Getting your forum started

[Papworth]

Those of you that have started forums from scratch, will know that the first challenge is to get them first few active members. So how do you go about acheiving them?

Do you go with paid posters, or get your friends to help you out by creating a few usernames and making a post or two? Also, do you go straight into paid advertising, or is your first step to submit your forum to search engines and directories?

[pfgannon]

I first start of with PostFusion http://adminfusion.com you'll see the post fusion link up top. Its basically a post exchange, works wonders.

Then I start submitting to del.icio.us, stumble upon, and now http://forumfads.com (shameless plug). Then I'll get a paid posting package at about the same time.

[Burst effect]

I just advertise at larger forums :D.
It always helps, but you need to be a respected members to get large amounts of users in a short amount of time.

[DMo224]

Those of you that have started forums from scratch, will know that the first challenge is to get them first few active members. So how do you go about acheiving them?

From having help start several successful forums, I think the first step is to spread the word about the new forum via "word of mouth". In other words, you do some of the following:

You tell your friends.
You put the link in your email sig.
You visit other sites and list the url in your sig (do NOT spam).
Visit sites and leave comments in their guestbook. Really look their site over, and make sure to put your url in the appropriate field.
Try some traffic exchanges to get some hits and potential members.Generally speaking, we've never paid for posters to make the site look busy. The forum has to start somewhere and most people will recognize that. Make sure the forum is optimized for the spiders and slurpers!

Good luck with your endeavor!

[crud3w4re]

Those of you that have started forums from scratch, will know that the first challenge is to get them first few active members. So how do you go about acheiving them?

Do you go with paid posters, or get your friends to help you out by creating a few usernames and making a post or two? Also, do you go straight into paid advertising, or is your first step to submit your forum to search engines and directories?

I don't pay anyone to post, the majority will just milk you dry. I like to get alot of opinions, then I write them all down, and I try to make my forum better each and every day.

The next thing I do is market it, mostly free directory advertising, but also word of mouth. Optimizing your ads is important, because the money you do make from it can be reinvested back into the forum. I do go for some paid advertisements, link exchanges, that sort of that, but not before researching first.