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How to populate a forum and get the content flowing



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How to populate a forum and get the content flowing

I recently posted something about if I should do a forum or a community discussion for my new website and it got me thinking a lot about the content after we get going. Now as everyone knows the content is the hardest part since it has to be unique and well written. Setting up a forum or community discussion doesn't mean people will flock to it just to put their $0.02 in so they get a pat on the back. You'll need to get the people in there and make them want to stay. If you can't do that, you're dead in the water before you even started How to populate a forum and get the content flowing

If you're running your own forum, the easiest way to get people to come in and talk is if they see others talking already. If someone is asking similar questions to what they want to ask, they will chime in and comment if they think there's a need to. Ok, but what if no one is posting content or asking questions, you ask? Well why can't you do that to get the ball rolling?

Post your own content and questions to get the original posts on there for people to talk about. Most forum members would rather comment than post a thread of their own and that's because when you post a thread it's like all the digital eyes are on you lol How to populate a forum and get the content flowing

Since you're the owner/administrator you'll be seen as a higher authority, so you'll want to both post and comment. Post your own topics and questions as well as answer whatever you can for other people.

And what a lot of people forget is that since you're the owner, you can has has many profiles as you want lmao How to populate a forum and get the content flowing Go make a few dozen profiles and talk between these profiles to show user engagement and an "active" forum. I know some forum owners who have 500+ profiles and they used all of them at the beginning of the forum. They would register, post, comment, like posts, upvote and all that good stuff. Their forums would get bigger and bigger because of the user engagement and eventually they would sell the forum for a pretty big amount.

You can also pay people to post and comment. Usually this is pretty cheap too, so that's pretty awesome How to populate a forum and get the content flowing You can pay people like $10 per 100 decent posts that aren't "Nice Post!" and this will help lessen the burden of you having to post everything yourself How to populate a forum and get the content flowing


All you have to do is think outside of the box and it gets a lot easier How to populate a forum and get the content flowing

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Cristian
I think old fashioned forums are pretty much dead. Sure for websites like SC that already have a lot of authority, forum posts can drive a lot of traffic. But even SC's forum was closed and evolved into the Community Discussion.

I say "evolve" because I think old school forums like vBulletin are going to slowly die, even the popular ones! Just look at how popular such forums were in the past! Now most of them are in ruin, with a handful of exceptions that are still just a shadow of their formal glory!

Platforms like vBulletin were created with the idea that users from organic traffic will naturally want to register and be a part of the community. But that's not happening in today's world, few people will join a forum and start a discussion just "because" they're a fan of that niche. Nobody has time to hang out on forums like in they did 1999-2005 and most of today's kids don't even understand forums.

Paying people to post and comment will drive some traffic, also organic traffic because forums are ranked pretty good by search engines. But those paid posters will just post as far as they're getting...well, paid! As soon as they won't be paid anymore they'll just scatter into the wind.

I'm not saying you won't be able to develop a community or rank well or turn a profit around. I'm just saying at one point you won't be paying posters anymore and the forum will die. Seen this a couple of times and its pretty sad!



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Lynne
Yeah I am seeing the same thing but I am still thinking of adding a community discussion section to my next website and I have a reason for thinking this will work well for me.

I am still working on my game plan but I am quite excited!



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Lynne
I tried to have a forum before and it took so much time and effort that I didn't really have at the time so I made the decision to give it up after about 6 months.

I really could have done with these tips then to keep me motivated and push me to keep going.

I would be interested to try again sometime in the future.

How easy is it to add a forum to a blog and how much would it cost? Is it just a plugin that you add? Yes I know I had a forum so you are probably wondering why I am asking all these questions but I had a developer do it all for me and now I am doing most of my own things.



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sumoncps
As long as I have understood that a forum only can be possible to populate by the active users. The more the active users, the more people will enjoy being there. I guess initially social media sites like Facebook, twitter, G+ etc can be used to spread the forum links. Along with that it is needed to control the spammy posting on forum.



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Corzhens
I know of a forum admin who created several profiles to make it appear that there are several members posting regularly. And it worked because walk-in members came back for more. They were lured into thinking that there were several active member who were reacting to their posts. It was a pretty nice trick although I know it is not easy to wear several hats. You may fail to project the right personality and people may suspect you of fooling them.



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