Alot of traffic, but no members :(

Well this is pretty strange because I have been doing everything I can to promote and advertise my forum. I bought adspace on many large forums which has helped with traffic. I run an adult forum so it gets alot of traffic, but no one ever signs up. I have so many guests online but no one joins.. what am I doing wrong here?

 

If you use traffic exchanges then that would it explain it all. If you don't, they could be auto generated by the sites to make their ad sales look effective.

 

That could be a good explanation but he said traffic is not a problem for him, just getting members to join is.

 

I know and I said that could be because of the use of traffic exchanges and auto generated views as that would give you a lot of traffic but no members.

 

How much contents is visible to guests? perhaps some are just lurking, or are just nosey

 

That could be...

In that case you could make the content available to members only that way you can get the lurkers to signup.

 

Adult forums tend to do that, why don't you close some things out, and work from there? The guests are just looking at content, and lurking. That's what guests tend to do and such.

 

Yea I was thinking of doing that making content available to members only as Kaiser suggested..

 

Or you can add a mod that allows guests to view a certain amount of threads before being required to join.

 

I hate being the 'me too' person but I'm going to have to agree that guests are just peeking at the freebies (pics, videos, content) you have up on the forum and then leaving. They have no incentive to stay, there's no compelling reason that would make them join. They got the goodies and now they're off to do other things. What's that old saying about not buying the cow if you're getting the milk for free? If that phrase doesn't apply here, then I don't know where.

The idea mentioned above about giving the visitor a taste of the forum content and then cutting them off after a certain number threads are viewed is a solid one cause it sells the site (try before you buy) before membership is required.

Is there any kind of forum contest you could offer to stimulate membership? Random prizes for members who join and post the most? Maybe Amazon gift certificates? Other forums have used that tactic with some success.

Maybe a 'members only' sub-forum where you keep the good stuff (video, pics, member chat) could be available AFTER guests join. But, guests would be free to browse the other sections of the forum for sneak-peeks. Would that idea work?

 

Then you should, and require new members to post 5 or 20 times in order to access such content.

 

Thats sounds decent, making them reach a certain postcount to access forums.

 

Basically when you run a forum that allows people to view free content, you have to find a way to lure them in to post. Such as, especially with pictures - make those only available to posters that have been members for 7 days or have new members post a lot before having access.

 

From a forumer point of view, adult forums don't really get a lot of members. People don't really want to talk about their "adult stories" right? Unless you can manage to get those viewers to talk about their experiences, there will be no chance that your forum will get any members. I also think that making some content only available to members would get those viewers to register.

 

I use to visit an adult forum and most of the time I just go there to look images, if its available to download i will. The forum requires a number of posts inorder for users to download and view images, i guess this will be a good idea for you to get signups. To earn thru it, the admin also has VIP section where of course to be a VIP, they should pay for the membership.

 

I agree with most of the above, too. You really need to give them a REASON to want to sign up. You need plenty of content, of course, but you need some of it to be hidden enough that they'll want to join in. And get some conversations going so they have a reason to post instead of just looking.

 

Do you offer any incentives for your members to join? Members won't sign up just because you have a forum, it needs to be active, and a great resource for the users. Focus on improving your site, and the members will come in.

 

Is the topic creator still running the forum this topic was about? Because his last post here was in May 2011 and I'm curious to whether he got more members to his forum or gave up yet.

 

You have to have a fairly active forum in order for people to find it alluring enough to join. I doubt making content available to registered members would help. Quite frankly, I just close the forum if I can't see what is on it before I register.

The only thing that might help is hiding links/ pictures from non registered members.

 

I don't think you are doing anything wrong but as you may know, many people are "scared" of subscribing to adult sites because most of such sites are pron to virus attacks and also email exchanging. So after you sign up or subscribe, it won't take long before your email starts to fill up with spam mail. I would say you can allow them to download short movies or previews only after they subscribe, and also make sure that you don't spam their mails.