How do I increase my forum membership?

[photograph]

I am pretty new to all this but have been running a photographic website - for a while together with forums.

As is often the case I expect, initial sign ups were friends and family. I am left with a hardcore of about 10 or 12 members that post regularly out of a total of 144.

I don't want to go around spamming for members and I have tried traffic exchange programs but the all seem pretty useless unless I am doing something wrong.

Any advice?

[edited by: rogerd at 4:25 pm (utc) on Nov. 21, 2005]
[edit reason] no specifics or URLs, please [/edit]

[petra]

I don't want to go around spamming for members and I have tried traffic exchange programs but the all seem pretty useless unless I am doing something wrong.

Any advice?

Don't spam for members! You are not permitted to post your url in this forum.

[rfontaine]

What forum software are you using?

[photograph]

I am using phpbb. There is no problem with the set up and we have a range of topics / forums. I would say pretty user friendly and acceptable. But it's getting the people along that seems to be the problem.

I don't want to exchange links with photography sites as there is a conflict of interest. Should I try to approach other sites like art / imaging etc. Are reciprocal links the way to go (I have read that it is).

Sorry about the url - didn't know - I'll remove

[photograph]

Can I not edit my original post? I can't see the function anywhere.

[photograph]

Ah - I can edit my last two posts but not the original. Does the function time-expire?

[petra]

Yes you can't edit after a while. Anyway the way I promote my forum is through adwords. I find it to be the best way since most web users use google and if you advertise for specific keywords you will get targeted traffic to the topic of your forum.

[photograph]

Thanks - any idea of costs?

[petra]

I don't spend more than $0.05-$0.10/click and spend around $20/day but very well worth it!

[Rolozo]

Man you are talking about forum.
and you are spending $20/day.
$0.05/user to bring to your site.
But what is guarante he registers to post and become active member.
Because visitors react differently to forum and content websites.

[bradley phil]

spending $20 a day means spending $600 a month... you're going to have a tough time making money from your site to make up for that huge expense