Not much traffic

[Gizmo]

What would you do if you end up not getting much traffic on your forum? I would just advertise it and possibly pay for others to advertise. If it still doesn't work I would close it and give it a huge update such as new theme etc

 

[Joel]

I think i only spent about 5-10USD to advertise AH so far. The rest are all topic adverts, and using services on promotion forums.

 

[Rhydian]

First thing would to check every member can post(it has happened to me when a server crash has effected the forum script) and that anyone can register those pesky activation emails can get junked.

If they can post I would go onto why aren't they posting by asking the community directly about any problems, any thing to really improve to try get them more active(be careful as the community isn't always right).

I would obviously attempt to fix any of the flaws in the forum that the members have pointed out as long as they're reasonable and they're not going to effect the activity in a negative way.

I would then go about my marketing campaign, brining in new members posting more topics to reply on and generally showing myself more. It also helps to be more active in other communities where your site can be shown in a sig or even in forum topics like where I'm posting now 😉

 

[AnAccount]

I advertise on every promotion forum I can think of, bumping up topics, doing post exchanges, requesting packages, etc. The key thing is patience and to not give up.

 

[Joel]

Yes, patience like what Ashley has mentioned 😉 Don't worry, i know you will do good Fluffy. You are a respectable man.

 

[CyberFreak]

... If it still doesn't work I would close it and give it a huge update such as new theme etc

The problem with closing it with the intention of re-opening is that any activity you had, you will then lose most of. You are best to keep it open and work on updates so you keep your current activity levels and still improve the site.

 

[packmule]

I advertise on every promotion forum I can think of, bumping up topics, doing post exchanges, requesting packages, etc. The key thing is patience and to not give up

I agree with this member's reply, especially the final sentence. Keep working at it.

One thing I would mention is I actively sought out someone who could make me nice looking forum banners since my graphic skills are practically nonexistent: I believe nice looking banners can draw attention to your site.

 

[Loopy Legend]

On my old RP forum, I used Fp, friends, post exchanges, ads and ghost accounts, but nothing, 6 months later reopened and tried again, with new theme and such, but again not much (more then last time), but I recon I simply had the wrong topic for a website. Really only 1 way to get active site, that is to have something loads of people want.

 

[AnAccount]

I don't think there is such a thing as a "wrong topic". As long as it's something you're interested in, that's what matters. I don't have too many people posting on my forum either, but I'm not upset about that at all. In fact, I'm actually grateful for those few members who do come on and post. I still try to advertise like heck, because I do believe that our forum will get off the ground better than we are one day.

 

[Loopy Legend]

Yes that is very true, but please note here we are talking about increasing traffic and activity, not if your into a forum or not.

I'm all for forums that you enjoy to run, but that will not always get you an active forum, and in that respect I say pick am topic that people want to visit.

 

[Acorn]

If you've gone several months with no growth in your board, and you want further growth, then it's time to take a critical look at what is holding it back. How many signups do you get a day? How many out of them actually post? Where do they post? How long do they stick around, where and when and how do they tend to drop away? There's always something you can adjust to open the floodgates to growth, it's just a matter of figuring out what is holding it back.

If your forum is very new it benefits the most from getting very targeted hits from people on similar forums interested in that topic, who know you and would enjoy hanging out with you.

 

[Bituser-Sam]

What would you do if you end up not getting much traffic on your forum? I would just advertise it and possibly pay for others to advertise. If it still doesn't work I would close it and give it a huge update such as new theme etc

I've done all of that so far and I haven't had any success 🙁 . I've requested a review on both here and forumhype to see if I can find the source of my user problem.

 

[Rick Ace]

... If it still doesn't work I would close it and give it a huge update such as new theme etc

The problem with closing it with the intention of re-opening is that any activity you had, you will then lose most of. You are best to keep it open and work on updates so you keep your current activity levels and still improve the site.

It's not always easy to handle the current activity, and do a new upgrade.