Non-Automated Growth

All I can suggest is not to give up. A month is nothing. It took daily posting on DaniWeb nearly a year before the site took off, but look where we are today, after hard work and persistance.

That's the golden rule, never give up :)

It takes hard work to take off, but after that is really nice to see the results :)

Thanks for the comment... I guess I'll just keep waiting. It is frustrating when no one has even visited the site. I don't even know how to get traffic!

Don't lose hope,what is the name of your site,let me visit it..

Don't lose hope,what is the name of your site,let me visit it..

PM'd

**hint**

You can see my site from reading my posts lol

Hey guys... Thanks again for the information. So far we set-up adsense and tried to add more features and are currently working on a blog format for the phpbb forum.... But still... we got one user...who posted once... but never posted again...

what gives!!!!

all we want is users...we dont even care about google or money or anything!

When that one user who posted, did you instantly reply to the post they made? Did you answer any questions they had? Did you send them a welcome message? Did you invite them to come back? In the beginning, it's incredibly important to be proactive.

Tips I used when starting off..
1, Content, ensure you have regular new content
2. Keep the number of forums to a minimum until you have traffic to populate them with content
3. Controversy- everyone likes a small disagreement/debate/arguement, one devious trick is to create your own "discussion" using two usernames, as people start to join in let one drop away
4. be "Niche" just creating a set of general forums in the hope of attracting everyone will only put you up against the Big Boys with lots of cash to spend on marketing,
5. Have a clear set of rules of what is permitted, and what actions will be taken against users if they transgress
6. Keep at it, my forums started 7 years ago, it took me 3 years to build up any sort of traffic, a further 3 years before anyone in the niche industry took much notice of it, last year I sold it to a major publishing house and now get paid to babysit it :)
7. keep your expectations of traffic reasonable, in the first year I was pleased to have 100 registered members of which 25 were regular posters, this year, despite changing boards in year 4 and losing many registered members(couldnt afford to get the database converted at the time), we have just under 7000 members and do about 6.5 million page views a year

Another reason to be niche: General forums, or forums that cover all of your own varied interests, seem to lose focus. Visitors don't understand what they're expected to get out of them, and confused visitors are not sticky visitors.

In my first year, I was happy to have one new member a month!

Although I am still updating my website and the software it uses. I found this thread very useful and full of good info. Its threads like this, that make me always come back to daniweb. :)

I have the same feeling as the others here: 1 month is nothing. It takes time, and constant link-building to grow traffic. You don't just flip a switch and overnight you are balling out of control. It takes focused, diligent effort, over a long period of time.

I also think cscgal's post is a helpful one. This is her forum board, and have you noticed that she jumps in on nearly every conversation? I think you should cater carefully and faithfully to every single person who gets on the forum. In the beginning, it might be your own interesting dialogue that proves to be the most attractive aspect to new visitors.

Agreed ... you can never stop being proactive and there will always be room for improvement, whether you have 100 members or 100,000 members.