[914turboford]

Originally Posted by tipoboy

i run a car forum too, but its kind of dead also, i admin on another forum and have just reskinned it. There's pleanty of car forums out there and IMO the irst thing you need to do is get it looking good and then work out CONTENT. Content is the key to any site i remember when i started my site i just posted anything and everything to do with cars just to make it look like the forum was busy, unfortunately i thought the forum would continue to grow, and i had to take a few months out due to work commitments, when i came back the forum was dead.

Just showed me if i wasnt there and didnt post, no one else was going to bother.

If you want some more tips just PM me

I really appreciate the advice and I'm going to act on some of it. I'll try buying a "skin". I agree with you, tipoboy, I think I have to get to a minimal appearance level to attract other users.

I recommend a portal with your site, that way the forum is not on the homepage. No picture like the one you have at the top of your site now will look good on top of forums.

What is a portal and what are the basics of establishing one?

You're going to have a hard time competing with the existing Dodge Diesel sites (there are two VERY popular ones out there). You're going to need to find a niche that these other sites don't fulfill.

I'm not interested in competing with them. Dodge Diesels are not my niche. I think I have a niche, a general engine swap site. But I guess general and niche shouldn't be in the same sentence. When I go on other sites and advertise in my signature, I get people that want to join who are very excited about my site. I believe there is some enthusiasm for what I am trying to do but perhaps not enough. I don't think I know the answer to that yet because I haven't given it a decent shot yet.