How to convert visitors into members?

Discussion in 'Managing Your Online Community' started by Sylvain, Feb 5, 2014.

  1. Sylvain

    Sylvain Regular Member

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    My forum receives more and more visitors every month but the membership doesn't grow as fast as my visitors.

    How do you convert visitors into members ?
     
    Sylvain, Feb 5, 2014
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  2. AWS

    AWS Administrator

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    That's a tough question to answer. The only thing you can do is make sure the content interests them.

    Take a look at how they are getting to your site. Look at the search terms used and which sites link to your content. Something on your site is attracting visitors so you have to catch their eye and make them join.

    These visitors could be bots too. If that is the case then nothing you can do to make them active.
     
    AWS, Feb 5, 2014
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  3. Cerberus

    Cerberus Admin Talk Staff

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    According to marketing firm research you have about 8 seconds from when someone loads your site till they decide if they will stay or leave. So, first thing is you have to make sure your load times are very low, then secondary you need to have content that keeps their attention. Too much clutter can cause them to surf away, horrible colors, and so many other things. You just have to make sure you target the audience you attract correctly. And that changes depending on your site. Just make sure to put the time in and the effort and in the end you will get members. But, there is no magical way to convert visitors to members
     
    Cerberus, Feb 5, 2014
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  4. we_are_borg

    we_are_borg Regular Member

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    Also logout of your account and look at the site as a visitor, that way you'll get an impression what visitors see. Also people do not want to click 2 to 3 times to get somewhere. Make sure that information that is given is accurate renew it if needed with updated information.
     
    we_are_borg, Feb 5, 2014
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  5. Sylvain

    Sylvain Regular Member

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    Good comments :)

    Those visitors are not bots, I get my stats from Google Analytics and it doesn't count bots.

    My forum loads ok, not super fast, not super slow. I like the 8 seconds thing.... It is like speed dating :) LOL

    I often look to my forum as a guest just to make sure things are ok. From my point of view, they are but maybe I need something more (or less) to catch people attention and make them register.



    Another point that I just realized, when a forum grows, visitors don't have to register to ask a question and find an answer. They can browse the forum and find the info they need.
     
    Sylvain, Feb 5, 2014
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  6. AWS

    AWS Administrator

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    That is exactly correct. Many problems or questions a visitor might have could already be answered. Not too much you can do about that one.
     
    AWS, Feb 5, 2014
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  7. cpvr

    cpvr Regular Member

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    You can really only lure the visitors in with more interesting and deep content. They'll join and stop lurking when they see threads that'll they'll love to reply to. I always have a bunch of guests browsing my community and sometimes they join when they want to become a member. Just keep working hard and try to get more content on the boards. The guests will eventually become members.
     
    cpvr, Feb 6, 2014
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