best ways to advertise a forum

my forum needs more members
whats the best way?

I suggest optimizing your site, when people find you on Google or Yahoo, they will join if it looks appealing. Also, try blogging or podcasting issues that can help your search. You can send me a private message if you want to talk more about it.

Add few fresh and good contents, good articles, offer referral program, contests to attract the members.

can u guys join my forum at << url snipped >>

<< mod edit: no site specific talk please >>

I've not seen single post in your forum, how one can join your forum without a single member. You should make it live with few posts before requesting the fellow members. :-|

Get friends to join up to help you kick start with posting and activity. Apart from that concentrate on adding new content, optimizing your site for search engines. Here are a few ideas to get a few members to start of with.
1. Post on sites which have subject similar to yours and keep a link to your forum/site in your signature, if you are posting well and helping people out they will notice and will follow the link to your site.
2. Join Yahoo and MSN groups and help out people there and along with that tell people about your site but dont spam.
3. Create new discussions on your forum so that it gives people an incentive to first register and then air their views. No one will join if you wait for them to register and start discussions.

scribbller made some good suggestions.

good stuff scribbler
i have made a point thing (<<site.com>> cash) and you can earn the currency by posting or referring-and can be later exchanged for prizes and advertising

try to offer somthing to the member, somthing they will like. try to offer free email,, add a forum shop etc if you pm me your link i will try to help more

Viral marketing is also a way to go with.

Luckily, forums work well with viral marketing and word of mouth marketing (WOM). The reason for this is because they are already deep in the heart of online community building, which is what online viral marketing is all about. Sites get mentioned in other forums, in blogs, in newsgroups ... in other communities. Eventually word spreads pretty quickly among online cliques and networks. :) Most forum goers participate in multiple forums on a same topic, so much of the community remains the same between sites. Did that make any sense at all?

Right, it is network-enhanced word of mouth, IMO it should carry the central sales message and tailored to your target audience, even on SE point of view it improve link popularity.

There is no magical solution to have your forums run with many members. For the new forum admins it's indeed frustrating. You open a forum and expect people to flood it. Well, they don't. This is why a forum admin needs to work a LOT: from skinning to modding the script and creating new interesting threads each day. There are some "faster" options too: pay for advertising, pay for posts or use some post exchanges. In the end only time and HARD work will make the difference.

In the end only time and HARD work will make the difference.

_______________________________________________________

Ostriches don't bury their heads in the sand. They merely lower their heads. Hard work for me is smart work using own intelligence.

how would one go about enlarging a new forum like wiipros that offers a coin incentive that can be redeemed for stuff and a referral system

http://www.wiipros.co.uk/index.php referrer dogbone27

That was tricky, dogbone27!

For a forum you will need to have fresh and new treads on a daily basis so you can encourage people to join and ceep coming back to your forum.

Also a forum that looks nice also does make people join and stay on a forum.

I too am looking for ways to improve a forum. I have a great idea (at least I think) I just really dont know how to make the site look good, or advertise to make it a good strong forum. any suggestions would be helpful. feel free to PM me!!

For a forum you will need to have fresh and new treads on a daily basis so you can encourage people to join and ceep coming back to your forum.

Also a forum that looks nice also does make people join and stay on a forum.

Yeah, I would agree that this is the main thing that keeps me going back to a forum. If there are several new topics popping up daily, it's a sign that the forum is healthy and intelligent (well, as long as the topics are intelligent).

Now, you can't create new threads all the time though--much of that has to emerge from your members. So I would say do what you can to encourage the active members to stay active.

best way is link exchange..
and google adwards..if you will make a good and attractive ad, it will surely increase your traffic as well as members

I'd say the number one method would be related forums. ie., those forums where the participants would also be keenly interested in what your forum has to offer as well.

Gotta have intriguing topics and information people want to see. You need a niche that is popular. You can try email, link, or article campaigns. But the content of your site will determine who comes to visit or not.

Send ur site to many user :)

Facebooks advertising is one of the most effective as you can narrow down to your target market so precisely.

Good luck! Many other good ideas here!

I know where your comeing from, I had two sites before the one
I have now that failed Epically due to poor advertisement.

Some free advertisement I can suggest off hand,
-Make a youtube Video
-post it everywhere that wont get you into trouble
-tell ppl, and tell them to tell ppl
-topsites
-affiliations
-sig banners

Article promotion and blogging is the right way to get more traffic, also you can use social media.

The best way to promote your forum is to add good content and topics and daily basis and then optimize it and use blogging method!

Send it to as many users and add it to forum site directory or listing

Best forum in the opinion of its members is that they get full opportunity to promote their sites and easily access their accounts and make changes accordingly.