how do websites like offtopic.com get so friggin big?

[Pain86]

hey MPdev..love your site.

http://www.extremefitness.com/forum/index.php

Pictures of Babes (367 Viewing)

that seems to be your most popular section which isnt bbing/fitness related..have you done anything to make your other sections more active? .. id like to know.

[MPDev]

Blame it all on Google - I got a ton of referral traffic from search engines. I even cleared out the POB section entirely just a couple months ago and started from scratch. I've even closed the section down for a week at a time (just last week) because the number is usually 700+ viewing at any given time. "Normal" traffic is around 1,000 users online throughout the day unless I'm blocking the Babes section. That we pruned threads every 90 days for the first 4 or 5 years we were around really make our numbers seem small (except number of registered users); I myself have made over 7,000 posts on the site over the years, I believe. I'd have to total the post count to see how many threads have actually been created (we upgraded to vBulletin about 5 months ago).

Maybe a little history is worthwhile - I am a fitness photographer who also has done adult work. I've brought over 30+ models to the site who post as EF BABES, so we have a mixture of content producers posting content.

Truth is, there are alot of bodybuilding/fitness sites out there and we're all competing for the same group of people; my forums have some good people invovled and a nice community of fitness buffs. Weather it grows or not matters little to me as I enjoy the site as it is.