AsiaAfterDark - help please community critique welcome

[Gilbreth Wilson]

So we have built www.asiaafterdark.com and populated it with a lot of cool (in our minds) nightlife content. We are though, struggling to attract users to register and post. Most threads have at least 30 -60 views, so we know that it is (we assume) reaching people. Not sure if bots trigger page views. Hope not! We have set the thread content to be visible only to registered members, hoping that this will boost registration. There is a huge amount of useful information on our forum.

At this point, is it a good time to begin some paid advertising to attract users? Please let us know your comments, thoughts, criticisms, etc, no thin skin here. Really appreciated. Throw us a bone!

 

[JoyFreak]

I like the theme/colors. Cool name too. I wouldn't suggest setting thread content to registered members, this won't boost registrations. I would get hold of an add-on and allow guests to view but after X amount of views, it tells you to log in or register(something like this will boost it, if they like the look and sound of your board, they will register and continue reading). Just a thought.

As your boards is still a small community I wouldn't think about advertising or making money just yet.

All the best.

 

[Yugensoft]

Please let us know your comments, thoughts, criticisms, etc, no thin skin here. Really appreciated. Throw us a bone!

I feel a little confused when I see the two-column panels instead of the standard one-column forum listings. Also I don't like how the latest posts are de-emphasized with grey in those panels. Latest posts should stand out, as the first thing a new user is looking for is "things are happening here" (there are many dead forums on the internet). So maybe use a better color. You might even want to consider adding a latest posts widget in the right hand column.

Also it's not immediately apparent what the forum is about. It should be clear from the minute the front page loads. I'm just guessing it's about nightlife in Asia. In which case: first of all you should use a bigger banner at the top, not just a little hard to read logo; and that banner should include a montage/pictures of people partying in the nightlife.

Now people hitting the landing page know instantly what the forum is about. And they also know the forum is alive by the clear latest posts. Later on, when you start generating some content/interesting threads, you could even get a "featured thread" addon to highlight good new stuff, which hooks in new arrivals even more.

Also the repeating of place names in sub forums is cluttering the panels. For instance, Phuket panel shouldn't contain "Phuket general..." etc, it should just say "General", because it's cutting off their names (that might not be doable with the base software though, might need an addon/custom work).

Also Zuse is right, if content isn't visible to arrivals, they won't register, because it takes effort and you haven't given them anything yet. That regime is only OK as long as you are providing them with something immediately. You say there is a huge amount of information there, but when I looked at it, my first impressions were "this forum is brand new and little is happening yet". For instance, after it loads, the whole page is basically nothing but dead space, and mentions of "welcome" and "sign up / login" and "rules" etc, i.e. zero content to hook me in. Contrast that with the page when I click "thailand", which looks like there is some action happening.

The listing of the countries at the top though is good, as I don't have to scroll down lists of countries, they're all ready to click.

As your boards is still a small community I wouldn't think about advertising or making money just yet.

I think he means advertising his forum to others (he's paying). And either way, I submit it's not time yet.

 

[Gilbreth Wilson]

I feel a little confused when I see the two-column panels instead of the standard one-column forum listings. Also I don't like how the latest posts are de-emphasized with grey in those panels. Latest posts should stand out, as the first thing a new user is looking for is "things are happening here" (there are many dead forums on the internet). So maybe use a better color. You might even want to consider adding a latest posts widget in the right hand column.

Also it's not immediately apparent what the forum is about. It should be clear from the minute the front page loads. I'm just guessing it's about nightlife in Asia. In which case: first of all you should use a bigger banner at the top, not just a little hard to read logo; and that banner should include a montage/pictures of people partying in the nightlife.

Now people hitting the landing page know instantly what the forum is about. And they also know the forum is alive by the clear latest posts. Later on, when you start generating some content/interesting threads, you could even get a "featured thread" addon to highlight good new stuff, which hooks in new arrivals even more.

Also the repeating of place names in sub forums is cluttering the panels. For instance, Phuket panel shouldn't contain "Phuket general..." etc, it should just say "General", because it's cutting off their names (that might not be doable with the base software though, might need an addon/custom work).

Also Zuse is right, if content isn't visible to arrivals, they won't register, because it takes effort and you haven't given them anything yet. That regime is only OK as long as you are providing them with something immediately. You say there is a huge amount of information there, but when I looked at it, my first impressions were "this forum is brand new and little is happening yet". For instance, after it loads, the whole page is basically nothing but dead space, and mentions of "welcome" and "sign up / login" and "rules" etc, i.e. zero content to hook me in. Contrast that with the page when I click "thailand", which looks like there is some action happening.

The listing of the countries at the top though is good, as I don't have to scroll down lists of countries, they're all ready to click.



I think he means advertising his forum to others (he's paying). And either way, I submit it's not time yet.

Thank you, excellent feedback. Much appreciated.

Best,

Gil

 

[Gilbreth Wilson]

I like the theme/colors. Cool name too. I wouldn't suggest setting thread content to registered members, this won't boost registrations. I would get hold of an add-on and allow guests to view but after X amount of views, it tells you to log in or register(something like this will boost it, if they like the look and sound of your board, they will register and continue reading). Just a thought.

As your boards is still a small community I wouldn't think about advertising or making money just yet.

All the best.

Thank you,

Gil

 

[runnyeggs]

Gareth what are your thoughts

So we have built www.asiaafterdark.com and populated it with a lot of cool (in our minds) nightlife content. We are though, struggling to attract users to register and post. Most threads have at least 30 -60 views, so we know that it is (we assume) reaching people. Not sure if bots trigger page views. Hope not! We have set the thread content to be visible only to registered members, hoping that this will boost registration. There is a huge amount of useful information on our forum.

At this point, is it a good time to begin some paid advertising to attract users? Please let us know your comments, thoughts, criticisms, etc, no thin skin here. Really appreciated. Throw us a bone!

what are your thoughts after almost 2 months open? Anything you might change?