I'm a firm supporter of Promotion forums, but they really are only one way of getting users onto your forum - and in some cases they aren't even the best. The kind of forums that succeed by advertising on promotion forums are general discussion, graphics, video games and even other promotion forums. If you are outside that genre, chances are you won't do so well.
Posting packages can help build activity if you are having a slow week, reviews can give you useful tips, but how do you get loyal members? The answer to this is easy to say but not easy to do. You need to get a good reputation on large forums of a similar genre.
I won't have the arrogance to say any of my forums have succeeded, but Be Creative and more recently Hortorian Forums have had a very loyal user base. That is because I have built myself a reputation as a good poster and a good member on a certain InheritanceForums.com. While IF isn't a writing forum, it's a forum about a young adult fantasy novel - there obviously are a large number of writers there. I've established close ties with the community there over the past year, and even count members of the moderating and administrative team among my online friends. I even managed to hire a few of their global moderating staff when I opened Hortorian, such was my reputation.
Join a large forum that has the kind of demographic you want. Make about one thousand to two thousand good posts. Make friends with the members - get their MSN or AIM handles. If you can make friends with the staff and get their IM handles - even better still. A good clean record also helps. Then when you get around to building your forum, talk to them about it on IM! Hype it! When you finally open up, you'll be able to get 30 members or so on the first day.
If you manage to hire a few of that site's moderating staff in advance - even more reputation for your site. Advertise in your signature. Trust me when you are a respected member, they work - especially when the site you are advertising relates to the topic you are posting about. If the forum allows you to post advertising topics in a certain forum, do it.
Does this sound like a lot of work to get a site off the ground,? Hell yeah! Running forums is hard work, but in the end it pays off. I have 171 members on Horty less than 3 months in. I estimate 140 - 150 came over from InheritanceForums.com. You can do better than that if you have your co-admin do it on another large forum, something mine never quite got around to.
Remember though, this alone is not enough for your forum to succeed. Horty is suffering from ''sub-community syndrome'' at the moment due to a lack of members from other sites. Very soon we will have to branch out and get members from other locations, part of the reason I'm here right now. It is the best way to get off to an active start though. After all activity and content are what guests will measure your site by, and you want to get them to join.
Posting packages can help build activity if you are having a slow week, reviews can give you useful tips, but how do you get loyal members? The answer to this is easy to say but not easy to do. You need to get a good reputation on large forums of a similar genre.
I won't have the arrogance to say any of my forums have succeeded, but Be Creative and more recently Hortorian Forums have had a very loyal user base. That is because I have built myself a reputation as a good poster and a good member on a certain InheritanceForums.com. While IF isn't a writing forum, it's a forum about a young adult fantasy novel - there obviously are a large number of writers there. I've established close ties with the community there over the past year, and even count members of the moderating and administrative team among my online friends. I even managed to hire a few of their global moderating staff when I opened Hortorian, such was my reputation.
Join a large forum that has the kind of demographic you want. Make about one thousand to two thousand good posts. Make friends with the members - get their MSN or AIM handles. If you can make friends with the staff and get their IM handles - even better still. A good clean record also helps. Then when you get around to building your forum, talk to them about it on IM! Hype it! When you finally open up, you'll be able to get 30 members or so on the first day.
If you manage to hire a few of that site's moderating staff in advance - even more reputation for your site. Advertise in your signature. Trust me when you are a respected member, they work - especially when the site you are advertising relates to the topic you are posting about. If the forum allows you to post advertising topics in a certain forum, do it.
Does this sound like a lot of work to get a site off the ground,? Hell yeah! Running forums is hard work, but in the end it pays off. I have 171 members on Horty less than 3 months in. I estimate 140 - 150 came over from InheritanceForums.com. You can do better than that if you have your co-admin do it on another large forum, something mine never quite got around to.
Remember though, this alone is not enough for your forum to succeed. Horty is suffering from ''sub-community syndrome'' at the moment due to a lack of members from other sites. Very soon we will have to branch out and get members from other locations, part of the reason I'm here right now. It is the best way to get off to an active start though. After all activity and content are what guests will measure your site by, and you want to get them to join.
