There's a few stages to go through before your forum starts becomming active:
Hence the more faster you advertise and get your forum promoted, the more views, posts, and members you are going to get; and it will also determine how fast you will be getting through each of these stages. Also, this thread came from live experience in normal forum growth.
- Newbie Stage [Days 1-5]Once you first create your forum and start advertising whilst thinking of new ideas for your forum, this is the stage in which your forum is currently in. This stage is where your forum starts getting some members and you are just now adding some new configurations, threads, and objectives.
- Novice Stage [Days 5-20]This is the stage in which your forum is technically growing. You will probably be getting around 1 or 2 members every 2-3 days in this stage after advertising. Most users start adding important guidelines and rules in this stage. You might have a total of 5-15 members around this stage; some might be active, and some might just be registered members that register on your forum to see how everything on your forum works and to become more acknowledged with the forum, and then they sometimes leave the forum. You should be getting around 7 active members around this stage; and the more you advertise/promote, the more active members you could probably get.
- Convenience Stage [Days 20-30]This stage is where you have a great amount of posts/topics in your discussion forums (if you and your members are being active in posting everyday.) You are probably going to get some people advertising for you and getting the word spread out about your forum. You are probably going to have/get approximately 30-50 members in this stage (if you are advertising/promoting quite a bit.)
This stage is also commonly used for remodeling. Sometimes, many users get tired of their theme, banner, icons, etc. and find something better than what they have, and then they add it. Just be aware that if you really do have a nice theme and other things and it's getting old in your opinion, try not to change anything. Yeah, it gets old, but that's just for you. New users always visit the forum and register, and they would probably enjoy your theme- and that's because they're all new to it. It's your decision, however, if you want to change anything temporarily/permanently on your forum.
- Rebirthing Stage [Days 30-50]This is the stage in which you have about 60-70 members on your forum (if you and your members are being active in posting everyday and if you are advertising/promoting regularly.) This stage is also a stage in which you have more inactive members than that of active members. Don't be afraid; many, many users make it out of this stage quite conveniently, henceforth meaning that you can rejuvenate quickly. You will have to repetitionly send out newsletters to your inactive members to drop by your forum and to please make a few posts so they won't be in the inactive list. Don't delete the inactive users because they can rejuvenate their account and your forum as well. You should only delete the accounts with only 0 posts- and those are the accounts in which users just register on your forum without making any activity whatsoever because they just want to see what your forum looks like. Deleting account with only 0 posts is a good objective because it makes your forum look more active member/post-wise and it will bring up your forum's efficience. Just keep advertising/promoting regularly.
This is also a time in your forum where it hits it's 'growth spurt.' This means that your forum is getting about 1-3 members daily, and that's a good thing. All members want their forums active.
- Graduation Stage [Days 50+]If you made it to this stage then I'm glad to say that there is no real challenge here. This is the stage where you can have the staff mostly moderating/administrating your forum while you take the small part of the bet: watching your forum grow. This stage is where you start receiving at least 2+ members everyday, and most of your members are pretty much active (unless the inactive members, obviously.) Just keep doing what you are doing because it sure is doing well for you and your forum.
Nevertheless, there are always some obstacles to overcome such as new updates for your forum, spamming members, users advertising their site on your forum, etc. It's always wise to keep another administrator or two around when you are in the range of 150+ members on your forum. Otherwise, you'd have to take care of the forum yourself which can be a real hassle.
Hence the more faster you advertise and get your forum promoted, the more views, posts, and members you are going to get; and it will also determine how fast you will be getting through each of these stages. Also, this thread came from live experience in normal forum growth.
