forum Hello everybody, My friends and I started an Online Gaming Forum a month or so ago, it has been quite challenging since the start, however, we seems to be improving lately (we've reached 1000 views yesterday, without a contest this time ><). The problem however, is that people seems to come on the forum, read the articles posted, then fly away for new horizons. While I understand the act, I would like to know if someone have some suggestions to make people register on the forum and post, casually or often. If it is of any use, my current publicity campaign is based on Twitter (following people who follows online game companies who says to like video games in their description and hoping to get followed back... then, tweeting news articles we have written about the Online Gaming world), posting links to our articles on a general board named Reddit, posting the website on multiple directories, posting our articles on the game website with a link to the official article on our forum and finally telling our friends about the site. (By the way, I am quite interested in new ideas to add to our publicity campaign too ) Thanks everybody !

11-22-2011, 09:21 AM	#2
Kolmir Warrior Member Join Date: Oct 2011 Posts: 17 Thanks: 1 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	Re: Need to make people participate on my forum Hi there, thanks for the feedback. However, I must say that I am not so sure about what I could add to the website which would be reserved to members. So far, our contests are reserved to members but that's it... Being a highly informational forum, it would be hard to hide any more content. As for recruiting active people, we are working hard to do so, but with no luck yet. I was thinking of adding a bigger "JOIN US" or "REGISTER NOW" button on the right side of the website since the Register is rather small (using phpBB). But I am afraid this might be seem as agressive marketing or something similar, what do you think ?

11-22-2011, 10:52 AM	#3
yukon SEO Strategist War Room Member Join Date: Jun 2010 Posts: 6,533 Thanks: 355 Thanked 1,993 Times in 1,274 Posts	Re: Need to make people participate on my forum This is just me & I'm a cheap SOB, lol. I would target blogs with decent traffic that are very active in your niche, offer the blog owners 1-week free banner space for every single blog post they create (on their blogs) about your forum & with links pointing at your forum. The point of doing this free banner space is about long term free traffic & building up your membership on the forum. Get traffic now, earn money later (long term). Get your name out there, get people motivated...
	- SEO Strategist -

11-22-2011, 10:56 AM	#4
dvduval phpLD master War Room Member Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Silicon Valley Posts: 3,119 Blog Entries: 3 Thanks: 49 Thanked 334 Times in 273 Posts Social Networking	Re: Need to make people participate on my forum Certainly the answer to your question begin with why someone would want to participate. what would be the benefit?
	PHP Link Directory Script - a great addition to ANY website and much more than just a directory. You should contact me because I create software products. Example include phpLD, Link Cleaner, Dance Studio Manager, and many more for customers. Let me know if you need a strong development team to help you make a software product.

11-22-2011, 12:17 PM	#5
Kolmir Warrior Member Join Date: Oct 2011 Posts: 17 Thanks: 1 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	Re: Need to make people participate on my forum Hello guys, As far as I know, the number of relevant and active blogs in my niche is rather small, also, after looking at their web stats, they are rather small too. Another problem might be where to place the banner on my forum since it was not really built to have banners anytime soon. I guess I could add it just above the forum content like many free forums do... As long as it's temporary :P The idea is definitely worth trying though, but should I avoid blogs with articles too similar to mine ? Like, I post mostly articles about news going on in our market, some blogs do the same while some talk about specific subjects, which means that they are not entirely "competitors". For the reason why someone should participate, I would say that the whole point of the website is to allow online gamers to share the news going on in our world (it's a rather huge market with lots of stuff going on), share their points of view on multiple subjects affecting the market, get a groups of other interested people to try games and even help eachother to find the game which fit ones needs the most. Also, we are having contests reserved to our members (sometimes for now... it's rather hard to run these without the backup of companies) Thanks a lot !

11-22-2011, 12:34 PM	#6
cagliostro HyperActive Warrior Join Date: Sep 2009 Posts: 474 Thanks: 19 Thanked 14 Times in 14 Posts	Re: Need to make people participate on my forum Well to jump-start a forum is something very-very hard. Try: 1. Make some people moderators and make them participate. 2. Remove any ads for a while. 3. Post yourself and open some really nasty threads. Like a bait. good luck.

11-22-2011, 12:59 PM	#7
Kolmir Warrior Member Join Date: Oct 2011 Posts: 17 Thanks: 1 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	Re: Need to make people participate on my forum Ummm, so should I try to advertise bigger blogs when they link to my forum or not ? It's kind of contradictory here lol... When you say some nasty thread, you mean controversial ones ? Because the moderators and myself are trying to get a name in the industry so we are mostly posting informational articles and soft articles, we were planning to post these later when the forum have enough members to get a real discussion going on, should we rush it now ? Thanks

11-22-2011, 01:48 PM	#11
mosthost Senior Warrior Member Join Date: Jun 2011 Location: Cleveland, Ohio Posts: 1,189 Thanks: 104 Thanked 138 Times in 122 Posts Social Networking	Re: Need to make people participate on my forum "Online gaming" is way too big of a topic for a forum, IMHO. Better to narrow it down.
	Cloud phone system - Built specifically for SoHo and IMs. Try it free for 30 days - Click here \| ADD URL \| IM Ninja

11-22-2011, 01:55 PM	#12
Kolmir Warrior Member Join Date: Oct 2011 Posts: 17 Thanks: 1 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	Re: Need to make people participate on my forum The problem with this is that it's way too easy to get out of the frame. This is why our main subject are MMORPG & MOBAs, however we added the online gaming section to be able to talk about games such as Diablo 3, Path of Exile, Tribes: Ascend etc. Which are not considered MMORPG nor MOBA, but still reach the same players pretty much. It is extremely common to play MMORPGs + MOBAS or MMORPG + MORPG. With our online gaming section though, we are displaying a "Looking for a game" forum to help our members find a game they would enjoy and a "Game specific" forum, where a game of any kind can have a subforum to support it. This can happen when a game have multiple topics created about it. So far, it is mostly a placeholder though. Does it make any sense?

11-22-2011, 04:01 PM	#13
cagliostro HyperActive Warrior Join Date: Sep 2009 Posts: 474 Thanks: 19 Thanked 14 Times in 14 Posts	Re: Need to make people participate on my forum @Kolmir One suggestion also. Start with a few forums, people do not like "empty" ones. And expand as needed. This is VERY important. good luck

11-23-2011, 07:33 AM	#16
Kolmir Warrior Member Join Date: Oct 2011 Posts: 17 Thanks: 1 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	Re: Need to make people participate on my forum The forum currently have no ads at all... To keep it clean, I was planning to avoid any ads until I could get the CPMSTAR ones, which display beautiful and completely related publicity on the two side of the website. Even I, as a web surfer, like to see these publicity on competitors website since they are really good looking and seems to ADD a plus-value to the site, instead of giving the idea of "ads" lol