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So your having a hard time turning your visitors into posters And have no idea how to get your forum going? Well, if your someone with that problem and want things to change, look no further. In this article I will teach you different ways to encourage visitors to join your forum.
1) Help New Members feel Comfortable Things such as the terms of service or the rules should be easy to find and not hidden two or three pages away. Lead by example and have all the staff and moderators do the same. This way they already have know what the rules and don't have to worry about braking some rule.
Have an Introduction area in your forum for your new members and make sure you or someone else in the forums welcomes them, this always makes them feel more welcomed and not so much as an outsider.
2) Top People in the Field post at the forum - If you can get one or more well respected people in your topic area to post it will make it look more professional. When visitors see this they will think that the forum must be good or why would someone respected like that post there.
3) Having the right mix of posters - It's important to have both professionals and new members. The new members will ask the questions, while the professionals can answer them and discuss new and big things happening on your topic.
4) Contest - An other way to get visitors to become posters is by using contests. For example you could run a contest that would give the first ten new members to post 100 messages wins 30 dollars, game, software, etc. Bring out the worst in some members, so they can get the prize. It can make your forum look terrible. So make sure you make it clear that it must be quality post and don't do this often.
5) RSS feed - Allow other web sites to put your web site's forum most resent posts on their site though RSS feeds, it doesn't even have to be the most resent post, you can allow them to set it up how ever they like. This is a great way to get links and to build you targeted traffic. You'll find on those controversial subjects will generate many new members.
6) No one wants to be first - Let's face it, no one posts on a forum that is empty, they feel like they are talking to their self (We do that to much as it already is). Make sure you signup with different nicknames and post. Try to add about five everyday, you don't need 100s of nicknames to do this. Also don't post the same thing to much, make it look new and try to post on controversial subjects.
About the Author
Matt Colyer is the owner of the www.superiorwebmaster.com. He also is a php, CGI and ASP developer.
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