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How would I get traffic to a forum?

by steadypay
8 replies
I made a forum ages ago before I knew anything about marketing and was dismayed to see noone visited it and didn't know why.

So now I know some more about marketing I understand a bit better what makes ppl come but how would I go about marketing it vs marketing a product?

Same way as for a product? I.e. just writing articles on various places and instead of sending the link to a product sending it to the forum?

This isn't for monetary purposes right now but rather it is something of personal interest. I originally made it as I was frustrated there wasn't a forum on the subject for myself and I wanted to make one so I could share experiences with others to pool resources.
#forum #traffic
  • Profile picture of the author E. Brian Rose
    Starting a forum can be a difficult task. You can read about it here: Successfully Creating an Authority Forum | Internet Marketing Strategies by E Brian Rose
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    Founder of JVZoo. All around good guy :)

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    • Profile picture of the author windwhirl
      STEADYPAY, maybe it wasn't about no one visiting your forum. Maybe it was about no one knew such forum existed.

      You can use your forum's URL as your email signature. This can easily notify lots of people even without exerting so much effort.
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  • Profile picture of the author tryinhere
    It must be one of the hardest chicken or the egg type questions, people like to see action before they join, but there is no action at the start, darn tough one thats for sure.

    maybe there should be new forum owners club where people help each other get the thing rolling off the ground / but that probably would not work as people would need to have an interest in the topic, and there is fiverr, fake it to you make posters and it might be the kick start you need ? / and one i may also take in this case
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    | > Choosing to go off the grid for a while to focus on family, work and life in general. Have a great 2020 < |
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  • Profile picture of the author Harrysmith
    Yes, having a link to your forum in signature will help you. You can also start some competition on your forum and announce winner with FREE gifts like FREE hosting space, domain names ( if you have a hosting forum ) so that people will love to join it.
    If you budget permits you can hire chaps who will post on your forum for few cents
    Post latest topic threads on your forums which are popular in industry !!!
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  • Profile picture of the author Entrepreneur Stream
    Compelling banner ads on relevant blogs and sites. Learn how to conduct media buys effectively and you can populate a forum fairly quickly this way. You won't likely see an immediate ROI though.
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  • Profile picture of the author mitashseo
    Traffic to a forum obviously requires skills we practice to a website. People normally tend to join a community when it relates to them or when they need some help. However, people who join a forum to look after a solution are more potential to you than the people who join for relevant needs! Whatever be the reason to join in a forum, if you would like to attract all types of users, you need to segment the benefits of joining your forum with each of their common points of interest and start promoting that way. With this idea, initial start building relations with your own community people. You know well about things that entices your own niche people, so offer those things first. This will be your first step of success in engaging relevant people/groups. And later offer to these people with more benefits for further recommendations.

    A referral scheme is always an enticing factor to join/subscribe a website but remember to acknowledge the benefits of your referrals in a special benefits column of your forum site!
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    • Profile picture of the author steadypay
      Well I don't think it was that noone wanted to go on it but like someone else said noone knew about it.

      The forum in question was about dust mite allergy as I have it and not finding a forum on it wanted to make one.

      From what I'd read online I knew loads of people have this allergy, 1/10 ppl I think I read somewhere so I imagined loads of people would be searching online for solutions just like myself.

      I did a keyword search today for 'dust mite forum' and I got 0 returns from that.

      I did a search for 'dust mites' and got 12000 p/m returns for it but also high competition.

      Also lots of 500 odd results for similar searches.

      I had no idea about keyword stuff back then so just made the forum and left it.

      I wouldn't mind giving it another go as I'd treat it like a pet project alongside the money making with IM.
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  • Profile picture of the author techvic
    I've been part of started successful and unsuccessful forums before and to me starting a forum is like starting a fire. It takes a good number of active members to get a forum going and keep it going. Our best results came from doing a launch for our membership site which put in a ton of members.

    We also did a lot of broadcasts to our lists driving to the forum. That was the equivalent of throwing gallons and gallons of gasoline on a fire to get it started. We had a massive spike of members and it went crazy from there. Instant momentum. Keeping it up is another discussion entirely but that's what worked for us to get it going.
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