Question: I just started my forums, I have it setup with nice features and a good looking skin. Now how do I get members? And don't forget I don't have any money (hehe) !

1. Of course the first and easiest solution is signatures in a forum. I'm going to assume you know what that is. But signatures can be very powerful. Not only can they advertise your site for you, but they can also be counted as IBLs (Inbound Links) (this could be debated). But remember when putting your site in your sig don't just use your URL, use a text targeted link. Like I use "Religious Forums" . And try to keep it to a phrase that people may type in search engines. You might want to do a search here inventory.overture.com . Now don't just do that at your current forums you participate in, start registering at any and every forum you find. I probably have 100+ forum accounts that I post on, and every time I do I am giving my site that chance to be seen by others that might be interested.

2. Kind of like sigs you have Top Site Lists. Now you may or may not get any traffic from these but anything is worth a shot. You are just starting your forum so you should try everything. There are tons of Top Site Lists out there so just do a search and enter in as many as you can. Any publicity is good publicity.

3. Newsgroups. Join lots of newsgroups. This is kinda of like the joining lots of forums and use a sig. Do the same thing with news groups. But remember nobody likes spam, so make good lengthy posts with you site after your name. This is another easy FREE way to mass broadcast.

4. Yahoo! Chat. This option is spammy but what the heck, you need members. I even used this option before. Go onto yahoo chat and talk with people and every now and again do a blatant Spam post with your site. This way people see you are real and not a bot, and they get to see your site link. Again, FREE IS THE KEY.

5. Exchange links with anyone willing. I don't care if there site gets less traffic than you, exchange links. I don't care if the site is relevant or not, exchange links. The more incoming links the better. The more your site name is out and about, the more people will see it.

6. Do a press release. I think the site is prweb.com. Do one everyweek.

7. Many sites love people that write articles. So get to writing and submit them to other sites. AGain you put your site link in the article and boom, instant advertising.


Anything that is free is worth doing. And do it until you can't stand it any more. If you want success you have to do anything to achieve that.

And remember it's always good to know other people in the forum business. Thus why vBHackers.com is a great resource. These are the people that have trialed and errored alot of what your trying to do, take their advice whenever you can.

*This is the very basic beginning, for those that are just starting a forum, but of course it doesn't hurt for those old tymers either.

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Nice guide mate, wish guides like these were around when I started my very first forum :p.

Gerat ideas, i'll def. start doing a few of these.

i started back in 1998 when listserv email memberships were popular. Was a subscriber and when I got my domain, put my address in the footer and it basically got blasted out to everyone in the list.

I used to get on newsgroups and would post my site

I would find related sites, usually small personal sites with "guestbooks" and sign those guestbooks with a link back to my site

I would also email web sites with similar content to link back to mine

trying to think, what else i did... oh yeah, I went to events (my target audience) with small business cards with the web site printed on it. Gave thousands of those cards away (nothing fancy, just ink on bizcard paper bought at walmart)

now most of my new traffic is word of mouth. Expect to spend lots of time initially getting the name out; once the name is branded and traffic is up, then you will have to deal with other issues

bongwater

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These are extremely great points although you have me beat with over 100 forums accounts. That's what I call dedication. I'm probably at around 15 or so forum accounts and the IBL numbers speak for themselves. Thank you for this.

My Tip use Email Spider & Mass Mailer.

what are those bots anyways? i always have bots on my forums? idk there annoying. what do they even do ?

its like someone googles ur site, and the spiders crawl ur site looking for info

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what is email spider and mass mailer.... mass mailer i understand but whts email spider

I think email spider pulls email adresses from sites, for spammers. I wouldnt suggest try those type of tactics.Unsoclicited emails will give your site a bad name and not encourage members to come let alone join..

My tip is have a referrals competition with your members. The one who refers most members in a month wins a dvd or t-shirt or anything ...Competitions of any sort always help promote your site..Remember and put the competition in your sig at any other sites you visit..