Most of us have tried to start a forum at some time. Maybe it was just for your group of friends who were graduating and heading onto different paths in life or maybe it was for your special hobby and you were trying to find like minded people like you. I tried to start one after I got of the army and all of us wanted a way to keep in contact with each other. Granted, most of us were already on MSN and Friendster but a forum has its benefits. Because its asynchrous communication, everyone could be keep in the loop. Forum because all conversations are organized into thread, do prevent off topic messages from becoming rampant. It was really hard to get a conversation going in MSN group chat as some bugger will say something funny and the topic will take a complete segway.
Alas the forum died a slow death. It took a year or so but all of us could notice that the post rate was dropping. I wished I had this list that I am going to show all of you now. We could have such a better forum if we just had one for all army guys and not only within the 100+ of us. The chances of survival was much bigger.
Well, we present the full article. Click on the link to go there:
10 Tips for Promoting Your Forum By Skitzzo on February 8th, 2007
TodaysTen: IF YOU ONLY HAVE TIME FOR ONE:
“Discuss Hot Topics - No matter what your forum is about, there will always be hot topics to talk about - hot button issues that automatically generate conversation and debate. Industry news, technological developments, and current events are all great topics. Starting new threads or discussions about these “hot topics” can create instant conversation and can often be a shot in the arm for your somewhat stale forum”
People like gossip. And forums thrive on gossip. Gossip can cause mass hysteria and mass participation. Aim to have at least a new interesting topic a week, at the start before your forum reaches critical mass, you have to take the lead. Seen something interesting on youtube? Make an embedded link and let the discussion roar. If the case if you are out of ideas, you can link to us www.TodaysTen.com :)always appreciate extra traffic!
