My site has got a good design - but the problem is, my forum needs more members, more posting.
I know it really does take time and HARD work, but, I need more help promoting. Its hardly active. If my forum was active, I'd buy a domain and SMILE 😀.
But for now, I sit in the darkness for a successful forum. 🙁
I had trouble finding out where the actual forum was, because when you visit the link you posted, all it is on that page is a poll, some advertisements and pop up boxes.
You would be much better using a free host and uploading the software yourself, I know of a few good free hosts and once you save up a little cash, buy a domain and proper host.
I agree with TheNova, your forum will have a much better chance of being successful if it is on its own domain name and is more user-friendly to first time visitors. When visitors first go to a site they will only spend a few seconds looking for something that interests them, if they don't find it within those first few seconds they will move on to something else. I'm afraid that you are likely to lose a lot of visitors because of the way your forum is set up at the moment (for the reasons outlined by TheNova). I feel that you will need to sort those issues out before your forum will progress.
I recommend a .com or a .net
Also if you are going to have a sub-domain then make it "forum.themusiclub.fm" The way it is now looks very odd.
Get some more content up as well. It's a new new forum. You need
to get some interesting topics up. Most members won't come in and start
filling your forum with content. It sounds nice but it usually doesn't happen.
You'll probably only get replies instead of topics for awhile.
Well, your forum might not gain any popularity without proper hosting or a domain. If you want a great community, you have to be willing to invest in it, although it is possible to do it without it, but a lot harder.
You can ask people to be staff by posting a topic in the "Job Centre" forum here on FP, and also ask people who post topics in the "Seeking Employment" sub-forum. 🙂.
Don't beat yourself up about it. I've been running forums since 2006 and have only ever achieved moderate success.
This may not be popular advice around these parts but just enjoy it. Give your existing members a fun, friendly place to hang out and have fun with it. There's no such thing as a quick fix IMO.
I think this information can be useful for you. If you plan to get your forum active you are going to need a domain name and web host. Domain names can be registered with relative ease today and free ones exist such as .org or .net. Some of these addresses may be variations of these two addresses such as .za.net or .uk.org
If you are looking for a good web host then here is someone you should look at 000webhost.
They provide hosting absolutely free, there is no catch. You get 1500 MB of disk space and 100 GB bandwidth. They also have cPanel control panel which is loaded with features and an easy to use website builder. Moreover, there is no any kind of advertising on your pages.
- Domain
- Hosting
- Content
- Paid posts
- Post Exchanges (maby offer something like i'll post on your forum 2 times and you post on my once)
- Backlinks
- SEO
