Focusing on New Members

[Techie]

This is a splash page I created to promote my site and forum: http://techgeeks-online.com/promo

Don't you think it would be more effective at bringing new members in than a regular post or banner? The key to a great community is getting members because people hang out at forums to have discussions with other people. The more members you have, the more interesting the discussions. That's why we all need to focus on driving new registrations by doing something unique and creative. I chose to use a splash page to present my site to give a great first impression (that isn't based on things like activity on the forum, it's based on the quality of the forum). The splash page I made doesn't show people anything about board statistics. That's my weak side so I'm choosing to focus on other things when giving people a first impression.

I guess the tip I'm trying to give is to focus on presenting your site well to new members because gaining new registrations is one of the most valuable things for a startup forum. Find something unique and try it 🙂

 

[David]

One issue with splash pages is that it's a pre-1999 era idea, and really is frowned upon nowadays. Maybe they will make a comeback, but right now, a splash page can equally do the opposite, ie. make people go away because what they see and open isn't what they expected (they expected a forum) and in the first 4 seconds or 17 words they read, I think they would lose interest. I don't think a splash page is the way to go if you are considering marketing techniques.

 

[SheepishWolf]

Nice tip.
I love the way the woman in the splash page video says tutorials.

 

[AnAccount]

I always take the time to greet new members on my forum. After the intros and the usual, "welcome to Chatting Time and enjoy your stay!" despite the fact we have an interview section, we tend to use the person's intro thread as a mini personal general chat thing. We only take that so far, though. If it starts getting out of hand, then I will point that out, but it's a lot of fun getting to know people, really. It's even more fun from an administrators point of view than a members point of view. I don't know why but it is.