getting people to use a forum?

[RichardDawson]

How have you ppl with forums get ppl to register and start posting to your forum?

I have a forums on my sites, and have a lack of people posting on them.

I Would Like to Search.co.uk - Forums (http://forums.iwouldliketosearch.co.uk)
GetYouHosting.co.uk(hostix) Support Forums (http://www.richarddawson.info/cgi-bin/yabb_rdi/YaBB.cgi)

[spcomputing.com]

he he, Iv'e got the same problem as you! I suppose your site/forum has to have something interesting for people to post there.

[EncoderZ]

SP
http://www.stuarts-place.co.uk/ is throwing 403 error at me :(
As is http://www.spcustomise.co.uk/

[spcomputing.com]

Yes, I'm still working on both sites, taking forever :(

[EncoderZ]

Should be worth the wait then eh? :D lol

[spcomputing.com]

oh, I hope so! :D

[RichardDawson]

Originally posted by spcomputing.com
he he, Iv'e got the same problem as you! I suppose your site/forum has to have something interesting for people to post there.

Hows this for a use of the forums on http://forums.iwouldliketosearch.co.uk?

This site that I have done is about being able to use it to search for things on the internet.
I have set a topic for ppl to post what they are looking for. Someone would help them and post something of what they find.
ie ppl helping ppl

It is similar to some services where you 'pay' a professional researcher to search for them/it.
This is free, and can have anyone helping to look for it.

[spcomputing.com]

Yes, you've got to avoid the pop-ups, everyone hates them. on my site i have a few, but when I release v2 of my web site, there will be no such thing as pop-up windows :)

[RichardDawson]

Got rid of the pop-ups (gone as of now!), although the exchange I was in did get me traffic, It seems that they did not do anything once they got to my site

I need to try something else...:rolleyes:

[spcomputing.com]

All i can suggest is meta tags and search engine submission.

I visit about 20 major search engines everyday to check where my site is and how the listings change from day to day.

other than that, i'm stumped.

if you haven't got meta tags, you should get some. iv'e got a tool that does the job perfectly now :D

www.spcomputing.com/v2/web_guides/archive/meta_creator.php

[TrappedMind]

Try this section in sitepointforums.com http://www.sitepointforums.com/forumdisplay.php?forumid=71 it's dedicated to creating a sucessful online forum/community. I found it ALOT of help. :)


Nicole xx

[spcomputing.com]

you've given a link to a forum, not a thread. is there a particular thread im supposed to look at or take a look at (!) all (!) threads :confused:

[Crundy]

I have the same problem: No one seems to be using my forum. Loads of visitors to the site, but no activity in the forum.

I do know that people won't bother posting if the forum doesn't look very busy. One thing we could do is sign up for each other's forums to get a bit of activity going. Other people will then be more likely to post.

What do you say?

[spcomputing.com]

I coulden't agree with you more. I too get on average 40 visitors a day. (http://www.spcomputing.com/stats/). And not a lot of them end up in the forums. :(

Iv'e got 4 registered users in my forum and 40 articles. Alot of the articles are from myself. Even though the forum is dead most of the time, I still keep it going. Iv'e had a few posts from a couple of members, but that's it.

I do know that people won't bother posting if the forum doesn't look very busy.

that's true. when i look around at forums, if i see no one in there, I'm not going to bother, so I expect other people will do the same.

One thing we could do is sign up for each other's forums to get a bit of activity going. Other people will then be more likely to post. What do you say?

I'm willing to give it a go :) I like browing sites too, so I'll breeze up some bandwidth while I'm at it :D

My forum URL is: http://forums.spcomputing.com/

C'mon everyone with dead forums, POST YOUR URL's!!!!!

we call this: Operation Deadbeat :D

[titchlou]

Okay, I'll own up - I cheat!

It does help if a forum looks busy, and appears to have members, and recent posts, and an interesting topic just begging to be added to - open questions etc.

So, this may not be very honest, I know, but sometimes the means do justify the end (I keep telling myself so I don't have sleepless nights over it ;) ) but I beg, bribe and bully friends and aquaintances to add posts to get things going and then, and this is the truly dishonest part, keep spurring them on with 'multiple identities' - all different names:all me. Once things get going my alter-egos just slowly slide away.

Yes, I am a cheat! Please don't judge me too harshly lol :D I am a nice cheat! And I would never cheat a friend - they all know the alter-egos are me anyway.

[spcomputing.com]

agghh, you've got loads of subsites. which forum are we heading for?

[Crundy]

OK, Operation Deadbeat is now officially in effect.

My forum is at http://forum.whichisp.com/

Okay, I'll own up - I cheat!

I don't think it is cheating really. If we don't do it, our forums will die out. If we do, a lot of people will become happy from making new friends and having fun discussions in our forums :D

(That's my excuse!)

[spcomputing.com]

Crundy, Iv'e signed up at your forum and iv'e left a question for you. :)

[Super Ted]

Originally posted by spcomputing.com
All i can suggest is meta tags and search engine submission.

I visit about 20 major search engines everyday to check where my site is and how the listings change from day to day.

if you haven't got meta tags, you should get some. iv'e got a tool that does the job perfectly now :D


Meta tags are now pretty much useless for search engines. Hardly any of the major engines use them for rankings. Google for example, uses page ranking. Most of the other such engines use google's data, so getting listed high on googles list will increase your listing on others.


PageRank Explained

PageRank relies on the uniquely democratic nature of the web by using its vast link structure as an indicator of an individual page's value. In essence, Google interprets a link from page A to page B as a vote, by page A, for page B. But, Google looks at more than the sheer volume of votes, or links a page receives; it also analyzes the page that casts the vote. Votes cast by pages that are themselves "important" weigh more heavily and help to make other pages "important."

Important, high-quality sites receive a higher PageRank, which Google remembers each time it conducts a search. Of course, important pages mean nothing to you if they don't match your query. So, Google combines PageRank with sophisticated text-matching techniques to find pages that are both important and relevant to your search. Google goes far beyond the number of times a term appears on a page and examines all aspects of the page's content (and the content of the pages linking to it) to determine if it's a good match for your query.


A good start for getting visitors is entering your url on www.submitit.com WORD OF ADVICE, USE A DUFF EMAIL ADDY (spam purposes ;) )

[titchlou]

spc and crundy - you both have one more member and one more message.

Mine are all over the place - new one coming soon that'll need members - let you know when it comes (hmmm, but you may need to really put your thinking caps on for topics if you dont have kids lol)

[RichardDawson]

spc and crundy - you both have one more member and one more message.

I have also added to your forums.

[Crundy]

Richard, could you (or someone else) start some more topics in your forum? It'll look a bit strange if I start them all!!

A good start for getting visitors is entering your url on www.submitit.com

www.ineedhits.com has a free package, although I never really trusted automated submissions. I think it's best to submit everything yourself to make sure everything is going through OK.

P.S. SuperTed, are you in on operation deadbeat? If so, what's your forum address?

[spcomputing.com]

Right, thanks titchlou, crundy and rich. I think Iv'e been to all of yours, except titchlou's (new one coming soon??)...

Anyone else? I noticed a lot of members here have dead sites, but aren't coming forward :D :D

[titchlou]

Maybe they don't like to "cheat" lol:D

Oops I forgot yours first time round rich but, as I know you have noticed now, I went this morning! Sorry!

[RichardDawson]

No probs.
Thanks for posting.

[Super Ted]

Originally posted by Crundy

P.S. SuperTed, are you in on operation deadbeat?

Que?

[spcomputing.com]

If your forum lacks visitors, join operation deadbeat.

We'll pop over to your forums and liven them up a little...

[Crundy]

This has died off now.

Should we reinitialize it? It was starting to work quite well!

[spcomputing.com]

Yes it has gone slightly downhill :(

I only get about 3 people who reguarly visit the forums, everyone else seems to be a one time visit...

I don't mind trying things out, but it's not like we can re-register at everyones forums again -- we need a different strategy :D

[Crundy]

I don't think we need a new strategy or anything like that. I think if we just post more questions / replies on each other's forums using the same usernames we signed up with then it should be OK.

One possibility is to post extremely open questions (e.g. how can I stop getting spam?) to which each of us only part-answer. People who stumble across questions like that can't resist!!

[spcomputing.com]

Well I am OK to try it out, I'll pop over to all the forums and if everyone else does the same thing, then :)

[spcomputing.com]

Originally posted by Super Ted


Que?

What is that? french?

Are you in or not? :D

[RichardDawson]

What happened to 'operation deadbeat'? although I have some posts from some people, i'm not getting enough :(
How about giving 'operation deadbeat' another go?