You're Doing It Wrong - Here's Why

[JoelR]

I'd like to make a hypothesis on most of the Webmasters and Admins who visit FP.

Most of you guys are going about your strategy completely backwards. You built a website first. Then you promote it. That's the premise of Forum Promotion, from what I can tell.

The pro is that you feel accomplished because, well, you've 'built' something overnight. It was quick, easy, and your $35 theme looks awesome. The con is that, unfortunately, what you've built isn't useful, popular, or serve any audience.

What if you did it backwards? What if ... You spent several months visiting related groups, communities, and social clubs. You interacted with other users, you built connections, and you surveyed your niche. In the process, you find out what they're interested in, you grow an audience, you find what's missing in the niche and what's growing, and you can target content that will be immediately popular. And then you launch your community.

The pro is that you'll have a viable community with an active audience and relevant content. The con is that, well, this takes hard work, deep involvement, and crafting an actual strategy.

Thoughts?

 

[Slix]

I agree with this idea. So many members over the years here come in, promote their freshly created site with 2 members, 12 posts, and a default theme, and expect it to flourish overnight. It doesn't usually work like that. Taking the time to invest a bit before sharing it to the world can help a lot.

 

[TechWiz18]

You know, I haven't really thought about coming at it that way. I've already got a project going but I do have involvement in a community that niche so I've got that going for me I suppose.

 

[JoelR]

You know, I haven't really thought about coming at it that way. I've already got a project going but I do have involvement in a community that niche so I've got that going for me I suppose.

I'll give you a helpful hint.

Do not do a 'hard launch' until you have 5 - 12 active members. You can do a 'soft launch' on Facebook Groups or Discord or some free platform while you build up this core group, but you really want to wait until you have 5 - 12 active members who post. The reason why I give that number out is because, even if they only post once a week, you will have at least 1 new post every day. This gives you momentum of real, interested users when you do your real launch.