1) Be actively online for 3+ hours/daily
- It shows members that you are dedicated to your forum
2) Make at LEAST 10 forum posts daily including topics
-Also shows that you're active
3) Resolve forum issues and user issues FAST!
-A lot of people like to get help and their questions answered fast
4) Act professional
-Quality posts & informative ( not just cool, keep it up, etc..)
5) Spelling counts! If you are NOT good at English hire a professional to do all your writing for you.
6) Promote, promote, promote!
7) Do not be disheartened if your forum doesn't take off over night.
- It takes time to
-- Find the right crowd
-- Develop steady content
-- Get your forum's name out there
8) Be unique
- Your forum needs to stand out and offer something different than the others
This is pretty impossible some days for those of us with job(s) and a family. Dedication to a forum can come in lots of forms, not just logging in for over 3 hours per day. Also, other staff should be there to fill in the gaps.
2) Make at LEAST 10 forum posts daily including topics
While a forum owner should participate in his/her community, creating a daily post quota seems a little silly. He/She should not just be posting just for the sake of posting.