Traffic, Traffic, Traffic

[cheat-master30]

Originally Posted by Lynne

I would not go increase the hacks and skins, I really doubt those are what bring people to a site. For instance, other than my tracker hack, I have only a handful of hacks on the site (that my users can see - several I wrote for my Mods). And, we only had one skin available for about a year and then have added a couple of holiday skins and an April Fools one that they can still use.

The thing that keeps your users on your site is content.

I know from experience and certain websites I visit that arcades and RPGs cause a lot of new members just for those features. They don't post mind you... but they are a bit of a member magnet. I have about 50 members I'd say who probably joined for the arcade (something about free games?)

I'd personally say a few things though would draw members:

1. More features than say... Gamefaqs type forums.

2. A nice, friendly community.

3. Good SEO I'd assume, since vB SEO, while not personally used does seem to help member counts a bit... Although seems to fail altogether with getting members to post...

4. A customised forum style that's not default vBulletin would help...

5. Letting guests view the content would help activity and the like. Many people just leave instantly when all forums have been made private...


However, from personally experience, there is more than that. Seriously, just about any possible thing you do probably has an effect on whether certain people join or post. Heck, even posting with a signature link here gets some people (I currently have about four members from vBulletin.org).