For absolutely brand new forums, what are some good ways to turn traffic into posting members? I'm not asking for ways to get traffic, but rather to get visitors to register and become active members.

Would not allowing guests to view topics be a way perhaps?

competitions, threads to reply to

Thanks, that's certainly true. I'm already planning on holding a small competition, and I'm working on other ways of getting the initial forum posts required for it to reach 'critical mass'.

Contests, thats the thing most people do. You will get a lot of people active and it will keep your forums moving.

The great thing about contests is that you really don't have to put a lot of money into them either, some people will freak out over stupid stuff like a simple image, etc... :P

Keep it active.

What do you mean by that?

Originally Posted by KevinJB

What do you mean by that?

People aren't going to post if the last post was made six months ago. People aren't going to post if the last post was one month ago, one week ago, or perhaps even two days ago. Daily make sure people are posting, even if it's yourself talking to yourself.

Alright, I see what you are saying. So I should at least have threads already started (by me even) in the forums when I open them and not wait for people to start their own threads.

I'm still curious as to what people's opinions about limiting guests is, should I not allow them to post or go all the way and not all them to see anything? Or perhaps have a special forum for just members to see?

I spoke to someone who new what they were talking about on an irc webdev community. He said to hire posters. My tip: instead of going to company to buy posters (where you will probably pay 30c per post) go to a teen forum and post about earning money. Offer 15cent per post, payment through paypal. maybe get 4 people to make 100 posts each. Thats $60. However get Google image ads in there. The posters are likely to click the images due to their age. So that will take a dent out of the $60. Make sure you say something like 30 atleast 30 new threads though, and no spamming

nice slevin mate! good info! might help me out abit that

That's a good idea, but I'm trying to do this on a zero budget. Perhaps I can offer another incentive to them...

Or perhaps you an do as I did here and find some "advertisers" or sponsors to offer prizes on their bill.

A response from the man himself Thanks, that's a good idea. I'll look into that. The site is about an upcoming video game. How would you suggest I go about finding them?

I've just made a brand new forum a couple of days ago and at first, it was really hard though with a little bit of advertising and word of mouth it's getting big.

I would give prizes away (money and free things), you know.. that does the trick.

I am planning on getting another forum up soon. I would advise that you get some of your freinds to help out by posting when starting out.

Alright thanks. Everyone seems to reccomend contests and prizes, so that's definitely in. Also the other main thing I've gotten is that I should try to make the forums as active as possible on my own and ask other people to register and post.

Any other thoughts on this?

I think that paying for posts isn't going to be the best idea. After paying for posts, what happens? Will the forum turn dead again? I think a slightly better idea is all about the competition. If you offer great prizes, like ebooks, software, domain names, vouchers and maybe cash, then your forum can be more active. After the competition, I think a lot of people will see that it's worth it to post in the forum.

Like this one, 20,000 dollar contest sure pulled in a lot of people. But I know I'm not going to win the contest, but I like posting here. That is some of the types of people you want for your forums.

Alright, so a contest is pretty much a must. I can think of some prizes for the niche too

I just need to find 'sponsors' :P

Keep the tips coming!