Consider introducing a contest
A contest could be introduced to provide people with an incentive
to post in your forum. For example, you may want to offer a
cash prize, voucher or something else to the person that contributes
the most posts within a certain timeframe. If you decide to
offer an incentive in return for posts, make sure that you
pay attention to the quality of the posts. Someone posting
just for the sake of it will not encourage new members to join.
You could also be creative as to what prize you offer, perhaps
a T-shirt or baseball bat with your forum logo emblazoned on
it? Obviously, this may not provide sufficient motivation for
some potential new members; however it is worth giving it some
thought.
The very best contests are ones that add value to your community
and potential new members. For example, you may run a forum
about search engine optimization; you might consider offering
a prize for the best search engine optimisation tip posted
by a member.
Alternatively, a site forum about books, software, games etc
may find value in giving away free books, software and games
in return for a detailed review of the product. This is often
an excellent way for you to add great “on topic” content to
your forum. It also encourages debate from other members.
Try to convert those shy lurkers
Every forum, small or large has a number of lurkers. These
are people that use your forum and find value in the threads
and topics; however they never actually make it as a member
of contribute themselves. One expert in this area suggested
that for every one forum member, there are ten lurkers in the
background. That’s quite an amazing statistic; it also represents
a fantastic opportunity. We just need to work out a way to
convert the lurkers into regular members. We’ve listed below
some suggestions:
- Have a “Welcome to the forum, introduce yourself” thread.
Often you’ll find that lurkers are a little worried about
their first post or treading on the toes of more established
users. Encourage them to say Hi. Once they overcome the first
post shyness, they often go on to make regular contributions
to your forum.
- Try starting a controversial thread; this largely depends
on your forum topic. However, it often has the affect of
inciting a first post from a lurker. If you have a car forum
or community, think along the lines of “The latest model
from X manufacturer is the worst car in history.”
- Try to understand why lurkers do not want to post. Often
it is because they feel intimidated or worried about how
their post will be perceived. Working on the warmth or welcome
factor of your forum might help.
- Finally one of the best ways to entice lurkers to post
is to create an area that is only available to members with
a certain number of posts. Their curiosity will always get
the better of them.
Find out where your potential new members are
Often one of the best ways to seek out new members is to first
understand where they currently go. Is there an existing forum
that covers the topics you offer? Is there another community
that is more popular simply because it ranks well in the search
engines? It’s important to do your research in this area.
If you’ve found another forum similar to your own, please do
not be tempted to post a new thread that says “Come
and visit my forum it’s much better than this one” or similar.
Even if the statement were true, your post will be viewed
as spam and most unwelcome by the webmaster, like you would
be if the shoe was on the other foot.
Instead, take a short to medium term view on things. If these
are exactly the type of members you would like, it is worth
investing some time. The first thing to do is make sure there
is a link to your forum in your signature. Now try and become
the most respected and helpful member of that forum, give advice,
help people, make suggestions and compliment others. Yet, at
no time mention your own forum in your signature. If you have
a strong reputation within a community, people will be naturally
curious to click on the links in your signature. We are absolutely
convinced this will increase the amount of traffic and membership
conversions to your own forum. Remember to keep an eye on your
forum referral traffic just to make sure, if you do not see
an improvement in the amount of traffic, try tweaking the words
in your signature.
Attracting new members to your forum summary
If someone was to come up with a magical formula that helped
forum owners attract new members to their communities, they
would most likely become millionaires quicker than it would
take you to rank up 100 quality posts. The point is, it takes
time and effort to create a busy forum, as it does attracting
new members. Our advice is to have a good read of the information
on this site and get ready for the long haul. |
