Just staying open?

[iPhonefreak]

If your forum is dead, and you still advertise it and you keep it open, will it eventually pay off?

And, do people not join forums at first because they think it's gonna close down?

 

[VirusZero]

If you leave a dead forum open and still advertise it you probably won't revive it (it might just attract spambots instead). Not without some new content too. (Content is what makes people want to stick around.)
People don't like to join sites that look dead or even seem like they might die (so if there's no activity within a few days to a week they're more likely to flee.)

And indeed, there are people who refuse to join sites until they reach a certain age.
I personally don't like joining a site until it is at least 6 to 12 months old because if a site is going to fail the highest probability is that it's going to fail before then. And I can be reasonably certain that I'm not the only one thinking this.
I mean there have been way too many people who make sites just because they can (they have no drive or idea what to do, they just wanted to make a site) and so it fails and that just causes others to become a bit more jaded and skeptical of sites (especially new ones).

Though there are also people who avoid certain sites because they've had dealings with that admin before. Certain admins are serial board makers where (on the extreme end) they'll make a site in like a week then by the end of the month, they're bored, that site is dead and they're off making yet another.
Other times it's because they've come across that admin on directories or resource sites and they've displayed arrogance or obnoxious behaviour. (Which is why it's always a good idea to be careful and watch your wording/tone when on sites like these... since you're acting as a representative of your site. And what you write/how you act can influence whether people decide to join your site or not.)

 

[Migi]

VirusZero had said it well. Basically by keeping it open and keep on advertising it may help to raise attention to the website/forum, but without new and exciting content I suppose it will be hard. After all, if it had been okay, members would still be active there.

People do worry about joining a new forum because it will take time to post and browse around. At least for me. I tend to observe and join those with potential, and I'll try to be active unless my schedule is really tight.

 

[THF_Martin]

You need activity. A dead forum with promotion won't grow correctly at all.

It is one of those tough circles of the webmaster world: you need to advertise to get content but you need content for the advertising to work.

Get some exchanges done, change up some of your methods and see how things go. I hope that helps.

 

[Shawn Gossman]

If your forum is dead, and you still advertise it and you keep it open, will it eventually pay off?

And, do people not join forums at first because they think it's gonna close down?

If your forum is dead and your still advertising it and its not getting better, then you are likely advertising it in the wrong way. There are probably over 1,000 different types of marketing strategies for website promotion. I would suggest looking into all of them, trying them out one by one and finding the few that really give your forum the best possible results they can give it.

You also need to boost life back into the forum. This means you need to post often and I mean often as in several times a DAY. You might consider hiring another staff member and encouraging them to help you add new topics and replies to help make the forum more active. Manually invite previous members back, connect and befriend them and get them active once again on the community.

Run some contests and give away some cool prizes. Post on other related forums, befriending members and then invite them over. Get with the times and get on social networks and work on social media optimization.