I have been trying to get more users to sign up to my forum for a long time. My traffic is way up, however the number of people registering has crawled to a halt. Also there are few people posting any more and the place is looking like a boneyard.

I have tried post exchanges however they didn't really post relevant material, sure it looked like the place was busy but it wasn't on topics that the SE keywords were driving people from.

Is there any methods that I should be trying to gain users?

what is the site?

www.thepartylive.com/forums

I have just started converting the site from PHP-Nuke to vBulletin

Yeh im looking something fast too i made www.chat-talk.net yesterday :S

Try paying people to post on your forums to build up content?

Turn off search features and attachments for non members, or make sections that only members can view. That will force more guests to register....just make sure the majority of the forum can be viewed otherwise search engines won't be able to index your data.

I noticed that making some sections only viewable to members is not a good technique as some people will register and when they see that the locked sections are not what they are looking for, they will move on. The amount of members will jack up very fast but posting activity will not be that high. That's what I experienced with one of the forums I am administrating.

I cannot view the site

But as a general rule: post many threads, ask for some post exchanges and be active all the time. Best of luck with it

Originally Posted by ORiN

Try paying people to post on your forums to build up content?

He complained of irrelevant posting when there were other incentives, why would he pay for the same thing?

I am having a similar issue with my forum (but it's not a boneyard). I may offer free advertising in the forum for "relevant & helpful posts". Let's say over 50. However, will thsy stick around after 50? It's something I really have to think about.

Originally Posted by ORiN

Try paying people to post on your forums to build up content?

Here is our ad on webmaster-talk.com, This is a cost effective way to eastablish your forums.

http://www.webmaster-talk.com/ads-of...community.html

Originally Posted by kline11

He complained of irrelevant posting when there were other incentives, why would he pay for the same thing?

I am having a similar issue with my forum (but it's not a boneyard). I may offer free advertising in the forum for "relevant & helpful posts". Let's say over 50. However, will thsy stick around after 50? It's something I really have to think about.

i am offering offers like this on my forum this is what we are offering

we have a text ad space on one of our 6 forums so we are offering a text link for some one that does 5-10 good posts then we will place a text add for 5 people only for a hole year i must be mad

also i have offerd free SEO reports to people that post 10 good posts

and i have offered 100+ search engine submissions for people that post 10 good posts

so if some one posts 25-30 good posts then they get it all

normally i charge for this not much look here to see what i charge

services

also there is something good on there at the best price on the net that you may well like

I think forum admin and moderator should make a routine to post replies and start new threads and ask their friends and relatives to do the same. This will create an impression of a busy and interactive forum to a new visitors and urge them to register.
IMO, You should also add more interesting sections.
You can also start referral program with the help of existing members.
You should also start a points sytem or contest where you offer some incentives to the members on quality posts.

The biggest thing that I did was to change to vBulletin, now I am spending less time admining the site, and more paticipating.

I am thinking of a referral system, maybe have prizes and such. I ended up quiting the post exchange program I was in, there was just too many use less posts and one liners. What I did instead was sign up as another person and do some posting my self.

I still have a problem with lurkers, I have about 50 odd registered users but only a handful post. NOt sure how to bring these people out into the open.

I'm also having a LOT of difficulty in getting users. Right now... I have no active members other than myself and my forums have been open since september. I don't want to pay other people to post, and I don't want to make posts myself as other people.

So, after all that discussion, are there any new ideas?

I just started RealCritics.com, which is a forum too.

Soon I plan to offer a points system, then every month have a lottery where members can buy tickets using their points.

The lottery will probably be for Amazon vouchers or something along those lines....