What's the best way to advertise....

[Goldenboko]

Whats the best way to get people to go to a forum? For example I made a forum *snip* oh no you don't! And almost noones signed up. I put it in my sig for a while. Then I just attached it to my image because noone was coming. So what do you think is the best way to advertise a forum?

[rubah]

Usually forums get started because there's a group of friends that radiates out, or there's one person and they have a large fanbase because people enjoy going to their site. That or they're the first forum in a topic area so they've got a temporary monopoly.

[Martyr]

What you're doing now works alright, but the best way is SPAM!

Spam is always exciting, and people will check you out just for the primal thrill of seeing you beaten, raped, and banned.

But rubah's answer best covers you for a forum that wants members and longevity instead of spontaneous hits.

[Tavrobel]

Make a deal with the devil for your soul Microsoft or Google.

I guess it's not that different, I suppose.

[black orb]

Whats the best way to get people to go to a forum?
>>> Put a big semi-naked anime chick banner on the main page..

[DarkLadyNyara]

Get a bunch of friends to join and have them invite more people.

[Jojee]

Don't do the PM advertisements, those are rather annoying .-.

Have friends and tell your friends ^^ Fastest way. Better if you have a lot of friends ^_^

[DarkLadyNyara]

Don't do the PM advertisements, those are rather annoying
Thank you. Yes, they are annoying. :mad:

[Azure Chrysanthemum]

Don't do the PM advertisements, those are rather annoying
Thank you. Yes, they are annoying. :mad:

And we ban for continued offenses, as well as people who join only to do that.

Anyway, I'd say if you're serious about getting a forum, you should do the following things:

1. DON'T USE A FREE BOARD. I cannot stress this enough. If I see invisionfree or proboards or whatever in the URL, I immediately exit out as it's already proven it's not worth it. If you want a serious forum, you gotta pay for it.

2. Have other content besides just the forum. Look at this site, it has a frontsite that draws attention.

3. Have a specific enough niche-topic. People go to forums to discuss something. A hugely generalist forum will not work. Have some specific focus that unites all of the people who might be posting there.

4. Advertise the hell out of it. PM spamvertising is pretty tacky, but if you have other content you can usually find ways to advertise it. Note that this may cost money.

5. Get lucky. Duplicating the success of another board is nigh impossible. Some boards sink, others swim. In the end, most of it is up to your luck.

[o_O]

Rent a large billboard in a busy urban centre, and on this billboard, place the URL of your forum and a picture of something that everyone likes, like a time machine.

[Elite Lord Sigma]

Make sig add-ons, and dish them out to everybody who's a member of your forums.

[Avarice-ness]

I'm currently advertising giving Proto usernotes. :)

[Venom]

I'd start praying if I were you.

[XxSephirothxX]

Unless it's unique, it'll probably die. But strictly for advertising advice: invite people you know. IM your friends, get them to IM their friends, and so on. You're not going to get much traffic simply by having a link that says "Please join my forum!" because everybody does that. Unless you get lucky and can get a bunch of people you know to join up, and your forum is just a "hang out" board, you'll probably need an actual website to draw attention--and that's a whole 'nother issue.

[blackmage_nuke]

Reverse pshycology and subliminal messaging

Do not highlight this message

[Little Blue]

oops, I highlighted that message ;)

I would say its all about google and your chosen niche. Find affiliates with similar topics and exchange links with them. Submit your site to directories. Register on as many competition sites as possible, and have your sig / profile homepage with your site in it and try to post like a regular. The more incoming links you get, the better google likes you (legitimate links mind you) so the higher you'll appear in the search results for your keywords. Also, the sig thing has the advantage that if your a decent memeber people will be inclined to follow the link. I hope that makes sense.

[Markus. D]

have a frontsite. :)

[Quindiana Jones]

Pray. We all love disappointment.

[Owen Macwere]

Ohhhhhhhhhh, I am the best one who can help you with that, should have just asked. Great I am with forums take mine as an example, most successful forum in the whole galaxy of the net. :bigsmile:

[Madonna]

1. DON'T USE A FREE BOARD. I cannot stress this enough. If I see invisionfree or proboards or whatever in the URL, I immediately exit out as it's already proven it's not worth it. If you want a serious forum, you gotta pay for it.what

Do you specifically care that the forum script is free or if its hosted by proboards or the like?

Examples: [This] (http://fatchocobo.akusui.net/) versus [this] (http://www.createforum.com/phpbb/index.php?mforum=heavenaccesstim).

[Owen Macwere]

Examples: [This] (http://fatchocobo.akusui.net/) versus [this] (http://www.createforum.com/phpbb/index.php?mforum=heavenaccesstim).

:(

[Vincent Valentine]

1. DON'T USE A FREE BOARD. I cannot stress this enough. If I see invisionfree or proboards or whatever in the URL, I immediately exit out as it's already proven it's not worth it. If you want a serious forum, you gotta pay for it.

2. Have other content besides just the forum. Look at this site, it has a frontsite that draws attention.

3. Have a specific enough niche-topic. People go to forums to discuss something. A hugely generalist forum will not work. Have some specific focus that unites all of the people who might be posting there.

4. Advertise the hell out of it. PM spamvertising is pretty tacky, but if you have other content you can usually find ways to advertise it. Note that this may cost money.

5. Get lucky. Duplicating the success of another board is nigh impossible. Some boards sink, others swim. In the end, most of it is up to your luck.
This list is pretty much everything you need to know, and as a paid web-desinger / manager I can tell you that most of them are very true, which will probably be to your disappointment.

Unfortunately, it's true that freeboards on a website such as proboards or invisionfree rarely do well, though it's not impossible. The problem is, a site doesn't just pop up on the internet and people suddenly find it, just like that. Forums are particular difficult for Google and the like to navigate as well.

Don't expect it to become a huge forum, such as here. That's not going to happen unless you invest in a website with a subject matter that will actually attract enough people. But it's not impossible to make a site that will be active.

You need to advertise the hell out of it. Get all your friends to joi. Get a strong staff who will stick around and help. Get them to tell friends, and their friends to tell their friends, and so on. Given time, it's possible to make something small, but fun.

[Dr Unne]

1. DON'T USE A FREE BOARD. I cannot stress this enough. If I see invisionfree or proboards or whatever in the URL, I immediately exit out as it's already proven it's not worth it. If you want a serious forum, you gotta pay for it.

<a href="http://www.phpbb.com/">phpbb</a> is free and I know of many large forums running it. Many larger than EoFF even. I would say rather than "Don't use a free board", something like "Host your own board, don't use a cookie-cutter mass-host where your board is lost in a jumble of thousands of others".