Best way to advertise a forum?

[Ginger Harp Seal Pup]

I need some help. I just started a forum up (my last forum failed) and was wondering how I could best advertise my forum. It's really just a place to chat with a literature corner at the bottom. I've tried to make it as fun as possible. There are millions and millions of people on the internet but how do I make these people see my forum and want to join? Any help and advice would be appreciated very much. Thank you!

[Christopher]

Get many people to advertise it with you, turn your sig into a link, make your sig an advertisement - the following put up the population on randomness by maybe ten people.

The best way however is to make sure the forum is great so it becomes popular by word of mouth/keyboard.

[Ginger Harp Seal Pup]

Get many people to advertise it with you, turn your sig into a link, make your sig an advertisement - the following put up the population on randomness by maybe ten people.

The best way however is to make sure the forum is great so it becomes popular by word of mouth/keyboard.

I'm not sure how to go about this though, that's the problem. I just don't know where to start.

[DiscordantNote]

The only advice I can give is to be careful how you advertise. Follow any rules the place your advertising at has (like here it has to go in Promotions & Plugging), and if you can check to see how everyone that will se the advertisement react. Be prepared for any kind of senario, whether it be tons of spammers, bad spellers, trolls, or even the group you want to attract: friendly, intelligent people.

[Hyperion]

Get many people to advertise it with you

Very difficult, especially if you don't have a lot of online buddies.

turn your sig into a link, make your sig an advertisement - the following put up the population on randomness by maybe ten people.

Very ineffective. I am active and have been active on more forums than the average forumer for several years, and I have the link to my forum in all of them, and I have yet to see a second person come to my forum because of it. A majority of those forums are very active, just like this one, and most of them are also more relatable to mine than this one. Some people may be more successful, but I've also gone to many forums that deal with and give tips on forum promotions, and I've read posts by countless people with the same complaint, and yet have not seen one person honestly say that putting a link in your signature is effective for getting members.

The best way however is to make sure the forum is great so it becomes popular by word of mouth/keyboard.

That may theoretically work, but I don't see how one who relies solely on word-of-mouth can count on such a system effectively turning gears even with a lot of hard work. If you have the time, take a look at my forum and see what else I could do. I have a custom banner for all templates, I have organized the forums well, there's many features that stick out, and most importantly, there are usually quality posts, and yet rarely anyone is impressed. I've often received such comments as "it's just like every other forum", and then seen many of those same people turn around and say "wow, that's freakin' awesome!" to a forum that's hardly been worked on as much and has much less unique forums.

When I first joined this forum, I abused the PM system by spamming my link to people, and it got almost a third of the people to join that years of advertising in my signature, plugging my link in the appropriate forum, referring in chat rooms, et cetera, took. This method is often frowned upon, and rightfully so. I hypocritically would not want the same going on at my forum. It's annoying, but people do it anyway because it's effective, as people will actually look at PMs and some even see a personal invitation as something to feel special about. But, say, posting in the appropriate forum, which is Promotions & Plugging, at PPT forum, and one's link is not looked upon by nearly as much people. Many people ignore said forum. This is not an encouragement to use said method. I recommend you not do what I did.

My advice for when you start your forum is: choose a good custom template as your default and have a good matching banner made for it. Create a good mix of forums, but not too many, and give them good, helpful descriptions. Make sure to use proper grammar and spelling. Don't worry too much about MODs and such. Your first priority should be creating a bunch of quality topics by which to promote discussion, and the quality of the posts and topics will look much more attractive to your guests. You should promote regularly and never feel discouraged, as growth takes time. If you're persistent, your forum will grow steadily but surely.

I'm not sure how to go about this though, that's the problem. I just don't know where to start.

Go forum hunting for forums that are decently comparable to yours, and plug your forum in the appropriate forum there (after making a good amount of quality posts), if they have one. If not, just be a contributive member while keeping a link in your signature.

By the way, you have some online buddies, right? Well, maybe try asking one or two who you think would make good fellow administrators if they would like the position. Then maybe later, politely ask if they can perhaps get some of their own online buddies to join.

[tazzaler]

http://www.submit-express.com/

This will send your site to 40 search engines....

It may work sometimes it does sometime it don't, just try it out, it's free.

[Hyperion]

I've also done that. I've submitted to a great many directories, and have added my forum to every conceivable search engine. How many members did I get thanks to this after a year by which I've been added to most of them? 2. My complaint of inefficiency is shared by a huge amount of people at forums I frequent dealing with promotion tactics. I haven't read much positive feedback claiming that submission to search engines does much in terms of getting you members.

However, submitting your forum to search engines and directories should be done anyway, as it's not too time consuming, and you might get a few members.

[tazzaler]

I've also done that. I've submitted to a great many directories, and have added my forum to every conceivable search engine. How many members did I get thanks to this after a year by which I've been added to most of them? 2. My complaint of inefficiency is shared by a huge amount of people at forums I frequent dealing with promotion tactics. I haven't read much positive feedback claiming that submission to search engines does much in terms of getting you members.

However, submitting your forum to search engines and directories should be done anyway, as it's not too time consuming, and you might get a few members.

Man you have much knowlege on this stuff.... You seem mad, need a hug?

[Hyperion]

I didn't mean to come across as being mad at you or anyone here. However, I was annoyed -- unjustifiably and unfairly -- at the promotional tactics themselves as I typed out my thoughts about them, because, as I reflect, they haven't worked as effectively as I hoped.

[tazzaler]

I didn't mean to come across as being mad at you or anyone here. However, I was annoyed -- unjustifiably and unfairly -- at the promotional tactics themselves as I typed out my thoughts about them, because, as I reflect, they haven't worked as effectively as I hoped.

Oh I knew you weren't mad at me, I think you were angered at how hard it was to get your going and how many things have failed for you..

[WIS]

I think the forum itself has to focus on a SMALL but INTERESTING topic. If you start with a neopets forum with as many catagories as PPT, I dont think many people would be interested. If start... say a Werewolf forum. It would be good because one, people like werewolf, two, it's not like it's a general games and contests forum. (Though it might expand to that) Didn't PPT start off as a site for Poogle Solitare solutions?

Many times, people (including myself), go to a forum, see very little topics/members, then I leave. So get lots of your friends to join.

[Ginger Harp Seal Pup]

Thanks guys And thanks for that thing, where it advertises on 40 search engines

[Shakira_Shoyru]

Tell all yours friends to help you..If eceryone talks about it to their friends, i tshoukd work.

[cpvr]

Tell all yours friends to help you..If eceryone talks about it to their friends, i tshoukd work.

Yes; that's how my forum has been running like that.
However, I email other webmasters, to do post exchanges with me, so that we can grow faster that way

[Hyperion]

Post exchanges is an interesting strategy, and I can certainly afford to try it. However, I'm too lazy, and I feel that post exchanges doesn't generally promote much contribution more than the post count itself, and those you're exchanging posts with are likely to stop posting if you stop, so you have to devote a lot of time just to keep one person active, so it's only good for jump-starting your forum or making it look like it's commonly as active as it's actually not, attracting guests. I don't really care about the numbers on my forum. To me, quality matters much more, and if someone doesn't see the value in that, I probably don't want that person to register anyway.