7 {{ upvoteCount | shortNum }}
7 {{ upvoteCount | shortNum }}

How to Market a Forum

by easternodyssey
6 replies
Hi i am just wondering if there is any special method people out there use to market a forum, that is different from the tradition SEO work. Currently i think my website looks good and is starting to get a fair amount of page views when i publish an article in social media. However, it still ranks poorly in the Google keyword ranking. The problem is even though i get page views, i still dont get people signing up and using the forum. I did expect the forum to take of, while i was building the main content, but currently its just no going anywhere even with the few people who has signed up. The problem is with no topics started or answered the forum looks rubbish, yet if i hide the forum away from none-registered users, then it may not result in people registering with the website. Is there an alternative form of SEO used? or do only website used purely as a forum do better? or do people fake popularity by creating fake users and fake topics?
#forum #market
  • Profile picture of the author Chris Reeves
    Originally Posted by easternodyssey View Post

    Hi i am just wondering if there is any special method people out there use to market a forum, that is different from the tradition SEO work. Currently i think my website looks good and is starting to get a fair amount of page views when i publish an article in social media. However, it still ranks poorly in the Google keyword ranking. The problem is even though i get page views, i still dont get people signing up and using the forum. I did expect the forum to take of, while i was building the main content, but currently its just no going anywhere even with the few people who has signed up. The problem is with no topics started or answered the forum looks rubbish, yet if i hide the forum away from none-registered users, then it may not result in people registering with the website. Is there an alternative form of SEO used? or do only website used purely as a forum do better? or do people fake popularity by creating fake users and fake topics?
    You may be getting page views on your main site/the content you're promoting but have you seen how many people are actually hitting your forum?

    Try to focus on funneling people from your main site/content to the forum as best as possible.

    As you mentioned, an empty forum looks terrible to newcomers. I saw a grand total of 0 topics and 0 posts in your forums. To me that's essentially the same as the forum having no members, or that possibly the forum isn't even open.

    I wouldn't "fake" popularity. But it isn't faking if YOU should start posting up your own thoughts in the forum. That would at least give someone browsing the forum a chance to reply to something. Maybe ask a few close friends to interact with you and your posts to get things rolling?

    Good luck! It's not going to happen quickly or easily, but keep at it.

    Regards,
    Chris
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[6733952].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author Sandra Martinez
      I promote my community using syndication with keywords + "community". Mostly via squidoo, it works well for me so far. I also wrote a free ebook that promotes the community and syndicated it in several places, scribd and clones. I created profiles in competing communities and posted the ebook there as well. I participate and add value to those communities from time to time.

      But, I´m with Chris here; even if you manage to get visitors to your forum, nobody will register and start posting if it is empty.

      Call in some friends, create different accounts, search the competition and create conversations around hot topics in other communities.

      Post articles that allow syndication, and then ask your friends to comment on them.

      You need to gain some momentum before people start adding their time to your forum.

      A side note... communities that work are very time consuming. If you want it only to have pages created by others for you, you will suddenly find it full of viagra or related stuff and nothing valuable at all.

      Sandra
      Signature
      Coloring book niche? I have a proposal for you.
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[6734573].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author wlasikiewicz
    Getting a forum off the ground is really hard these days, you should be making accounts and posting yourself before anyone even registeres for it. You have to populate it yourself first.
    Signature
    Build a Profitable & Professional email list.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[6734587].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author easternodyssey
      Originally Posted by wlasikiewicz View Post

      Getting a forum off the ground is really hard these days, you should be making accounts and posting yourself before anyone even registeres for it. You have to populate it yourself first.
      Well thats what i have been thinking and is the only thing i can think of doing. I still dont think i am targeting my niche market at this moment in time, so i dont think it is to unoptermistic. The main problem is i have created a very large website before attempting to generate a community first. At the moment i am kind of up and down and feel some times it can be down, and other times it can not be done. The problem is i am at a lose at how other people do it without using some form of black hat tactics. The problem is i can not find the time to balance promoting and writing at the same time. While i also can find an affective way to monotize my website whilst doing both of these things. My main issue is i want to make a buisness partnership with another successful site. However, i need to gain the website users before any major website will give me the time of day.
      Signature
      Eastern Odyssey | The Definitive Guide to Asia
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[6735975].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author bluedevil
    There are services online that will populate and post on your forum. You can also use amazon's turk system to pay people per post. Like others have said, without the feel of community it will be hard to attract natural posts.
    Signature
    DIY High Authority Travel Links | CincinnatiSEO.com
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[6736021].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author hustlinsmoke
    They do make bots that help you on the forum you own, I own and made two bots, one for vbulletin and one for simple, they would inflate the posts the people on at the time the users and they would pull posts from other like forums.

    But if you are worried about rankings don't be, once you get the people to visit and revisit your forum it will take off and rank well.

    I would suggest forum posters though, they are cheap and will bump it quite a bit..
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[6736697].message }}

Trending Topics