How the hell do you get people to a site?
 

Have a site up and running and membership and posting is pathetic. No matter how much I hit other sites, google, social networks, etc. no one comes over... sucks... any tricks of the trade?

Have you had anyone review your site? Maybe you are scaring them away :)

What is the subject of the site? Why would people want to post on your site over an established community of the same subject?

^^ That is huge and is THE question.

I will send you guys the link via pm, don't want to post it on here due to search engines. You can respond back here, though. Thanks for the help!

Well making decisions like that is probably one of the reasons. But really though, if you're struggling to get some members, maybe you should read up on some of these discussions.
http://support.proboards.com/board/4...ssion-proboard

Yeah, not wanting search engines, but wanting people to go to the site seems a bit off.

What do you mean by that? Have I done something that prohibits search engines from picking up? If so, how do I change that? If I did do something like that it was probably in ignorance. Help aprreciated. Thanks.

You said you did not want to post the link due to search engines. :)

Well, I didn't want to post the link indicating I'm having problem, which the search engines would pick up... hahahaha... I can pm it to you...

You don't have to worry about that. Search Engines aren't smart enough to know that theres an issue with your site simply from you posting a link on a page that says your site is having issues..

Hit me with your link.

Ok, will post it here...

BOP5 indicated that I need to change a file with the really fast reg, upgraded the other day and didn't realize I had to change the file name again.

www.gunsgrubandgold.com

It appears you still haven't updated the file yet.

Can't at the moment, will do later on...

Seems like you have a pretty unique niche. You can try visiting other forums with the same niche and share some of your threads with them, leaving a link back to the original thread.

Oh yeah and pigs fly !

I haven't met a forum in my niche that allows you a link with open arms, and as we all know now, in niche links are what Google values, because they know they are damn difficult to get!

I agree. Forums are tending to be closed to that stuff as of late...

It's always been a no-no, to poach members from other boards.:D

It always has been a no-no to poach members from other communities. However, promoting something unique on your site is a different matter.. All you have to do is leave a small snippet & a link to it after becoming established with the other community if they allow it.

If you think this is fine and will work, just tip me the word and I will give you a list of sites I would like a link on, with my unique feature that no other soccer forum has, and we will count the links that appear in my analytics after say two weeks.

I'll bet it will be slightly less than 1, and you will be banned from most if not all of the site for spamming.
You say "after becoming established" you do realise that could be 1000 posts on some sites before you are no longer considered a noob !
On some sites you even need 100 posts to have a signature, and the links are no-follow, which are about as good for SEO as chocolate is for making a fireguard.

Firstly, you can do that if you desire, goodluck finding someone else to do that for you... and secondly, what I posted about was sharing an article on your forum, not promoting or shamelessly saying what your site offers that another doesn't.

I think you are missing the point and dare I say a little naive, leaving any kind of link on some sites is impossible, if the whole post isn't deleted, the link as a minimum will be. I would hazard a guess from polite enquiries I have made that over 90% of soccer forums wont even consider an affiliate link, one wanted ?50 per month for an advert.

It's tough today.

Things have changed.

You're competing with social sites now, and back then there was only Myspace...

It depends on the niche though, and how you can stand out or reinvent things.

With that said there's no answer, other than working hard and having a bit of hope.

And... Staying with it. Far too many forum owners just give up.

It really depends on the site admin's individual views on that. They might allow sharing linking in specific forum, in your signature, as your home page or only when it's contextual. My site, and owners of it before, have always allowed link sharing as long as it wasn't in the sense that they were trying to steal members. Not everyone is is thinking (or values) SEO.

The key thing a site needs is regular, unique content. The link sharing and other tools can help get the ball rolling, but ultimately, content is what will get the users to come back.

I started a site and did nothing apart from make it look good for what it was for.
The site's content is the same as a few other sites with a kind of small community
In one year there's been 10 posts by real members, everything else came from me.

I started another site where no one or no other Forum content was the same as mine, but there was a call for such a site.
Google and the search engines did their job and a year later it's a nice busy site.

your strategy must need changes...big changes

netticasinot

Content is King. Fresh content keeps people coming back time after time. That's easy to say but a little harder to do. That's where you have to devote time to keep it up.
KISS Keep it simple stupid. Easy to navigate menus make it simple for even non forum savvy users to find what they want to look at or do.
Moderating. This is a slippery slope to step out on. You have to show people you mean business but in a way that doesn't drive them away. A hand on the shoulder and a whisper in the ear, works better than belittling a wayward member in the open. Take it to the PM's.
Be flexible. Listen to your members. In all the suggestions, nagging, and whining, there comes that one really great idea that didn't occur to you.
Running a forum is hard work. But if you really enjoy the subject it's built around then it's a labour of love. Whether it makes it or goes down the drain, is up to you. Keep hammering at it.