The forum, also known as the "message board", can be a great marketing tool for your website. They attract repeat visitors and provide them with a meeting place to share their thoughts, ideas, questions and concerns.
Unfortunately, many webmasters try to launch a board on their website and eventually close it due to lack of activity and popularity.
You ask, what is the key to success?
Below you will find 5 quick tips on creating and promoting message boards for your website.
You need a lot of traffic
If your site receives a small amount of traffic every day, it's hard to talk on your motherboard.
Keep in mind that everyone who visits your site won't notice or visit your motherboard, and those who stay on your site may just browse and not post. In fact, most visitors to your board will only look around.
Your website should have at least 1,000 unique visitors per day before you start. Don't open it too early, because if no one posts it, it will make your site look uninhabited.
2. Create some simplified conversations
Once you have created your board, post some questions to make your pieces scroll. This may entice people to jump in and post some comments.
If you use a free board like http://www.phpbb.com, you can create a poll to stimulate participation. People like to interact and express their opinions. Post some polls to let visitors vote on the topic.
Also, don't be accused of talking to yourself. I mean you might want to create some usernames yourself and have them post questions and answers. This may sound stupid, but if you lack activity, this may help with some conversation. No one will know that they are not real people except you! ;]
3. Promotion! promote! promote!
Don't just provide one or two links to your message board. Link to it from every page on your website. Include it in your email signature, if you have a newsletter, use the special edition when the email is posted.
On the Contact page, it is recommended that your visitors post questions on the message board as an alternative to sending you an email. This will force some people to browse the board and possibly find the answers they need. If your visitors start to find useful boards, they will often return and hope to start publishing.
4. Keep the category at the minimum at the beginning
A major mistake people make with new message boards is that they create too many categories. Keep in mind that for most new forums, the number of posts will be small at first. So if you have 10 categories and only use 1 or 2, it will make your board look scarce.
Try to create only one or two at the beginning, and then once traffic starts to enter, you can add new ones.
5. Make the board easy to use
Don't force visitors to search for instructions on how to use the forum. If they have to solve the problem, they will be discouraged and leave. Be sure to use a simple and intuitive script.
I recommend http://www.phpbb.com. They are not only free, but also simple to set up and the layout is clean.
Hopefully these quick tips will help you launch the new messeeg board. Again, don't forget to advertise it like crazy. If you can build an active community, it can be a marketing tool for your website.
Orignal From: Five tips for launching a successful news forum
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