Where do you start promoting the forum?

[Butteroll]

I know my way around with forums, hosting and a bit of programming but SEO and everything that has to do with SEO, user engagement and all of that is really something I barely know anything around.

I registered my site on Google analytics and their Console but that's about it.

How do you promote a forum? Google ads? Social media? Asking because forums are a bit different than regular websites.

 

[Alvin63]

I started my forum from scratch last July and it was building up well within 6 months. Like you I started with registering with Google Analytics. I also opened a Twitter account for the Forum and the two link. So there's a "go to our Twitter page" link at the bottom and I link articles from the forum on the Twitter account. A few new members from that, not a huge amount but it did raise the profile a bit and got the site known.

I also had a Facebook page for the site (which hasn't done much really).

First few months I took out google ads and that brought a lot more members in from google. But that got too expensive after 3 or 4 months. So I cancelled it. I think the idea is that you make some revenue from google ads on your forum, to pay for your own google ad! But I think that takes a long time to build - and I didn't want ads on my site.

So things slowed down a bit after cancelling the Google ads but then picked up a bit again so clearly people were finding the site on Google (and also on Twitter).

I started out with three members (including myself) and now have 222. Which is not a vast amount but not bad in 7 to 8 months on a niche topic.

 

[Butteroll]

I started my forum from scratch last July and it was building up well within 6 months. Like you I started with registering with Google Analytics. I also opened a Twitter account for the Forum and the two link. So there's a "go to our Twitter page" link at the bottom and I link articles from the forum on the Twitter account. A few new members from that, not a huge amount but it did raise the profile a bit and got the site known.

I also had a Facebook page for the site (which hasn't done much really).

First few months I took out google ads and that brought a lot more members in from google. But that got too expensive after 3 or 4 months. So I cancelled it. I think the idea is that you make some revenue from google ads on your forum, to pay for your own google ad! But I think that takes a long time to build - and I didn't want ads on my site.

So things slowed down a bit after cancelling the Google ads but then picked up a bit again so clearly people were finding the site on Google (and also on Twitter).

I started out with three members (including myself) and now have 222. Which is not a vast amount but not bad in 7 to 8 months on a niche topic.

May I ask whether or not your forum offers very direct products? My forum is non-profit and I'm willing to take monthly hits to the wallet since it's pretty a much something I believe in but that's beside the point. Point is my forum is the type of community, people want to enter the site because others also enter the site. You say google ads worked for you but I don't know if ads about a place where people can chat and talk to each other is as drawing as it might in your case.

But I have considered google ads.

 

[fionix]

Get the word out, that is important, do link building, get sufficient fresh content every day i.e. articles, posts etc.
Reach out to people on social media and start some linkbuilding.

It is hard work, costs some money but at the end you will see your forum grow quickly and more users will engage. If the overall topic is of interest for other people, you will succeed, if you can't get the forum to new heights, the topic is not worth it.

I have spend the last 10 years on getting the forum up, the first 8 years I didn't do that much seo, that's why the results start kicking off late in this process!

 

[Alvin63]

Link building is something I am working on (and not that up on - don't seem to have enough). No my forum doesn't sell products and is not profit making also. I found having the forum advertised with google ads did make it much more visible. I went for the cheapest monthly option which was about £168 a month (except they kept charging me £180 to £200 - ie allowing more clicks than I had initially opted for). That did get it noticed well after the first two or three weeks. It took that long for it to start being effective. After a few months I just couldn't afford the monthly outlay but it did do a good job. An ad appears at the top of google searches, whereas waiting for your forum to naturally appear near the top takes a lot longer.

I also use Bob's Article Management System and that has a specific location to add meta data also - which helps with links and searches I believe.

 

[Mr Lucky]

An ad appears at the top of google searches,

I never ever click on those

 

[rdn]

I never ever click on those

Yeah Techie person doesn't, but most normal/non-techie person click those first (just like my wife ).

 

[Mr Lucky]

Yeah Techie person doesn't, but most normal/non-techie person click those first (just like my wife ).

Oi, who you calling Techie person?