How do I increase membership?

[K4GAP]

I am a hobby webmaster. What I mean by that is I don't or have never sought any funds via ads or anything else. I just love building sites. Doing the graphics is my favorite part.

The site I have is a regional site. Meaning I seek membership in the region I live in (Kentucky).

What are some of the things I could be doing to increase membership? I understand all about the importance of good metatags for the search engines.

What have some of you done and with good results?

Thanks guys (and gals) :)

[WEBDosser]

Why does it say LOADING.. on the front page? and also i see Http error:403

[K4GAP]

Why does it say LOADING.. on the front page? and also i see Http error:403

The "Loading" is on a page that redirects to my site.

I've never seen the 403 error. What would cause that?

[Fergal C]

You could exchange links with other non-competing sites that are targeting the same region. Perhaps you could offer them an advertising thread on your forum, in exchange for them linking to you.

Also try making quality comments and posts on related blogs and forums while linking to your site. Just be sure that you don't spam.

[setishock]

Might want to fix this first...

[K4GAP]

Might want to fix this first...

WOW!! I think I need to limit working on my web site to when I am fully awake :eek:

Thank, I got it now.

[SPEEDKILLZ]

i agree with hostbidder try swapping links with other regional sites and see how that works. also i would start posting and filling some threads. if alot of ppl come to your site and see it's empty or no info they will leave. also put an ad for your site on craigslist. good luck. I too am from ky ft knox :)