Getting a New Forum Off the Ground

1 replies
I'm hatching an idea for a forum in a niche field (not internet marketing). For those who have done this before, do you have any tips on jump-starting the participation? Afterall, I imagine that not a lot of people are going to want to post to a nearly empty forum. I can seed it with a few post of my own and invite some friends to post... but beyond that, any suggestions?
#forum #ground
  • Profile picture of the author Terry Crim
    Marketing of the forum is the biggest thing you need to focus on after the initial setup, planning. There needs to be a reason for someone to post, have some good content you write yourself and ask for opinions and feedback.

    Free give aways work as well to get people to join initially.

    Though no matter what you do there will be a larger percentage that do not post, or participate just lurk. I have built, run, moderated and marketed for quite a few forums out there including this one at one time. Make it a community rather than a preach to forum. Make people feel invited and feel safe to post. Most people have a sense for the sincereity of the forum and owner and people are shy and afraid of being put on the spot but especially putting themselves out there for chance of ridicule. That fear alone prevents people from participating.

    Put peoples fears aside and make them feel part of a community and you will get a lot of loyal followers that feel your forum is their own personal home on the web, so to speak. Do that and you will be golden.


    - T
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[2431162].message }}

Trending Topics