Jump starting a forum

[MarcG]

Hey All,

I'm relatively new to the world of forums and need some help in getting lurkers into posters!

- Corrected mistakes:
Created way to many sub forums right off the start and have weeded it down to 3 forums - thanks trillianjedi for the advice!
- Creating forums with no help...(i.e. moderators etc) I now have a few moderators and some people willing to mod if the traffic picks up.
- No Content! I was thrilled to actually get the forums up and running without any php knowledge!
- No Marketing

Any help would GREATLY appreciated! :)

Marc

[rogerd]

Hi, Marc, welcome to WebmasterWorld! I'm glad to see that our new forum drew YOU out of lurkerdom!

There has been some discussion of this exact topic in Starting a Web Community [webmasterworld.com]. Our Community Building Library [webmasterworld.com] is mostly empty shelves now, but watch that space for more relevant topics in the near future.

"No Content" sounds like your most pressing problem right now. With no content, you'll get no referrals from searches, nor are you likely to pick up many links from other sites. Plus, if someone stumbles across your forum, they'll see the lack of activity and won't register or post.

You've got to seed the discussion - start some provocative topics, get people you know to join in the conversation, etc. If you must, adopt an additional identity or two to keep topics going. Keep the "last post" dates for your major topics looking current so that new visitors will see an active forum where people get answered promptly.

Good luck, and bring your questions here, Marc - there are some great forum admin resources that are members at WebmasterWorld, so you'll certainly get some well-informed replies.

[MarcG]

Hi rogerd,

Thanks for the welcome! I did read through those 2 threads and made some changes to my own forums. I combined some forums and started up a new challenge (Graphic Challenge). I thought a programmers challenge would attract some attention but that doesnt even seem to be getting posters!

lurkers...lurkers everywhere... lol :)

Marc

[rogerd]

If you know you have lots of lurkers, try being your own troll. Post something outrageous about graphic designers, like they all wear beanies with propellers ;). Do this under a different nick. Or, try the ever-popular "my-software-is-better-than-yours" gambit. I guarantee you'll draw out a few lurkers.

Also, do you require registration to post? In the early going, you might allow posting by guests to get things flowing.

[MarcG]

Hey rogerd,

how about this...I have 2 challenges in my forums, 1 for programming and 1 for graphic design, I'm trying that bait technique with offering some free advertisement if the person is selected and just added a troll message to the design forum....

"..if you think you can win this using something like microsoft "paint" you dont belong here and I challenge you to prove me wrong."

Is the trolling message to harsh? :-)

now what if neither works! lol...well, that would'nt be to funny for me!

thanks for all the tips so far!