[setishock]

And there in lies the rub.
A good rule of thumb is to ask first if (A) There is a place to post about your website (B) ok to put a link to it in your sig (C) take no as an answer.
If you get permission to do either one don't just hit and run. I delete those and ban the member.
Be active at other forum where you have posts or a sig link. Being active like I am here gets your sig looked at more. More posts, more hits.
Let's go back to the post you made that leejohn02 commented about. How you word it can make or break a forum. "We needs members to sign up" can kill you. Remember content is king and that applies to posts advertising your forum as well. I have one floating around that goes something like this:

Hi, I'm SetiShock. Some of you may know me from ComputerVitals and many other places I hang my virtual hat.
I've started a forum on the subject of Anime. Having been a big fan for sometime I thought I would give it a go. We have fan and pro art along with an open discussion section and a section set aside just for you aspiring writers. I have some goodies in there that I've been working on.
If you have the time you can drop by and have a look. If you like what you see and want to be a part of our community, then click the registration button and join us.
We look forward to seeing you there,
SetiShock Owner/Admin of www.animeappeal.com

You tease people in to coming over and having a look at your forum. But no hit and run. The places that is posted I got permission first then kept up being an active member. Shoot I even belong to a camera forum. I'm a bit of a shutterbug so that worked out. But I hope you get the point.