Breaking the barrier.

[pandaa]

I've seen a lot of sites stall out after having initial success, mine included. They get a solid little member base, and it seems like everything is smooth sailing. But somewhere in the xx,xxx post range, something goes wrong and the site gets stale and often dies.

My questions are:

1) What sets apart a site that stalls out, and one that keeps growing exponentially?
2) What can a webmaster do to avoid this common problem?

 

[Geoffrey]

Constant creation of content.

Keep posting fresh (relevant) topics and you'll keep your members and continue to bring in new ones.

 

[kasem]

Constant creation of content.

Keep posting fresh (relevant) topics and you'll keep your members and continue to bring in new ones.

It's not as black and white as that. You can post all you want but if current members get bored for whatever reason, lose time to post much or for any other reason leave, then you are going to stall out and die. You need to focus on SEO and advertising to bring in more members, as well as improving the look/feel of your forum and constantly changing (doesn't have to be drastic but a couple new changes a month would suffice). A good combination of all of those should keep a community thriving!

 

[Deleted member 25872]

I've seen a lot of sites stall out after having initial success, mine included. They get a solid little member base, and it seems like everything is smooth sailing. But somewhere in the xx,xxx post range, something goes wrong and the site gets stale and often dies.

My questions are:

1) What sets apart a site that stalls out, and one that keeps growing exponentially?
2) What can a webmaster do to avoid this common problem?

Keep posting active topics and reply to topics on your forums! 🙂

 

[VirusZero]

Kasem has a point.

You (the admin) can post all you want, but if the members aren't posting too then nothing will happen. (I've seen that.) It takes more than just an admin to make a community successful. You need people willing to post also.

If the community begins to stall it'd be a good idea to try figuring out why. Then from there you can figure out what to do.
I mean if people aren't posting because your forum is based off a TV show that was cancelled/ended 4 years ago (thus no new episodes/content) it may be difficult to keep fresh and new conversations going. Everything may already have been talked to death on what exists.

If people aren't posting because the admin isn't doing anything then yes, having the admin become more active can increase activity. Though complacent admins can also be indicative of other issues... (Like the admins growing bored of their site, wanting to do something else or just not caring anymore.)

If people aren't posting because they have no time though... there's not much you can really do about that. You can't create time for them. (Though you should value them when they choose to spend their precious time on your site when they could be somewhere else...)

As for what can be done?
The admin needs to be committed. To keep posting and creating new content when they can. To look for members who show initiative and bring them aboard as staff to help the site grow. To keep advertising and showing others why they should consider being a member of that site. To keep a constant critical eye on the site and see what's working and what isn't (and of course making changes to get rid of things that don't work).

Though even through all of that, there is no guarantee of anything.

 

[Deleted member 5665]

Constant creation of content.

Keep posting fresh (relevant) topics and you'll keep your members and continue to bring in new ones.

This can work for a time but not forever. This can create activity to get members to reply to your threads you post, but what about making threads themselves? You will always need to give a reason and demand for members to want to discuss and create new discussions themselves. Yah it is good to create a good amount yourself but that idea doesn't work long-term. Maybe short-term for a new forum but thats pretty much it.

Best thing you can do is create demand for your members to want to create discussion. As to how it depends on the type of community you're making. If there is no demand then you will be pretty much left alone making threads on your own and that won't work.