Forum Moderators: rogerd

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Got Real Traffic Problem Please Help

         

davidmethew

12:08 pm on Feb 24, 2008 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



Dear Readers,

After spending 120 pound strelling + 130USD for hosting, I am getting no traffic to my forums powered by vBulletin. no one is joining these forums, Please advice, Should I go with Google Adwords for promotions, OR Wait . Sincere guidelines and help will be highly appreciated. Tell me What Makes a forum a hit forum.

[edited by: Hawkgirl at 1:13 pm (utc) on Feb. 25, 2008]
[edit reason] removed site names (please see TOS) [/edit]

wheelie34

2:29 pm on Feb 25, 2008 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Senior Member 10+ Year Member



Tell me What Makes a forum a hit forum

welcome to webmasterworld davidmethew your answer is Content, at a guess your forum is fairly new? users need reason to be there, maybe you can contact a few friends or other interested parties and get them to start a few threads 'around' the main topic you are targetting, keep it updated and fresh.

HTH

rogerd

3:16 pm on Feb 25, 2008 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Administrator 10+ Year Member



Welcome to WebmasterWorld, Davedmethew. Here are a few resources to start with:

Community Building Library [webmasterworld.com]

Jump-starting a forum [webmasterworld.com]

Getting Lurkers to Post [webmasterworld.com]

First, you have to diagnose your problem - is it low traffic, or low participation? Like any site, a forum won't develop a ton of traffic just sitting there. You'll have to get content on it, promote it offsite, etc.

maximillianos

4:56 pm on Feb 25, 2008 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Senior Member 10+ Year Member



If these are new forums, you may need to help float them with activity for a few years. Like the others said, recruit some friends to make some posts... Then make sure you do a lot of posting. You can even masquerade as multiple users to get some activity going.

Another BIG thing is to actually offer something (a service, etc) for free that folks will want. This brings them to the door. Keeping them coming back is a whole other ball game... ;-)

Good luck... and remember... it can take years to build a forum up to the point where it becomes self-sufficient on content generation, etc.

thecoalman

11:03 pm on Feb 25, 2008 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Senior Member 10+ Year Member Top Contributors Of The Month



You need a niche topic, if you're trying to promote a site that already has well established communities elsewhere you are fighting an uphilll battle.

Not sure what the requirements are for for VB but I 'd suggest looking into getting a shared hosting plan for few bucks a month. Upgrade as needed, you're just throwing away money on a dedicated server that is capable of handling large volumes of traffic.

Beagle

3:16 am on Feb 28, 2008 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Senior Member 10+ Year Member



Not sure what the requirements are for for VB but I 'd suggest looking into getting a shared hosting plan for few bucks a month. Upgrade as needed, you're just throwing away money on a dedicated server that is capable of handling large volumes of traffic.

Agreed. Unless/until you're getting tons of traffic, or unless the forum is part of an already-huge website, VBulletin is fine on shared hosting.