How to populate my forum

[max1982]

Hello all


Am having a hard time populating my forum, do any one know a way other then making posts every day and getting it ranked up on google etc.. the forum been up for 4 years now and since i only have around 400 registered members only. Any one knows how to get it populated or got some ideas please let me know. also looking to get more domain names.

Kind regards
Wafic

www.friendlygamersclan.com

[ForceHSS]

Getting this (http://www.dragonbyte-tech.com/product/303-dragonbyte-seo/) will help

[max1982]

i already got VBSEO i know they closed down but thinking of getting the Dragon one but before i go ahead, need to find out what i can do before i pay $200 and wast more money.

Edit:
Some people telling me to change the theme which i don't know what could that help me populate my forum.

[ForceHSS]

A good custom skin sometimes help if done well

[CAG CheechDogg]

I have a gaming website, www.cagclan.com and I don't use VBSEO or DB Techs version of it and our site is very active.

What it comes down to is how you advertise your site, word of mouth and how user friendly your forums are to your guest more importantly.

I have also used this site, www.top100clans.com to help bring traffic to our forums. It is a voting script website and I would say about 70% of our forums traffic comes from these guys alone.

Unless you are a big company or need to make money, I personally do not see the need to spend that kind of money for SEO crap.

People who look for what we have on our site find it easily just by googleing it. We have no problems getting new registered users who said all they did was googled for certain keywoards such as #1 clan, xbox clan, blah blah blah and they ended up on our site because their search results had our site in the 1st or 2nd page alone.

If you need help my Man, let me know, visit our site and I can share more ideas with you to get your forums going.

We have well over 3500 registered users and most of them are actually active. It also helps if you yourself interact with as many of the registered members as possible in one way or another.

[max1982]

mm am no good in making themes and most of the themes out there are basic haven't seen 1 which is attractive, do you know someone who can make a themes for a good price, i mean not too expansive.

Out of the my 273 members on my forum only 2 are active every 1 month or so i send a reminder to all but that seems not helping. no one is coming back or logging in.

am running out of ideas.

Edit I used to use the top100clans.com on the home page but i have removed it, am already a member of your forum for over 1 year or so :=)

also VBSEO didnt help me at all, 4 years and only 273 members not from VBSEO by steam and origin advertising.

Thanks for your advice CAG

[CAG CheechDogg]

Max, I never send out reminders through email as I have noticed and found out that most people never open those email reminders and if they do they get frustrated that they are getting sent out all the time and it just fills up their in-mail box.

I could modify one of the many themes that are available here on vbulletin.org for you , if you are interested in my help let me know. I have no problem helping other gaming sites and communities, that is probably why our site is so active because I always extend my hand and help out others and then the word is passed along that we are a cool bunch on our site and people want to check us out.

--------------- Added 1389874174 at 1389874174 ---------------

Go register on my site man, I am there now and we have a chat bar located at the bottom and we can chat for a few to see what we can do to get your forum active ...

[ForceHSS]

On your forum the quick links tab if you click on it, it shows nothing there
https://www.cagclan.com/community/forum

[PAPPACLART]

Get yourself a CMS of some kind. Populate it with articles relating to gaming, then submit your news to n4g.com. (www.n4g.com) I have increased my traffic x 10 since posting my news there.

Btw your site looks nice, did you do the theme yourself?

[max1982]

i got the CMS on the forum but its kind of crap, what you mean posting news to n4g.com?

the theme i bought it

[ForceHSS]

Hello all


Am having a hard time populating my forum, do any one know a way other then making posts every day and getting it ranked up on google etc.. the forum been up for 4 years now and since i only have around 400 registered members only. Any one knows how to get it populated or got some ideas please let me know. also looking to get more domain names.

Kind regards
Wafic

www.friendlygamersclan.com
I would remove the floating sign up you have as you already have a sign up on the header

[max1982]

i have removed it :) removed also arcade and some others loading is better now.

[ForceHSS]

Seems to be faster loading

[PAPPACLART]

i got the CMS on the forum but its kind of crap, what you mean posting news to n4g.com?

the theme i bought it


n4g.com is a very large gaming website and allows its contributors to post news relating to gaming. You can post news, articles, opinions, blogs etc which link straight back to your site

So my suggestion is create news relating to gaming on your site with your CMS (which is the subject matter of your site) and submit to n4g for approval.

I have posted about 8 news articles, with average referrals/hits to my site of about 1000 per day. Your google rank will improve as well.

I have been selective of the news I have posted, as obviously certain news will bring you more hits.

sign up to n4g and give it a ago, it has been by far the most effective way I have improved my hits and registrations.

PS

What CMS do you use, the standard Vbulletin 1? If so it is not too bad, that is what I use too. HERE (http://www.gtarena.com)


Also, here you can check my profile on n4g.com, check to the right and you can see my news (http://n4g.com/user/home/pappaclart) submissions, and how they link to my site.


Edit:

Ok I see your cms, it is the VB one. I mean I am no expert but you could improve the front page, too much going on IMO


Also, too many threads that you have created with no replies. You are making the forum look like a ghost town. first impressions are good but dig a little deeper and browse to one of many threads you have created and see 0 replies is an instant put off IMO.

[max1982]

Will the reason why there are many posts with 0 replies is that no one reply or register and in many tutorials they say make as many posts as you can but for the replies nothing thats the reason for many posts.
In regards to n4g.com I will try it.

Thank you for the help.

[PAPPACLART]

Will the reason why there are many posts with 0 replies is that no one reply or register and in many tutorials they say make as many posts as you can but for the replies nothing thats the reason for many posts.
In regards to n4g.com I will try it.

Thank you for the help.


I am not sure what you have read but at least for me seeing a forum with hundreds of threads but no replies is a put off. It may be different for others.

It is a shame, I can see you have worked hard with your forum. I would suggest making it fixed width, and much narrower, tidy up the front end.

There are simply 1000s of general gaming websites/forums out there, very hard to compete. My site is gaming but focuses on one game. Although that brings its own problems, it allows me to focus my content.

Give N4g.com a go. If you write your own articles, try and make them as good qualify as possible and try to best follow the guidelines.

[CAG CheechDogg]

On your forum the quick links tab if you click on it, it shows nothing there
https://www.cagclan.com/community/forum

That's because nothing in quick links relates to unregistered users only registered and some of the links only to certain usergroups...thanks for the heads up though, much appreciated ..

[tbworld]

You need to find a way to set your board apart from the other zillion gaming boards. You have worked hard on getting your board up, but now you will need to work just as hard to find your unique niche.

Great advice @Pappaclart and @CAG CheechDogg! :)

[max1982]

Thank you all for your feed back. i will start by changing the home page and posting in n4g.com and other news forums, i made a clone copy of the forum at my vps server will try and change the home page, its hard working alone in populating the forum :)