How do I get from 10 members to 1000 members?

I know this might be a stupid question but I'm quite new to the admin thing so bare with me if you can.

I have recently started a music forum called RockTalk. The aim is to connect people through music, whatever their taste in music is. At RockTalk you can view/share and comment on your favourite music. This means if theres no members with the same taste in music as you, all you need to do is post some of your favourite songs and it may attract other people to join. You can also promote your own band, label by posting videos of your gigs.

I would really like to make this site more popular but like i said im new to this. Does anyone have any tips that would be useful, Thanks in advance.

 

@RockTalk Have you tried taking a look at this post? http://admin-talk.com/threads/6360/
Right now, you're off to a good start - you have 10 members. That means, you need to get out there and promote - get more content on your boards as well because nobody likes an empty forum. I'd recommend trying to get 5 to 10 threads in each forum that you currently have, and go from there.

I also believe @Big Dan @Carlos and @Brandon can share some information with you as well. Big Dan runs a DJ forum.

 

Thanks for the advice cpvr, much appreciated.

 

You're very welcome. We're here to help our fellow administrators/owners/staff members of any forum on the net!

 

A few suggestions or tips

• you may think about hiding your forum stats for now
• doing post exchanges with other admins
• ask your friends to join
• how are you promoting, go to similar sites and (follow their rules) add a link in your signature & start helping people out
• what does your site offer a guest, why should they sign up
• see if your current members can help promote, ask thir friends
• do your best as the admin to act professional and act like you know what your doing
• consider making another account and posting under it to help with activity
• run a contest
• do everything possible to keep your forum active, no one likes a dead forum

That should be a good place to start.

 

Really great stuff, thanks Brandon

 

And oh ya, be sure to keep us updated on your forum's progress. Its great to a forum have some type of success online, and if you set your mind to it, I'm sure you'll be okay.

Also I forgot to say is if you need another stream to help you with getting more posts, have you looked into PostLoop? > http://www.postloop.com/

 

Okay, I have built a site from the ground up before. This was a Marvel Vs Capcom 3 forum. I only bought a forum database of 24 members, and a few discussions here and there. It was a small forum, very small. I built the site by putting a lot of MVC3 videos and then marketed each video individually through facebook and Twitter. Google found us by the niche alone. It was the only MVC3 forum on the internet. It was the only dedicated MVC3 forum that I've seen.

So, my suggestion is to like or tweet most of your threads. And I don't mean your members' threads. I mean threads you made, from your own fingers. Why? Because your tweets has to reflect your website's brand and/or your brand. Your website's brand is your brand and then vice versa. You need to get people to trust your posts, your threads, your tweets, and your likes. Because if your twitter followers don't like a thread created by a member of your forum, then it reflects your entire site's brand, which in turn hurts your brand. This is true of any website. ANY.

The only time that I would tweet or like a members' thread is when the site has become strong. You don't need to worry about branding after a website has established it's presence. So, if your friend comes over your site and makes a thread about his youtube video, tweet that. And then put in your marketing speech. Make it relevant to that thread.

If a popular, and a growing youtube'r comes to your forums and uses your forums as a message to that particular market... then by all means market that thread.

Here are examples of what I mean:
Modern Waiting: http://www.codforums.com/threads/modern-waiting-3.1102/ I loved the quality, so I went ahead and marketed this post hard.

Then the guy came back for more:
Modern Knifing: http://www.codforums.com/threads/mw3-panic-knifing-irl-modern-knifing-3.1327/ I marketed this too.

The guy wants more from Call of Duty:
Modern Mic Spam: http://www.codforums.com/threads/mw3-modern-mic-chatter-3-stop-the-mic-chatter-irl-video.1373/ Just earlier today, I marketed this in addition to the already busy day at CODForums.

 

All I can say is promote, promote, promote.

Use can hire people to promote for you with microworkers

You can make a custom signature that people can carry with them to other places.

Make newsletters.

The sky's the limit.

 

This thread is so helpful.
I own a new start up forum, Hope I too benefit from this thread!

 

Ya, I haven't seen so many custom signatures on the web these days. It was quite popular before. You could also get stickers made, little buttons, and things like that - and also, write for others, including a link to your forum - that way, you have another extra source of promotion.

 

Some tips from me from experience that have worked:
-Advertise on EVERY forum you go on or register to by putting the site URL In your signature and profile
-Advertise on ALL promotion forums
-Do LOTS of post exchanges with other admins
-Sign up for postloop if you can and utilize that service.

 

Good thread!

My forum is on success way! But cpvr and brandon help needed!

 

Really? Thanks for the kind words, glad we could help you!

 

1. get constant QUALITY content
2. have new threads on a daily basis
3. have a nice friendly community, be there for your members
4. promote in similar sites, make yourself and the forum known
5. rinse and repeat.

You won't make it in 2 months, so be ready for a long 'ride'. Good quality in all you do and constant effort will do the trick.

 

You can also use banner advertising to drive traffic to your site. Make sure you advertise on high traffic sites within your niche (music). You can also go for media buys, they can drive great traffic to your site.

 

I have been doing this, for the past month or so and I see it working already.

 

Ya, with Project wonderful, Google adwords, or on blogs(not sure if there's a marketplace there), but getting links from relevant sites work the best. All you have to do is push your content through Twitterfeed and people will see what your community is offering.

I used to write guest blogs to build links and some extra exposure. That helps as well.

 

Any update on this man? Would love to hear updates/progress as to your goal

 

ditto @RockTalk
Also I wanted to bump this great thread