ArnyVee
Well-known member
Peg, I haven't read through all of the posts, but I wanted to throw in my two pennies worth 
The first thing that I noticed when visiting your site was that it looked nice (color scheme wise) but there was nothing to draw the eye to anything in particular. That's good or bad depending on your view because you naturally start looking at the forum names, but if nothing interests them the guests may bounce quickly. How about a "latest threads" in the sidebar? Maybe some extra topics showing may prove to get people exploring the site more.
If I was visiting a local/regional site, I'd want to see pictures of my local eating establishments, parks, local events, etc. How about adding the "user albums" mod and then using the 'random pics on forum home' option and drawing people in with pictures that you post? Then, you can place a 'notice' above the forums with links to the "Top 5 or Most Popular Topics" and have people read through those. Anything that could prompt people to responding.
I'd start a "What's your Twitter name/username" thread so that you can accomplish two things. A) You get people sharing/posting with a very quick topic to respond to. And B) You now have their Twitter name to Reply/ReTweet and get them comfortable contributing and sharing news for you.
Most of the High Schools and Colleges have websites nowadays. Take a day per week (or an hour a day or whatever you decide) to check out the sites and feature local high school kids in sports in the "Sports" forum or local kids in education in the "Local Chatter" forum. Imagine those proud parents or the children themselves sharing the information that they were featured on "MVT!"
Just some ideas off of the top of my head....hope some of this helps
The first thing that I noticed when visiting your site was that it looked nice (color scheme wise) but there was nothing to draw the eye to anything in particular. That's good or bad depending on your view because you naturally start looking at the forum names, but if nothing interests them the guests may bounce quickly. How about a "latest threads" in the sidebar? Maybe some extra topics showing may prove to get people exploring the site more.
If I was visiting a local/regional site, I'd want to see pictures of my local eating establishments, parks, local events, etc. How about adding the "user albums" mod and then using the 'random pics on forum home' option and drawing people in with pictures that you post? Then, you can place a 'notice' above the forums with links to the "Top 5 or Most Popular Topics" and have people read through those. Anything that could prompt people to responding.
I'd start a "What's your Twitter name/username" thread so that you can accomplish two things. A) You get people sharing/posting with a very quick topic to respond to. And B) You now have their Twitter name to Reply/ReTweet and get them comfortable contributing and sharing news for you.
Most of the High Schools and Colleges have websites nowadays. Take a day per week (or an hour a day or whatever you decide) to check out the sites and feature local high school kids in sports in the "Sports" forum or local kids in education in the "Local Chatter" forum. Imagine those proud parents or the children themselves sharing the information that they were featured on "MVT!"
Just some ideas off of the top of my head....hope some of this helps
