How to get internet-illiterate visitors posting in forums..

Hi all--new to the forums here.. Looks like a great place.

I have a number of vBulletin forums and the topics I've previously covered have had a largely teenage, tech-savvy audience and I've always had really high registration rates with minimal effort.

I have a new site, however, where I really want people to use the forums but they just don't seem to register, or if they do they don't post. My suspiscion is that this is because they are intimidated by or don't understand online forums. I know about the registration headers mod and some other basic tips, but nothing seems to work with these guys. I'm getting about 500 unique visitors to at least view the forums each day now, but only about 1-2 register at best and I consider myself lucky if even one posts. The forum is active, so I don't think that is the issue...

Furthermore, I know the visitors are enjoying the site and want to engage because they are enthusiastically using our contact form and, on average, browse through something like 20 pages before leaving.

Anyway just hoping some vbulletin regulars can give me some pointers w/this.

Can you provide a link? What is the focus of this forum? the target group?

One thing you can try - have button set made that is worded for the computer illiterate. Look at the site from that perspective. Maybe - for example - you have Larger Buttons that stand out more and are even more self explanatory - like instead of "Post Reply" you have "Click here to post your reply" --

Can you provide a link? What is the focus of this forum? the target group?

Hey, the forums can be viewed at www.breederretriever.com/forums/ -sorry for the slow reply :) as you can see we have a custom theme which we liked very much two weeks ago when we ordered it, but are sort of having second thoughts about now. input is much appreciated!

You may have a point about the custom style. The buttons are tiny and the small arrows for drop down menus and navigation are not inutitive for inexperienced forum users. Additionally, the top menu bar wraps at 800 x 600 in an unappealing way.

I think Joey's point about large and intuitive buttons is worth noting. Additionally, have a "How to use this forum" thread somewhere with a prominent link from the home page or navigation bar.

Try changing the welcome headers wording to provide some sort of incentive for registering.

What specific additional features/benefits will they get for registering with YOUR forums?

-Raymond

Okay, thanks guys! I agree. I think I'm just going to redo the forum layout myself. It's too important to us to leave it lackluster. This may be a question for another section but since it pertains to this discussion I'll ask here--do you guys have any recommendations for where to learn about creating vbulletin styles that aren't tooo dumbed down? I know php and some other scripting languages fairly well so it would be nice to find a tutorial (or several) that is pretty concise but still complete.

[Edit: lol, just found this here on vbfaq (http://www.vbulletin-faq.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1367) and it's written by the guy who made my skin :) )

Hire an experienced developer. You should be able to get one who will do a great look for $250. If you want a recommendation I'll give you the info for the person who recently did the custom skin for my forums. He had done several great ones before me too. I'm all for learning new things and improving yourself, but leave something like this to the pros and educate yourself as you go, since you probably don't want to wait the amount of time it will take you to learn this before updating your look? I made this mistake and tried to do the style and look updates myself (all around the default VB style) and I could have had my great new look a long time ago if I'd asked (paid) for the help earlier.

-Raymond

I did the same thing I tried configuring the layout of my forum myself. I spent a lot of time working on it to make it look right. In the end I hired someone to finish it. It pays in the long run to go with a pro.

On a slightly similar note, my mother can't tell the difference between Photobucket & Live Journal, but that's pretty much OT here...

If you are going to have a style/button set aimed at the internet ignorant then you may want to have a similar style for for the average user, as those n00bs will progress and want to upgrade. Likewise, you may want to have a super cool style just out of the newbies reach....to give them something to strive for *shrug* yeah, not much, but it's something.

I just know that if I had to deal with larger buttons I'd likely grow tired of it & leave, so I'd want another option.
Q