I am starting up a forum for the first time and was just wondering how to get it rolling....I've heard of paid forum posting. I figure its either a scam or it really works...help!

It can work if you can find someone who has a genuine passion and knowledge of the subject of your forum. I have found that the cheaper paid posting is very predictable and the results disappointing. To get something of value, you have to go a little higher than the peanut rate. Also, bear in mind that paid posting is just one small consideration when starting a forum. Concurrently, you should be seeking to drive traffic to the forum to respond to the paid posts etc. I have seen many forums fail because the owner has simply bought 1000 paid posts and expected it to suddenly ignite his forum in to an unprecedented blaze of activity - it don't work like that.

You can always get what you pay for. I have tested some out myself and there are very few (and far between when you are using just search engines rankings alone) to find a place that will work to fit your needs and your budget.

Ya i was skeptical about paid posts...i still might give it a try and maybe combine that with adwords. Thanks for the posts! Any other suggestions on how to get a forum going?

Hi

Hard work, good content a nice layout that is different to other forums can be helpful.

There are no shortcuts, just gotta try to get some good people who post a lot, once you have got a few people, it can snowball from there.

Woc

Yep, case in point. I know of 2 websites with message boards competing for "active" registrants. One started a very controversial subject and it was off and running, leaps and bounds over the other site! Then they stayed to post on other topics.

Some alternatives to pay-per-post (which I personally detest):

1. Run a competition with a desirable reward.

It's better to target people who share the interest of the forum and give a one-off reward to the best poster as decided by the admins. This way you'll still get plenty of posts, but they'll be of quality rather than quantity.

Make sure your reward far outweighs what they'd normally get with a pay-for-post deal.

2. Pay for referrals.

Run a competition to see who can get the most referrals in a month. Make the prizes desirable, of course. By doing this, you'll be leveraging the viral power of all your members in a pyramid scheme. And it can work quickly.

Be sure to check for fake registrations and offer a second tier of prizes. Premium member subscriptions, discounts, etc...

You should look for the people who are really professional in forum posting because if you find people who are not capable of doing this your forum will soon fail.

Originally Posted by tehfincheh

Some alternatives to pay-per-post (which I personally detest):

1. Run a competition with a desirable reward.

It's better to target people who share the interest of the forum and give a one-off reward to the best poster as decided by the admins. This way you'll still get plenty of posts, but they'll be of quality rather than quantity.

Make sure your reward far outweighs what they'd normally get with a pay-for-post deal.

2. Pay for referrals.

Run a competition to see who can get the most referrals in a month. Make the prizes desirable, of course. By doing this, you'll be leveraging the viral power of all your members in a pyramid scheme. And it can work quickly.

Be sure to check for fake registrations and offer a second tier of prizes. Premium member subscriptions, discounts, etc...

Some of the best advice regarding forums I've seen in a while

thanks alot guys! ya i was thinkin of starting a contest, then it occured to me that most of those ppl would probably just leave the forum after the contest...but then i also realized that by then hopefully enough people would have posted and i would have enough members for people to feel like the forum was worth joining. I'll let u all kno how it goes.

Originally Posted by tehfincheh

Be sure to check for fake registrations

How would i check for fake registrations? Can't someone just use a different email account and register as a completley different person?

Originally Posted by OliviaBenson

Yep, case in point. I know of 2 websites with message boards competing for "active" registrants. One started a very controversial subject and it was off and running, leaps and bounds over the other site! Then they stayed to post on other topics.

Thats a really good tip ^
Start a controversial topic! Im going give this a try on one of my newer forums and see if people flock to it!

If you have some friends interested in the topic get them to become active members. They may accept little to nothing for their time and content.

The more social buzz a forum appears to have, the more likely I am (personally) to stick around and read some posts or Join.

Hi John,
What are you starting a forum for? To make money? If so how much money could a forum possible make? Will you earn from Google adds or what? Sorry about the 20 questions I am just interested in how forums make any money at all ?

I somehow feel a forum who are paying someone (publicly) to post will lose its credibility. Its probably just me

Having people to post on your forum is great to persuade others to join. It will make your forum looks alive, doesn't it? If you do want that, seek help from professional forum poster, just to jump-start your site, and then do tehfincheh's suggestion.

Try to contact a friend of mine, fachry.hamid@dabadum.com for such aid. He has worked on my site before, and he is great at what he do...

I hope that helps...

Register at Guru plenty of posters for pay and they bid for your work. Good Pluck

For a forum to keep on ROLLING, you must continuously invite new members. Keep up on starting or opening new threads (as a moderator, you must start the thread first!)

Also, link build your forums. Making it visible in SEs will help you to gain more members.

it always depends on the topic of your board if you can find people that loves to talk about what you have to offer then it is a good sign that your board will grow.

You need to have a split personality and lots of time to start a forum don't you? Either that or lots of mates to post for you... Have you thought about profit sharing with your forum?

The main problem to run a forum is a to connect the people to it's. A good layout and good content forum can easily attract to the people.