Top Tips For a New Forum

[Reverie]

What are some tips that you think any new administrator, or any new forum, should know in order to get really started?

Just to start off...

1. Make sure the layout of the forum is understandable. Do not repeat words over and over throughout the layout such as "Area" in each title. In the description give a basic run down of what we should expect to see in that area.
2. If there are going to be rules for an area, make them short and easy to read and make sure to pin them. If you're going to be specific on how a user uses the area please make sure to do this! Even a "How-to-post" would be nice if it is specific.
3. Have a skin/design/theme that reflects your forum. Whether it be custom, premade, dark, light. Help it give your forum some character.
4. Have patience - if it does not take off at first - just keep advertising and creating new content for your forum.
5. Make sure before opening you elude to a new forum opening at other forums in your signature if it is allowed- it will peak interest. Once you open, put that your forum has opened in your signature.

These are the main ones I thought of, but are there any others you can think of?

 

[Cory]

Do not start by making your forum layout overly massive in size. Some forum owners make the mistake of wanting their forum to essentially cover any topic possible, but it's good to start out small or at least medium-sized before you start expanding into a larger community with a variety of forums to roam through.

Keep the graphics, scripting, and other types of media to a minimum if you want your forum to run up to speed. Make sure to optimize your forum objects to help them load more quickly.

 

[Cedric]

1. Add ons don't make a forum, your community does.
2. As an admin you need to take the lead in creating content.
3. As an admin, you need to work on your forum hard and keep doing it. Your community will not establish on itself. It takes a lot of time.
4. As an admin, you need to be patience, communities aren't build in a day. It takes months to years to establish.
5. If you're not willing to put in the time and effort to make your community thrive, then don't bother creating it in the first place.


I'll stop for now.

 

[guyyanthony]

1. Add ons don't make a forum, your community does.
2. As an admin you need to take the lead in creating content.
3. As an admin, you need to work on your forum hard and keep doing it. Your community will not establish on itself. It takes a lot of time.
4. As an admin, you need to be patience, communities aren't build in a day. It takes months to years to establish.
5. If you're not willing to put in the time and effort to make your community thrive, then don't bother creating it in the first place.


I'll stop for now.

These are exactly what i was going to write, but just worded differently lol haha

 

[joelr]

One of the hard truths is that most forum owners build their forums too early.

As @Aerodynamic pointed out, add-ons don't make the forum, the community does.

But what makes the community? Having a brand or audience.

Most independent forum owners never learn this.

 

[Debashis]

Starting a forum is same as starting a new business. You have to be the first creator, the first moderator, the first promoter, the first seller, the first everything in order to help it take off. Be real, be consistent, be disciplined and patient. Keep doing what's necessary and it will show results when the time is right. Don't give up.

 

[Empire]

1. Add ons don't make a forum, your community does.
2. As an admin you need to take the lead in creating content.
3. As an admin, you need to work on your forum hard and keep doing it. Your community will not establish on itself. It takes a lot of time.
4. As an admin, you need to be patience, communities aren't build in a day. It takes months to years to establish.
5. If you're not willing to put in the time and effort to make your community thrive, then don't bother creating it in the first place.

I'll Continue

6. Don't ahve so many boards, to begin with, 100 is way too much compared to 50
7. Design and look and feel, You need those people to join to become members via them saying and seeing WOW, first impression.
8. Social media can be your enemy and so use them to benefit the site. Open social media accounts based on the site names and POST
9. Get new content going straight away, hire people to make posting and whatnot, exchanges and deals
10. Be yourself and not act as if you are another damn person, that's how people get to know you more
11. VPS is not needed to start off with, save money grow and build as you get bigger ;P
12. promote as much as you can on other sites, follow their rules thought hahaha
13. don't poop off members as soon as they join
14. Give them free Donuts
15. If you that willing do giveaways.. not always works but yeah. they come for the giveaway then they leave after it's done, so that's needs thinking right

 

[Ravenfreak]

Add content to your forum before opening it to the public and promoting it. It's best to have content already added so new members can engage right away. A empty forum doesn't look inviting, so new people might not join.

 

[Nomad]

The most important thing is to bring members. How do you bring the first members to your forum? The second most important thing is how do get active members. If you do not have the answers, your forum will fail.