Getting Started:
I've observed a lot of times how forum owners give up or aren't motivated enough to continue with their forums because it is difficult to get people to join and interact. So, I put together this guide to outline some best practices to get your forum going and spread the word. This document is more of a what to do and what not to do with your forum.
Theming and Styling:
The default theme that comes with is very clean and nicely organized. When you go to open your forum up to the public, you will get a lot of criticism and people whining if you are using the default theme. I recommend finding one that suits your topic niche. Go for one that looks clean, professional, and nicely organized. This includes colors and images. Avoid using ripped themes and themes with awful colors and huge images. Use a compact logo.
Organization:
One of huge issues with new forums is the lack of organization. Your forum is new, it has maybe a max of 5 members. There is no reason to have 50 forums on your board index. Cut down sections and focus on adding cotnent to them. For example, if you start a Gaming Forum, create a News Section, along with General Gaming and console section. As your forum grows, break down the sections. This type of organization keeps your site clean and makes it easy to locate sections.
Content:
The most important aspect of your Forum. Might scare your visitors or just tempt them to register. After you have your forums organized, fill them with topics. Start with a minimum of 5 to 7 in each forum. If you are going to open your forum up for the public to see, people aren't going to want to join if there is no content. What's the point? You have to create content so it looks active, unique and gives them a reason to join and participate in the topics. The most helpful way is to have a few friends join a week before your forum officially opens and start having discussions among yourselves. This way, when you open you have threads, posts, and members. Avoid creating "fake" members to make it look like you have some activity. If people find out you did that, they won't come back.
Staff:
Probably a good idea to start out with a couple moderators or an additional administrator. I advise against having lots of staff though as it's not necessary. Remember, moderators are for moderating, not showing off or giving out as candies. Never promote someone to a class that gives them moderating privilege, if you do not fully trust them. When someone takes over your forum and deletes all your posts, it's sure to be a bad day. In the end, you're the loser.
Advertising:
The most important step to a successful forum is advertise. Well, everywhere!. You need to get the word out as fast as possible that "hey guys check my new forum". One advertising location is not enough, by any means. Make a list of forums that permit advertising then and post on all of them at once. When you make your advertising post, always avoid things like "check out my site" or "join my site". Instead, give a decent-long description. Discuss what your forum is about and why people should join it. Use proper grammar and spelling, "hey pl0x please join please site my" will make your site look lq and again, people will avoid it. A good idea ir to buy a paid sticky, here at Hack Forums, if you think your forum has good potential. This helps to get your forum noticed. Lastly, include a hyperlink to your forum. Make sure it is prefixed with http:// so it becomes clickable when you post. If your link is just text, and not clickable, nobody is going to take the time to copy/paste it into the address bar to visit it. Also, avoid posting registration links. Nobody would register on a forum being seeing it.
I've observed a lot of times how forum owners give up or aren't motivated enough to continue with their forums because it is difficult to get people to join and interact. So, I put together this guide to outline some best practices to get your forum going and spread the word. This document is more of a what to do and what not to do with your forum.
Theming and Styling:
The default theme that comes with is very clean and nicely organized. When you go to open your forum up to the public, you will get a lot of criticism and people whining if you are using the default theme. I recommend finding one that suits your topic niche. Go for one that looks clean, professional, and nicely organized. This includes colors and images. Avoid using ripped themes and themes with awful colors and huge images. Use a compact logo.
Organization:
One of huge issues with new forums is the lack of organization. Your forum is new, it has maybe a max of 5 members. There is no reason to have 50 forums on your board index. Cut down sections and focus on adding cotnent to them. For example, if you start a Gaming Forum, create a News Section, along with General Gaming and console section. As your forum grows, break down the sections. This type of organization keeps your site clean and makes it easy to locate sections.
Content:
The most important aspect of your Forum. Might scare your visitors or just tempt them to register. After you have your forums organized, fill them with topics. Start with a minimum of 5 to 7 in each forum. If you are going to open your forum up for the public to see, people aren't going to want to join if there is no content. What's the point? You have to create content so it looks active, unique and gives them a reason to join and participate in the topics. The most helpful way is to have a few friends join a week before your forum officially opens and start having discussions among yourselves. This way, when you open you have threads, posts, and members. Avoid creating "fake" members to make it look like you have some activity. If people find out you did that, they won't come back.
Staff:
Probably a good idea to start out with a couple moderators or an additional administrator. I advise against having lots of staff though as it's not necessary. Remember, moderators are for moderating, not showing off or giving out as candies. Never promote someone to a class that gives them moderating privilege, if you do not fully trust them. When someone takes over your forum and deletes all your posts, it's sure to be a bad day. In the end, you're the loser.
Advertising:
The most important step to a successful forum is advertise. Well, everywhere!. You need to get the word out as fast as possible that "hey guys check my new forum". One advertising location is not enough, by any means. Make a list of forums that permit advertising then and post on all of them at once. When you make your advertising post, always avoid things like "check out my site" or "join my site". Instead, give a decent-long description. Discuss what your forum is about and why people should join it. Use proper grammar and spelling, "hey pl0x please join please site my" will make your site look lq and again, people will avoid it. A good idea ir to buy a paid sticky, here at Hack Forums, if you think your forum has good potential. This helps to get your forum noticed. Lastly, include a hyperlink to your forum. Make sure it is prefixed with http:// so it becomes clickable when you post. If your link is just text, and not clickable, nobody is going to take the time to copy/paste it into the address bar to visit it. Also, avoid posting registration links. Nobody would register on a forum being seeing it.
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