Need Some help with gaining more members?

This is a discussion for the topic Need Some help with gaining more members? on the board Simple Machines (SMF).

Author Topic: Need Some help with gaining more members?  (Read 453 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

June 10, 2012, 12:08:14 AM
Read 453 times

Offline Rush

  • Full Member
  • *

  • Super Rush at the rescue

  • 100
    Posts
  • Karma: +0/-0

  • Gender: Male

  • Rush The Hedgehog

    • Mario & Sonic Fan Forum
Need Some help with gaining more members?
« on: June 10, 2012, 12:08:14 AM »
Hey there guys, I need some more help gaining a lot more members, I've installed all the mods that bigears/old fossil recommended, but i just need more members it's starting to get to quiet there, Is there any other tips i can take, thank you :):thankyou1:




  • Read 453 times
  • Simple Machines (SMF)
  • 12 Replies



June 10, 2012, 06:25:44 AM
Reply #1

Offline Skhilled

  • Global Moderator
  • *

  • 516
    Posts
  • Karma: +0/-0

  • Gender: Male

  • Retro Gamer

    • Doc Skillz
Re: Need Some help with gaining more members?
« Reply #1 on: June 10, 2012, 06:25:44 AM »
There are various ways to gain members but, generally speaking, mods are not the answer. And if your forum does not a have lot of content then there's nothing to keep one's interest or keep them coming back. That's like baking a bad cake and disguising it with sweet frosting and pretty colors. Yes, a mod like the arcade will probably keep people there but most will only be there to play games and not to contribute to the forum.

Many people think that you can just start a forum and not do much to it and the users will provide the content, postings, etc. Nothing can be further from the truth! "If you build it, they will come" does not work with websites. Just think, when you go to a website you want accurate information, updates to that information as well as any new information, etc. This is what you have to do to your forum and it is a never ending task.

First, you must have INTERESTING content and a LOTS of it. Things that will engage your users and, most importantly, KEEP THEM COMING BACK.

2.  Always keep your content updated and regularly add new content. For instance, since your forum is about Sonic and Mario where is the information about each character? When were they started? Who created them? How many games are they in and where is the detailed info about those games? I'd figure that a "fan" site would, at the very least, have that type if info as fans of anything would already know these things or would want to know them.

3.  Submit your forum to the search engines. To easily do this, most hosting companies have a "Submit to Google", etc. link in cPanel along with other such things. For a little more info in this please see the following board and topics or just google it or watch the many youtube vids on this subject:

SEO/Advertising Info

I highly suggest that you add as much content as possible BEFORE you submit to the search engines. More content and regularly updated content will help increase your rankings with search engines. Search engiens not only crawl your site to make sure it is there but once they find it they keep searching it for new or updated content.

4.  Visit other forums. Why should people want to go to your forum if you do not visit their forum as well? And when you do, add your forum to their "showcase" board, if they have one. Also, make sure you display your forum's sig in your profile. Sooner or later someone will click it or ask about it. ;)

5.  Have patience! It will take awhile for things to gain momentum. There will also be quiet times...people do have a life, ya know. LOL Use the quiet times to get busy and add or upgrade your content. Cause once it does get busy you'll find that you may not have the time to do it then.

6.  Keep it light, fun and not to restrictive. Since you have Simple Portal, create page that have your rules...I prefer to call them "guidelines", it just sounds nicer and there will be time when you might have to bend the rules.

7.  Staff rules and everything else regard staff issues should be posted in a "staff only" board. There should also be board for support staff, those who are staff but not admins, and an admin board that is for admins only. I mentioned this because of this topic:

http://marioandsonicfanforum.com/index.php/topic,62.0.html

8.  Of course, if you are going to have an arcade you'll probably want to add more games...especially Nintendo types.

June 10, 2012, 06:35:41 AM
Reply #2

Offline Skhilled

  • Global Moderator
  • *

  • 516
    Posts
  • Karma: +0/-0

  • Gender: Male

  • Retro Gamer

    • Doc Skillz
Re: Need Some help with gaining more members?
« Reply #2 on: June 10, 2012, 06:35:41 AM »
And I just noticed that you are missing a couple of images for your theme. Use IE to see the little red X's there.

June 10, 2012, 07:17:31 AM
Reply #3

Offline Rush

  • Full Member
  • *

  • Super Rush at the rescue

  • 100
    Posts
  • Karma: +0/-0

  • Gender: Male

  • Rush The Hedgehog

    • Mario & Sonic Fan Forum
Re: Need Some help with gaining more members?
« Reply #3 on: June 10, 2012, 07:17:31 AM »
Well i noticed in Fire Fox, that the images are broken? weird?

June 10, 2012, 07:24:05 AM
Reply #4

Offline Skhilled

  • Global Moderator
  • *

  • 516
    Posts
  • Karma: +0/-0

  • Gender: Male

  • Retro Gamer

    • Doc Skillz
Re: Need Some help with gaining more members?
« Reply #4 on: June 10, 2012, 07:24:05 AM »
I used FF too but have a fix that shows me broken images like IE does. That's why the attachment doesn't have red X's. ;)

The theme's creator neglected to include them in the packaged product.

June 10, 2012, 03:53:54 PM
Reply #5

Offline BigEars

  • Sr. Member
  • *

  • 486
    Posts
  • Karma: +0/-0

  • Gender: Male

  • Getting there eventually

Re: Need Some help with gaining more members?
« Reply #5 on: June 10, 2012, 03:53:54 PM »
S@ffz will have to go back to skool.

 :bh :bh

June 10, 2012, 08:09:26 PM
Reply #6

Offline s@ffz

  • Lead Theme Coder
  • *

  • 278
    Posts
  • Karma: +1/-0

  • Gender: Female

  • -♦- GraphicJunki -♦-

    • GraphicJunki Creative Designs
Re: Need Some help with gaining more members?
« Reply #6 on: June 10, 2012, 08:09:26 PM »
When you are logged into the forum they show in IE ,Chrome and firefox

June 10, 2012, 08:13:28 PM
Reply #7

Offline Skhilled

  • Global Moderator
  • *

  • 516
    Posts
  • Karma: +0/-0

  • Gender: Male

  • Retro Gamer

    • Doc Skillz
Re: Need Some help with gaining more members?
« Reply #7 on: June 10, 2012, 08:13:28 PM »
Oh, so why are they not showing to guests?

June 10, 2012, 08:20:26 PM
Reply #8

Offline s@ffz

  • Lead Theme Coder
  • *

  • 278
    Posts
  • Karma: +1/-0

  • Gender: Female

  • -♦- GraphicJunki -♦-

    • GraphicJunki Creative Designs
Re: Need Some help with gaining more members?
« Reply #8 on: June 10, 2012, 08:20:26 PM »
I don't know will have to look into it.

btw Skhilled great post on generating traffic

June 10, 2012, 08:33:51 PM
Reply #9

Offline Skhilled

  • Global Moderator
  • *

  • 516
    Posts
  • Karma: +0/-0

  • Gender: Male

  • Retro Gamer

    • Doc Skillz
Re: Need Some help with gaining more members?
« Reply #9 on: June 10, 2012, 08:33:51 PM »
Thanks. I just checked and I could have sworn earlier that the files were missing for those images. I right-clicked and selected View Image Info and the code looked strange. I meant to post it but was in a rush to take the kids to the pool.

However, it's fixed now.

June 10, 2012, 11:46:10 PM
Reply #10

Offline Rush

  • Full Member
  • *

  • Super Rush at the rescue

  • 100
    Posts
  • Karma: +0/-0

  • Gender: Male

  • Rush The Hedgehog

    • Mario & Sonic Fan Forum
Re: Need Some help with gaining more members?
« Reply #10 on: June 10, 2012, 11:46:10 PM »
Thanks skhilled, i'm reading your post now :).

June 10, 2012, 11:54:37 PM
Reply #11

Offline BigEars

  • Sr. Member
  • *

  • 486
    Posts
  • Karma: +0/-0

  • Gender: Male

  • Getting there eventually

Re: Need Some help with gaining more members?
« Reply #11 on: June 10, 2012, 11:54:37 PM »
Thanks skhilled, i'm reading your post now :).

Mind ya don't fall asleep reading it.

June 11, 2012, 12:10:29 AM
Reply #12

Offline Rush

  • Full Member
  • *

  • Super Rush at the rescue

  • 100
    Posts
  • Karma: +0/-0

  • Gender: Male

  • Rush The Hedgehog

    • Mario & Sonic Fan Forum
Re: Need Some help with gaining more members?
« Reply #12 on: June 11, 2012, 12:10:29 AM »
Thanks skhilled, i'm reading your post now :).

Mind ya don't fall asleep reading it.
:banhim: I won't Bigears.