Godric Posted April 13, 2012 Share Posted April 13, 2012 What is the best way to Promote a forum. I know about SEO and other stuff. But I am looking for some creative ideas. How do you get people to sign up to your forums? Where do you advertise your links ( should be unpaid)? How much time do you spend on them? This will help me promote my upcoming site too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpikeTheLobster Posted April 14, 2012 Share Posted April 14, 2012 That's an easy question to answer, though the answer's unhelpful: the BEST unpaid promotion is, of course, word of mouth. Putting that aside, since it's such a difficult thing to manage in real terms, I've had the most traffic to blogs and forums from signature lines and profiles. Signatures get a much better response than profiles, though they both work - it depends on the site. Of course, that requires a fair bit of participation on the site(s) in question, so that people can see you're not a dumb-ass spammer. Strangely, the worst response I've had has been from mailing list subscriptions. Back when I was publishing my book, I ran a mailing list with updates (and no spam or up-selling) that included a competition to win a copy of the book. Believe it or not, the open rate of the emails was virtually zero and the person who won the book never responded, so they never got one. It was truly the worst response rate imaginable. Maybe I just suck at direct marketing (which is likely) but even I was surprised by that. Godric 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DevilKid Posted April 14, 2012 Share Posted April 14, 2012 I agree with Spike, word of mouth is the best unpaid promotion. I also think links in signature or links in the posts (threads) are a great way to get visitors for your website. They attract a lot of members and I happen to be one of them. If I really like the topic of the forum/website linked in your post, I WILL visit it. It, in my opinion, is the second best way to promote your website. Another way is by affiliating with other forums but then you can start having rivalry between the two forums and may lead to downfall of the forum. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Godric Posted April 14, 2012 Author Share Posted April 14, 2012 I agree with that. But lets get practical, word of mouth is pretty much non existent unless you run a really good site. So I meant for general public. And I think you should read AWAI copywirting course. I got a copy scanned, If you want I can send you a link. It really helps a lot with direct marketing. And another thing that might have worked is ad swaps. You could have gotton much better conversions. In the future If you do anything like that, let me know. I will be able to help you immensely and of course its all free. Well, I might accept a few guest posts as a favor too. But Its free for all my forum friends. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpikeTheLobster Posted April 14, 2012 Share Posted April 14, 2012 A kind offer but I don't actually do marketing as a rule. At all. I've never needed it and I dislike it, so I just do a bare minimum when I absolutely have to. Godric 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Junglist0682 Posted April 15, 2012 Share Posted April 15, 2012 Print some little business cards from your home computer and just leave them at certain places? Godric 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlackHatClass Posted April 16, 2012 Share Posted April 16, 2012 Blog comments work from me. Niche relevant blog comments. I don't care about the PR of the site or blog, or the follow/nofollow status of link. I just post a really nice, relevant comment on a blog. It helps me get traffic and helps build relationships with other bloggers of my niche. Godric 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bryce12 Posted April 16, 2012 Share Posted April 16, 2012 There are plenty of ways to free ways promote your forum, you just need to focus on methods that get you the best results. I have experimented with Article marketing, Press Releases, Video Marketing, Web 2 promotions, blog commenting and they all give good results. Another thing you can try is set up Google alerts for your niche related keywords. That way you will be notified as soon as someone is discussing something related to your niche in forums and blogs. You can then reply with a link back to your site. Its a great way to get immediate traffic as well as building links for long term. One word of advice, try not to set up too many alerts or else you will get hundreds of emails per day. Also use a disposable email address if you are planning to use this method. Godric 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zacko Posted April 17, 2012 Share Posted April 17, 2012 I have two~three accounts of which I personally posted nearly 1000+ times on, and including my new site in their description has allowed me to see an explosion of traffic to my site. I'll vouch for this being an amazing way to build traffic, especially if your posts are on a site with a similar keyword. Godric 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmsben12 Posted April 17, 2012 Share Posted April 17, 2012 Social Media is the best free way to promote a website or forum. Create a Facebook and fan page and use Openbook to search for keywords for your niche. Post in related groups. Same with Twitter and hashtags. Get a blogger and comment/subscribe to related blogs. Forums, Youtube, Yahoo Answers, ect. Link your entire network together. How much time do you spend on them? An hour or two a day at first. It can be a slow start but after a week or two you gain momentum and start automatically getting more and more followers and fans. Don't wait, start promoting now before your site even launches. It's also somewhat dependent on the niche. After you start getting automatic traffic you only need to spend 10-15 minutes a day updating all of your social networking sites, and you'll get passive signups for your forums every day. Just keep spending that 10-15 minutes a day and your site will continue to grow. Another Method What makes you join a forum, a random forum on the internet? What would drive you to think, "That's it, I'm signing up now" Think about forums that you have joined. What made you finally join? Create an irresistible topic in your forums that would make browsers want to make an account on the spot, whether it be a free download, or a topic in which you would need to sign up to see the attachments. Post some free guides. Avoid Scams Don't touch those sites that offer free followers or 10,000 visitors to your site in a day. Godric 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Godric Posted April 18, 2012 Author Share Posted April 18, 2012 There are some solid advices in this thread. I will do some of this. BTW I have two~three accounts of which I personally posted nearly 1000+ times on, and including my new site in their description has allowed me to see an explosion of traffic to my site. I'll vouch for this being an amazing way to build traffic, especially if your posts are on a site with a similar keyword. What do you mean by 3 accounts? And where? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JayRSD Posted May 12, 2012 Share Posted May 12, 2012 You need to have the X-Factor on your Forum Board that will draw users to your forum. It needs to be something that people are interested in. There is always something that drives users to a certain board. Keep in mind, everyone has a motive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Godric Posted May 14, 2012 Author Share Posted May 14, 2012 You need to have the X-Factor on your Forum Board that will draw users to your forum. It needs to be something that people are interested in. There is always something that drives users to a certain board. Keep in mind, everyone has a motive. What is X-factor? What exactly do you mean by it? Any example would be great. Looking forward to it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KevinN Posted May 14, 2012 Share Posted May 14, 2012 Word of mouth. Also, create a couple of hundred flyers and throw them out in the middle of the city. You should get a couple of visits by that only. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xtinguish Posted May 15, 2012 Share Posted May 15, 2012 Have members wear a signature that has your forum name on it and go around other sites. Best way to advertise is through different forums or through social media sites. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ezekiel Posted May 19, 2012 Share Posted May 19, 2012 I agree, word of mouth would not cost you a thing. Although promoting websites/forums through word of mouth needs a lot of work. Try posting some links on Facebook and Twitter. Try posting some comments on YouTube to advertise your website or try uploading a video to promote your website. There are a lot of ways but I warn you the internet people are ruthless, they will say a lot of negative things if they don't like what you are promoting. I suggest budget your money. One way or the other if you want your website/forum to be successful you would need to invest in advertising. If you advertise at the right place and the right time, the money you will earn could pay for the money you spent on for your advertising. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hardison Posted May 20, 2012 Share Posted May 20, 2012 I participate in groups that are related to my niche and casually talk about my forum. I do signature marketing in forums that are relatedto my niche. I also participate in social media groups. This works the best for me right now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ezekiel Posted May 31, 2012 Share Posted May 31, 2012 I am also a member of a specific money making group on Facebook. Only thing is that they only allow to take about our method and we are not allowed to post or advertise other methods or things on the forum or we will get removed from the group. I think it's fair because if it's allowed people would just spam ads all over the group and the group won't be able to talk about the main method. Maybe try joining some groups like Hardison said. Good luck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sherlock Posted May 31, 2012 Share Posted May 31, 2012 I agree Word Of Mouth is best! If you have friends tell them to join! Adding a link to your Signature can sometimes help.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ezekiel Posted June 2, 2012 Share Posted June 2, 2012 I agree Word Of Mouth is best! If you have friends tell them to join! Adding a link to your Signature can sometimes help.... Well as it turns out, the real meaning of "Word Of Mouth" is that the people would talk about your website, product or service. The term "Word Of Mouth" is used to describe the way people talk about your business and not the way how you would advertise you business by literally using your mouth and advertise to people. I just learned this days ago, someone told me the true meaning of the term "Word Of Mouth." Sorry for being a know-it-all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LosAngelesLover Posted June 2, 2012 Share Posted June 2, 2012 If you are one of them people who spend a lot of time social networking, then that can boost up your website/forum, for example, Facebook, gaming communities, (On-line Games, Steam, Origin...,) that's how I promote most of my websites anyway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Victor Leigh Posted June 3, 2012 Share Posted June 3, 2012 The best way? I think the best way is not to try too hard. Forget about all those SEO theories. Just take it easy. Talk to one person about what you are doing. Don't be pushy. Just share some ideas. After you are finished with that one person, talk to another one. Keep it at just one person a day. It can be done in real life or it can be done in cyber space. I am serious. If you do a proper job of talking to that one person, chances are he will talk about it to at least one other person. So while you are talking to another person the next day, the person you have talked to the day before is very likely to be talking to one other person at the same time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ridwan sameer Posted June 3, 2012 Share Posted June 3, 2012 Once Google Indexes your site, the work becomes easier. You should have some valuable content in your site. That way, when people search for it, they might be directed to your site. And if word of mouth is your thing, you can point people in other forums to your forum by giving them a link to some content on your site, maybe a tutorial or something... That way it seems that your being helpful and not just advertising your site. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dexterlablab1 Posted June 4, 2012 Share Posted June 4, 2012 A nice, decent way to get potential members to your site is by writing an article about it. If you can put together a decent article about your site, you may get a fair amount of quality members from it. You have to be sure to detail exactly what sets you apart from any competitors and what benefit it would be to them if they joined your site. It's a free and simple way to promote your site that you can do yourself at any time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ridwan sameer Posted June 4, 2012 Share Posted June 4, 2012 A nice, decent way to get potential members to your site is by writing an article about it. If you can put together a decent article about your site, you may get a fair amount of quality members from it. You have to be sure to detail exactly what sets you apart from any competitors and what benefit it would be to them if they joined your site. It's a free and simple way to promote your site that you can do yourself at any time. Writing an article about your OWN site? Im not too sure about that, I mean new sites generally wont just write articles about themselves. However writing articles/tutorials and then saying something like "Created by Myforum.com" Will then make members come there for more good articles or tutorials Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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