First thing to do after starting a new forum?
- Thread starter Retrogue
- Start date
- Theme/Skin (Making sure there is either one amazing one... If possible to have multiple themes I'd have one light and one dark.)
- Graphics for the forum - Banners/affiliate images/advertisement images possibly/Smileys. You can keep the smileys they have on the forum, or you can get new ones!
- Add-ons. So depending on your software, you can customize your forum with codes to make it better for your niche. You could add a few, or wait to add them as your forum builds.
- Staff - If you need staff you think, you could hire 1-2 people starting out. It all depends on your niche.
- Create about 1 topic per area. If you need to do a FAQ topic, or info about an area in the forum, post those as well.
By this point I think you could open. 🙂
- Graphics for the forum - Banners/affiliate images/advertisement images possibly/Smileys. You can keep the smileys they have on the forum, or you can get new ones!
- Add-ons. So depending on your software, you can customize your forum with codes to make it better for your niche. You could add a few, or wait to add them as your forum builds.
- Staff - If you need staff you think, you could hire 1-2 people starting out. It all depends on your niche.
- Create about 1 topic per area. If you need to do a FAQ topic, or info about an area in the forum, post those as well.
By this point I think you could open. 🙂
B
Bryn
The next crucial step you would need to do after all this would be promotion. You can however invite your own circle of friends to get things started first and then show it to the whole world.
D
Deleted member 17779
@Reverie has a lot of good points there. The only thing I would add is I try to do more than just one topic per area. If it were me, I try to make anywhere from 3 to 5 per area....just to give people some things to discuss but also get a feel for each area of the forum. Plus, it makes the forum not look so empty.
I would recommend you to write your site's guidelines, you know, some general rules and guidelines that you want members to follow. After that, I would start filling the various categories with topics and posts. Because if the forum is empty when people visit they will probably not hang around for very long.
Best of luck with your new forum!
Best of luck with your new forum!
Content, content, content.
I have one little tip for this actually, if you write a particularly good article, then you could post a link to it onto something like social media, don't overdo it though, otherwise people will just go meh and start ignoring you.
I have one little tip for this actually, if you write a particularly good article, then you could post a link to it onto something like social media, don't overdo it though, otherwise people will just go meh and start ignoring you.
- Figure out what your specific niche will be.
- Pick your forum software
- Get an good hosting site.
- Start creating your forum or discussion areas. Only add main boards! make it small then grow over time when you get bigger. Start small is always an good think
- Advertise your forum to get users.
- Make allot of posts/content
Everything said here is great advice and all things that should be done when you are starting a new forum. However, I'm going to suggest you do something before all of it and it will help your chance of success immensely.
Know your why.
Think about why you are creating this forum, what you want to gain from it, what you want it to do, and what purpose it will serve to its future community as well. This can be very philosophical, and I encourage anyone to go beyond the generic "I just want a place to have fun or talk about X" for the answer to why.
Once you've figured out your why and really gone into detail with it, think about how you can structure your layout, features, guidelines, themes, and so on (all the things people already mentioned here) to accomplish your why and your purpose. It gives you something to go by as a guide, your why is your lighthouse. Let it shine - and when you open and start to bring in members, share your why with the community so they know.
As Simon Sinek says, people don't buy what you do, they buy why you do it. Promote your forum by leading with the same why you came up with originally. This will allow you to stand out. Every forum has a lot of the same features, but your why is yours and yours alone (if you took that reflection seriously and have a good one). People will join a forum whose admin is confident in their purpose and clearly can show they know what they're doing.
As a final note, take the time to polish your forum and let it reflect the amount of work and thought you put into the site. Make sure the theme and graphics are well-made and high-quality. Triple check that there are no spelling or grammar errors, that you wrote in full sentences, etc. This polish + leading with your why will lead to success (remember, success takes time).
Thank you for attending my Ted Talk.
Know your why.
Think about why you are creating this forum, what you want to gain from it, what you want it to do, and what purpose it will serve to its future community as well. This can be very philosophical, and I encourage anyone to go beyond the generic "I just want a place to have fun or talk about X" for the answer to why.
Once you've figured out your why and really gone into detail with it, think about how you can structure your layout, features, guidelines, themes, and so on (all the things people already mentioned here) to accomplish your why and your purpose. It gives you something to go by as a guide, your why is your lighthouse. Let it shine - and when you open and start to bring in members, share your why with the community so they know.
As Simon Sinek says, people don't buy what you do, they buy why you do it. Promote your forum by leading with the same why you came up with originally. This will allow you to stand out. Every forum has a lot of the same features, but your why is yours and yours alone (if you took that reflection seriously and have a good one). People will join a forum whose admin is confident in their purpose and clearly can show they know what they're doing.
As a final note, take the time to polish your forum and let it reflect the amount of work and thought you put into the site. Make sure the theme and graphics are well-made and high-quality. Triple check that there are no spelling or grammar errors, that you wrote in full sentences, etc. This polish + leading with your why will lead to success (remember, success takes time).
Thank you for attending my Ted Talk.
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