Advertising? Gaining members?

[countryside]

Hello,
So my website is complete and I started to advertise on Facebook. I did this for a week, and got no sign ups. How do you guys advertise your site? How do you get people to your site?

I am very new to forums, and would appreciate all help.

Thanks,
Noah

 

[countryside]

I would like to bump this.

 

[Jadey]

Most of our members have come over from other forums word of mouth type of thing. We don't do much on Facebook or Twitter. And as much as I hate it we do have Tapatalk installed and that tends to draw some new people. Also lose rules helps to draw people

 

[countryside]

Most of our members have come over from other forums word of mouth type of thing. We don't do much on Facebook or Twitter. And as much as I hate it we do have Tapatalk installed and that tends to draw some new people. Also lose rules helps to draw people

Doing just word of mouth and other forums, how many active users do you have? Do you care if I see how active your site is (a link)?

 

[Jadey]

We have about 600 members I'll P.M. You other info
http://www.vapersguildforum.com/index.php

 

[=MGN=RedEagle]

Marketing is the hard part I find. Most get traffic via SEO, I always get traffic via ads and social media. Getting sort-term traffic is easier if you directly market a forum but its more effort and time investment in the long run.

 

[Anthony Parsons]

You're a political community, which many don't touch with a long pole. So to get members, you need to be writing interesting, provocative content that will garnish reactions. You should have guest posting on, which will help spark debate and opinions about political views to get regular posters signing up for ease of future use.

Content is everything for online communities. Until a community is established where there is a steady stream of members who post new topics, then it all lay upon you whether it succeeds or fails. Think year, minimum, just to get a few members starting interesting topics... which means you have a good few years of posting new and interesting views to spark growth.

 

[countryside]

Marketing is the hard part I find. Most get traffic via SEO, I always get traffic via ads and social media. Getting sort-term traffic is easier if you directly market a forum but its more effort and time investment in the long run.

Thanks, I will look into this.

You're a political community, which many don't touch with a long pole. So to get members, you need to be writing interesting, provocative content that will garnish reactions. You should have guest posting on, which will help spark debate and opinions about political views to get regular posters signing up for ease of future use.

Content is everything for online communities. Until a community is established where there is a steady stream of members who post new topics, then it all lay upon you whether it succeeds or fails. Think year, minimum, just to get a few members starting interesting topics... which means you have a good few years of posting new and interesting views to spark growth.

So would adding another section to my NavBar called "blog" or "news" be sufficient enough? I then could mention the forums as much as possible and have them comment to the blog/news article on the forums (will look for add-on).

 

[Jadey]

There should be a add on for that but you can create something through the node tree as well.

 

[tajhay]

An addon can only do so much. People goto forums to discuss, have their voices heard. There is no magic addon that will transform a new site without a good foundation laid. If people land upon a bare forum they will leave rather try to visit other sections on a site.

As for articles addons, i believe the best addon for that (AMS) by bob isnt even listed on here. If you do go the articles route, you will need to promote thought provoking, provocative articles heavily via social media. But that wont necessarily lead to increased members.

Its a tough job starting a new community in 2016.

 

[Johnny101]

A lot of people turn to Facebook as their go to forum now a days

 

[tommydamic68]

Hello,
So my website is complete and I started to advertise on Facebook. I did this for a week, and got no sign ups. How do you guys advertise your site? How do you get people to your site?

I am very new to forums, and would appreciate all help.

Thanks,
Noah

Is your site unique or is there many other sites like yours. If there is other sites similar to yours, how can you differ from those other sites, why would I come to your site as apposed to the others. With forums, (which is an almost extinct dinosaur due to the ease of use of mobile inability) if you don't have a niche, the competition is surely rough, so try stand out from the bunch in some way shape or form.

 

[RandallC]

Direct advertisement - purchase ads on blogs and sites that are related to your topic, Check BuySellAds if you want to find some places, although my experience with them is less then poor.
Comment on blogs in your niche.

I find facebook to be a poor medium for ads unless you are selling something because people are on facebook because its on their phone and easy to connect to people. But if you are a forum owner I have never had good luck with it.

Swap links with blogs, forum, new sites - just email anyone related to your niche.

 

[countryside]

I find facebook to be a poor medium for ads unless you are selling something because people are on facebook because its on their phone and easy to connect to people. But if you are a forum owner I have never had good luck with it.

I learned this the hard way.

Comment on blogs in your niche.

Thanks, will try for sure.

 

[la2k16]

The Forum and the Styling looks nice, I have no complaints on this front..

My issue is you claim that your site is for people from all political backgrounds, yet judging from your Twitter feed and some of the topics you clearly are a trump supporter and almost everything you post is ridiculing the Democrats the Democratic National Convention and anything that leans left. I honestly see no reason why anyone who was not a trump supporter would join your forum this if this is how the owner presented themselves.... it seems that the site will be extremely biased.

 

[JamesBrown]

I can't get past the clipart style site logo, it takes up almost all my screen and every forum link I click I have to scroll past it again. Unless I was committed I wouldn't stay long.

 

[countryside]

The Forum and the Styling looks nice, I have no complaints on this front..

My issue is you claim that your site is for people from all political backgrounds, yet judging from your Twitter feed and some of the topics you clearly are a trump supporter and almost everything you post is ridiculing the Democrats the Democratic National Convention and anything that leans left. I honestly see no reason why anyone who was not a trump supporter would join your forum this if this is how the owner presented themselves.... it seems that the site will be extremely biased.

Yes, my site is for people of all political backgrounds. Does this mean I have no opinion on the subject? Of course not. Would you be happier if I liked Hillary? I bet you would. I also bet you would not have said that. On my site, I am making minimal comments to stay pretty moderate. But, my Twitter has my personal views. I did not want to support Trump, but he is the lesser of two evils in my opinion. Thanks for the feedback.

I can't get past the clipart style site logo, it takes up almost all my screen and every forum link I click I have to scroll past it again. Unless I was committed I wouldn't stay long.

Hmm, thanks. I do not have this issue on my laptop, but I will look into this. Is this perhaps because you were on mobile?

 

[tajhay]

Yes, my site is for people of all political backgrounds. Does this mean I have no opinion on the subject? Of course not. Would you be happier if I liked Hillary? I bet you would. I also bet you would not have said that. On my site, I am making minimal comments to stay pretty moderate. But, my Twitter has my personal views. I did not want to support Trump, but he is the lesser of two evils in my opinion. Thanks for the feedback.

Personally, if you are trying to bring two varying sides of the spectrum into one forum, you should not be advocating a particular stance as the site owner. Especially in a forums early life. You have to be present a neutral front early on and be factual, rather than pointing discussion to a particular side. Its fairly important to have moderators from both factions represented in a site like that or you will be blamed for bias. An open stance early will distract others holding a different opinion to the site owners from joining up. Additionally, your own personal twitter account should not be presented on the site front end - that has no place there as only the sites twitter account should be presented - which should be presenting only factual neutral information on a sites twitter account. Anything less, and you might want to rebrand as a republican only site.

BTW i would have said the same thing if you had been a Hilary supporter - i couldnt care either about the USA elections as im not in that country. If thats the best two 'politicians' you guys can find to lead your country, god help you guys lol

Dont worry the rest of the world has their popcorn out and watching with interest. Comedy will ensue whichever way you guys vote

 

[rwm1962]

Yes, my site is for people of all political backgrounds.

You might want to edit what may be a legacy node description & site name?
News & Announcements
All major news related to Conservative Underground.

So, I realized the world needed a forum for both the left and rights.

After a minor amount of reading I can see it's a US-centric forum & not somewhere I'd discuss politics as a Brit. Might be good to be more obvious about that.

 

[countryside]

Additionally, your own personal twitter account should not be presented on the site front end - that has no place there as only the sites twitter account should be presented - which should be presenting only factual neutral information on a sites twitter account. Anything less, and you might want to rebrand as a republican only site.

I agree, which is why I only have my sites Twitter on the website? It also does not have anything that might make us seem biased.

After a minor amount of reading I can see it's a US-centric forum & not somewhere I'd discuss politics as a Brit. Might be good to be more obvious about that.

Yes, it is for US politics. I think the logo should make that clear, but I will look into this.

You might want to edit what may be a legacy node description & site name?
News & Announcements
All major news related to Conservative Underground.

Thanks so much!