I have been running a vBulletin Forum Community since the end of November now. We have just hit 1000 posts and 50 members. But the site growth has stayed the same since the opening of the site, only a couple new registrations per month, and only 3-9% are active.

I have read the guides, tried alot things, but wanted to get an End-User's opinion on it. What pursuades you to join and post regulary at a forum? :)

And what drives you away from a forum/website?

50 members and 1,000 posts in 3 months for a new forum really isn't that bad.. :)

Certain things put me off from registering at a forum;
- "Pointy" designs
- Broken images
- Bad colour scheme
- Poor hack integration
- Blatant spam

If an user comes back at your forum and sees that there are no new posts he will think: It is very quiet here. Maybe come back later...

If an user comes back at your forum and sees that there are a lot of new posts he will think: Hmm nice posts, must read it. And then post a reply..

Active content is what keeps them coming back.
And getting rewards for coming back keeps them coming back.

Advertisement and nagging and overwhelming new stuff could keep them away though.

Finding a good balance is hard.

Im having the same problem. Ive noticed that content is what keeps a member coming back. You could have the best looking forum, but if you dont have the content that they want, they wont come back. My problem is.. where do you get content?

I am currently concentrating on my reviews section of my forum. I have always been into video games so I bought a TV Tuner card and made a section like "Reviews by Bloodlust" and I make a video demo of the game (Members like videos) and then they reply to it.

Having a cool feature like that seems to be getting more of my lingering guests to join because you need to be a member in order to reply.

I only have a little over 100 members myself and I started the forum back in October of '04. That pretty good?

you just have to find something to pull in a few good active users...

my site started November 2003, and for the first few weeks had 3 active members which then slowly grew to about 10. Since then it has been slowly growing along with the activity of forums and today i have had 50 unique members visit my site...... 30 of those have posted :)

most my members were dragged in through my gaming clans and stuck around even after they failed their trials simply because they made friends with the people and we had a few good conversations flying about..... activity brings activity.... nice circle :)

I've started a post exchange/forum exchange if you wouldn't mind advertising. Check my sig :)

Im having the same problem. Ive noticed that content is what keeps a member coming back. You could have the best looking forum, but if you dont have the content that they want, they wont come back. My problem is.. where do you get content?
As I've mentioned elsewhere, my forum is a forum centered on Scotland - her history, her language, her food, her music and yes, among other things, even her desire for independence. Just before Christmas last, we had 30 members and 900 posts, all gathered in about 4-5 months time.

Even though I live in the States, I am active on some Scottish sites and belong to an organization or two in Scotland. I happened to mention my forum, just in passing, to a friend that lives in Scotland. Later that afternoon, he was registered on my site and PM'ing me, asking for a new forum section to post some fresh material.

Within 48 hours, two other Scots were registered and clamoring to post solid, educational material.

We've gained another 11 or 12 members and some 5,000+ posts, since the New Year. I've moved from one of the "other" forum offerings over to vBulletin and have contacted a designer to create a new skin that will just reach out and make you know it is a Scottish forum.

It took a bit, but I finally realized that one vital element in a Scottish forum just ~might~ be to have a Scot or two on board. Duh... Yeah, I can be pretty slow at times.

Ask yourself this - who am I trying to target with my forums?

Now ask this - what can I do to attract more of that target audience? What do they want to see, what will make them enthusiastic about participating here?

No matter what idea you may have for a new forum, it is likely that you are just re-inventing somebody else's wheel. Your idea is probably not new, so you have to develop a new way to market your forum. You are trying to "sell" your forum, eh?

If you've a gaming forum, what sets you apart from the hundreds of other gaming forums? If you say nothing, you are already defeated. But if you find that you do have something unique to offer, then tell the world about it. And when the new visitors start arriving, ask them what other features they would like to see in your forum. And when they reply to your questions, PAY ATTENTION! Take notes, so you will have something to reference as you make your modifications and additions.

Operating a forum can be a lot of fun, knowing that you can be a host to people around the world. Operating a forum can be a lot of effort, as you try to keep up with growing memberships and post counts. It is just like operating a small business. Any successful business person will tell you that they started with a plan.

Do you have a plan?

<stepping off the soapbox, which raises a cheer among the crowd>

this all sounds like good advice to me. I am an admin on a vbulletin board as well as having my own on another provider, and I know it can be harder to compete when thirty thousand others have had simular ideas to yours. So it's a matter of finding your nei`ch so to speak. and giving what the people are clamouring for. not always easy but then who said it would be? after all you can please some of the people some time but you can't please everyone all the time!

Its not about the members it's about the posters! once people see posters posting more people will join. Also a refferal program of some type.

Its not about the members it's about the posters! once people see posters posting more people will join.
this is something i once would have agreed on, but my forums are getting around 200+ posts on average per day and the member count does not increase with active members.

The problem we have is that there are a lot more guests than members, and of the members, only about a third post regularly. People seem to be interested in the content since I see them in "Who's Online" reading the posts, but why do so few bother to reply or participate? Is it worth PM'ing the people who are on every day but don't post, or is it hopeless?

This is something all forums experience. If you've got a third participating that's a good percentage of people posting. Most people can't be bothered to get past the registration process, if they have found the information they were looking for already then it's unlikely they'll go to the trouble of registering in order to just post a 'thanks' reply. Give them a reason to register and participate and you'll be sure to see an increase in number of users that are active in the forum. Also try to bear in mind that some are shy and/or are unfamiliar with forums, little tricks to help these people will help them to start participating. I use messages in the header templates that appear only to those who lurk or who've never posted and I try to emphasise that when they become more active they'll have more forum priviledges. I've seen an increase in number of active users since I implemented that technique. Additionally, remember that who's online shows the spiders as well, it may be that a large number of online users are not actually human.

I find that it is definately the new content, and also making sure that the site is in the search engines as soon as possible. I tend to post around on other forums trying to recruit members, although I don't "steal" members. If its for a TV show I will visit forums that focus on the actors, or that genre and have a link in my signature etc...

Some great tips and advice in here. Many thanks all!

We started in February 05

Threads: 10,673, Posts: 289,634, Members: 1,360

Mostly acquire via word of mouth. The only thing I’m not happy with is that we only have 140-160 registered members online and posting daily and I want that to increase.

My newest plan, and I’m underway now, is to install a free email service and maximize my growth using viral marketing. I’m using Socketmail and should have everything installed up running by the first of next week. I will advertise the site in the mail program. Members who have been polled appear to love the idea of free email especially since we are going to offer ½ gig storage.

Hopefully, this will take off. :)

Fresh content is definatly the selling point for any website.

In the case of forums, this means posts, articles, etc need to be posted. When I started out with my last forum, I spent 3 weeks solid writing articles and reviews about pretty much anything and everything related to the forum topic, so that when the forum went online, it had some content.

Once it launched, I pestered everyone I know, every regular from my other forums, every regular from IRC, family, friends, the lot to go and post :)

Once the forum had plenty of posts to compliment the articles and reviews, new members started drifting in as a result of some minor advertising. After that, things picked up on their own.

But again, constantly fresh content is the golden key to sucess :)

I think affilication is a great way, the design is always a thing that brings me back. Also the content, if the people sound friendly and kind i will signup and see how it goes.

It also depends on what your website is offering. There's tons of "General Discussion" forums out there, and new ones don't do all that well. I hit 3,000 members in just under 7 months. Most of them, however, don't post all that often. Because of this, I'm introducing new things to make them want to post (such as including a post-count requirement for the arcade).

I've found that after some people register, they don't have a clue what to do next. As I have alot of members who are always looking at my site but never posting.

So I used coniditionals to annoy them until they start posting. Site traffic increased by 78%

Lol, What kind of messages do you have it say?

Lol, What kind of messages do you have it say?

Before I switched to 3.5 I had a conidtional setup on every page for guest, once registered I have conditionals for 0 post's that tell them how to take the next step, by introducing them to a INTRODUCTIONS Forum, when in that forum there is a conditional for that forum for 0 posts that tells them how to start a new thread.

Once they do that, those messages go away, and until you reach 10 posts there is another message at the top which read "Hey, looks like you're new to the community. Since you've already posted your introduction, why not continue with a follow up"

Or somethign like that. I think I am going to change these as I've read some stuff on the adminzone and vbwebmaster that I'd like to try.

Wow lol, That must have been annoying lmao. Also if you don't mind sharing, can you tell me what the link was on the adminzone?

Thanks,
Derek

Wow lol, That must have been annoying lmao. Also if you don't mind sharing, can you tell me what the link was on the adminzone?

Thanks,
Derek

http://www.theadminzone.com/forums/articles.php?do=viewarticle&aid=3560

Thanks! :)