I wrote this as a guide for another site, as they had the same people making the same bad mistakes over and over. I see a lot of the same mistakes by new forum admins, and having been a longtime admin and a former support admin at a 15,000-member advertising site for several years, I see what works and what doesn't.
These can help you look more attractive to perspective members.
1) Make most of your forums visible. You certainly don't have to make all of your forums visible, but let visitors know what you are all about. The biggest misconception by new forum admins is that they will get more members by requiring people to register before seeing the forums or by hiding most of their forums. This will fail; I promise. Unless you want your forum to be private to only a few people, make it visible.
2) Aim for a sleek design. Your design doesn't have to be amazing, but avoid busy repeating backgrounds and overly bright colors. Don't make the banner a different size than your forum unless the background of it is transparent. There are lots and lots of skins out there for most types of sites.
3) Affiliate with other forums. Most affiliate buttons are 88 pixels wide by 31 pixels tall. A simple button with plain text that stands out from the background is better than something with a busy background. Ask for graphics help here if you don't know how to make one. Put your affiliates' buttons on your main forum index unless you both agree it's okay to put it on the portal index. Affiliate with similar forums as well as ones that are not similar but might attract a similar audience. I see some that refuse similar affiliates, but this just costs them members that would be glad to join both.
4) Put some information either at the top of the forum, in a welcome box, or in a sidebar telling visitors what your site is about. Don't make them guess.
5) If you are a graphics site - you better have a sharp design and nice graphics to offer straight out of the gate. If you are a skinning site, you should have a custom skin and skins to offer when you open. If you can't offer that, start another kind of site.
6) The most important thing about a forum is information. Put up information that is useful and relevant to your audience and those who you are trying to attract. This does require....work, and if you aren't willing to do that, then I'd suggest just joining a forum for the time being. Being an admin takes a lot of work, a lot of patience, and a willingness to provide a service to others. The most successful sites I know care very little about numbers; they provide a service, and they do it well.
7) Require people to treat each other with respect, and be that kind of person yourself. Many sites die overnight because of drama that could have been prevented if the admin had stopped it up front or was a regular enforcer of the rules. Don't let people trash other members, newbies, or other sites. Visitors come looking at your site, and many won't join a site with a lot of negativity or drama. This can also affect future sites and projects you might want to start. Write rules up front, then keep them and enforce them.
These can help you look more attractive to perspective members.
1) Make most of your forums visible. You certainly don't have to make all of your forums visible, but let visitors know what you are all about. The biggest misconception by new forum admins is that they will get more members by requiring people to register before seeing the forums or by hiding most of their forums. This will fail; I promise. Unless you want your forum to be private to only a few people, make it visible.
2) Aim for a sleek design. Your design doesn't have to be amazing, but avoid busy repeating backgrounds and overly bright colors. Don't make the banner a different size than your forum unless the background of it is transparent. There are lots and lots of skins out there for most types of sites.
3) Affiliate with other forums. Most affiliate buttons are 88 pixels wide by 31 pixels tall. A simple button with plain text that stands out from the background is better than something with a busy background. Ask for graphics help here if you don't know how to make one. Put your affiliates' buttons on your main forum index unless you both agree it's okay to put it on the portal index. Affiliate with similar forums as well as ones that are not similar but might attract a similar audience. I see some that refuse similar affiliates, but this just costs them members that would be glad to join both.
4) Put some information either at the top of the forum, in a welcome box, or in a sidebar telling visitors what your site is about. Don't make them guess.
5) If you are a graphics site - you better have a sharp design and nice graphics to offer straight out of the gate. If you are a skinning site, you should have a custom skin and skins to offer when you open. If you can't offer that, start another kind of site.
6) The most important thing about a forum is information. Put up information that is useful and relevant to your audience and those who you are trying to attract. This does require....work, and if you aren't willing to do that, then I'd suggest just joining a forum for the time being. Being an admin takes a lot of work, a lot of patience, and a willingness to provide a service to others. The most successful sites I know care very little about numbers; they provide a service, and they do it well.
7) Require people to treat each other with respect, and be that kind of person yourself. Many sites die overnight because of drama that could have been prevented if the admin had stopped it up front or was a regular enforcer of the rules. Don't let people trash other members, newbies, or other sites. Visitors come looking at your site, and many won't join a site with a lot of negativity or drama. This can also affect future sites and projects you might want to start. Write rules up front, then keep them and enforce them.
