How do I advertise my website?

[emanuel.b]

I started a forums site and after 5 months, there are still no users. I'm not going to mention specifics here, in the interest of this thread not being marked as Spam. But seriously, I'm at a loss here. Does anyone have any Ideas on how I can drive some traffic to my site? (And don't suggest SEO, my site is "SEO'ed" enough...")

[Sporkman]

You could try Google Adwords.

[emanuel.b]

You could try Google Adwords.
I'm kinda short on cash, so anything free would be great. :)

[Sporkman]

I'm kinda short on cash, so anything free would be great. :)

Make your site so awesome that people will want to tell others about it & link to it.

[lisati]

There's no guarantees of it generating traffic, but there's adding your URL to Google (http://www.google.com/addurl/). Other search engines have similar facilities.

I occasionally get traffic from the forums, but as you say, you need to be careful that any links in your profile and/or signature aren't mistaken for spamvertising.

[emanuel.b]

There's no guarantees of it generating traffic, but there's adding your URL to Google (http://www.google.com/addurl/). Other search engines have similar facilities.

I occasionally get traffic from the forums, but as you say, you need to be careful that any links in your profile and/or signature aren't mistaken for spamvertising.
Already done.

@Sporkman- It's a forum site running phpBB, and I did pick a pretty good looking theme...

[emanuel.b]

Make your site so awesome that people will want to tell others about it & link to it.
You're right, but the problem is getting people to come in the first place. Every once and a while I see a guest user, but they leave soon after they arrive.

[hansdown]

Hi emanuel.b.

It may be, that the name of your site does not "grab" the surfer's attention.

Sorry to sound like a PR guy.

[emanuel.b]

Hi emanuel.b.

It may be, that the name of your site does not "grab" the surfer's attention.

Sorry to sound like a PR guy.
Well, it was kinda an on the spot thing, so I think it's kinda stupid. But, like I said, I'm not mentioning specifics here. I've been marked for Spam on this forum before. :(

[Sporkman]

May I direct you to this forum:

http://www.smallbusinessbrief.com/forum/index.php

They discuss this sort of thing all the time.

[emanuel.b]

May I direct you to this forum:

http://www.smallbusinessbrief.com/forum/index.php

They discuss this sort of thing all the time.
Thanks, I'll check it out. :)

[emanuel.b]

Ok, so I looked at the site. Unfortuneately, most of the stuff is about things I've tried before. Nobody seems to be interested in my site. I guess this means that I'm just throwing away money on hosting. :(

[undecim]

You could try article marketing. Most people do it to get commissions on digital product sales, but you should use it to promote a site for free.

Basically, you write an article on a topic related to your site/product and submit it to popular article hosting sites with a link to your web site at the end. The real trick to it is to find a phase that isn't already dominated on Google and use that in your title to get good search ranking.

[Naiki Muliaina]

Random observation, as long as its ok with the forum COC (I.E. nots prons and stuff) get the link into your signature on every forum your frequent. As long as you post legitimate posts and dont spam to get the link to your website out there, it can generate a bit of traffic.

[d3v1150m471c]

add your forum hyperlink to your signature or other highly viewed mediums you frequent. see below.

[chessnerd]

It seems like what you are looking for is promotion, which has four parts (including advertising). Don't discount the other three...

Publicity: You could do try to get your website mentioned in a news source (like a popular blog)

Personal Selling: You can tell individuals about your website in person, on the phone, or via personal correspondence (i.e. electronic/snail mail)

Sales Promotion: Everything that doesn't fall into the first three. This could be pens, mugs, t-shirts, etc. with your website's name/logo on it or anything else that you can think of

This is just a generic schpiel. Anyone who has ever taken a marketing class could spit that out, but I like to give people options.

My recommendation to you is to try using social networking sites/e-mail to contact those you know who might be interested. If they like their site, tell them to pass that information on. Personal recommendations are very powerful.

[Viva]

Google Adwords, Adbrite, Social Networking sites, better and unique content.

[undecim]

I'm kinda short on cash, so anything free would be great. :)

You know Google occasionally sends out $100 AdWords gift certificates to AdSense publishers. Get AdSense on your site and get a little traffic and you might get lucky.

[koenn]

better and unique content.
this.


if everything your site has to offer already exists elsewhere, and better, why would people bother to go to yours ? No amount of SEO, links from other sites, all sorts of tricks, ... is going to cure that.

once you have worthwile content,
it's usually just a matter of notifying Google, possibly some other search engines.
Google also has some interesting tips for webmasters regarding all this. Read them, learn, draw conclusions, implement.

And then, maybe, you can start thinking about promotion, advertising, ....

[sydbat]

Also, you need to give it time. I know 5 months seems like a long time when no one has signed up for your forum, but my site has been up for almost 9 years and the first year sucked for participation. Just keep getting your name out there and people will show up.

[LeifAndersen]

Also, I know it's harder to do with a forum with no community, but you need to get a lot of (good) content onto your webpage. Nobody wants to visit a skeleton forum website.

[fatality_uk]

What's the site about? Don't see it mentioned, haven't looked overly hard mind you!
If it is a forum about 19th Needlework in four streets in San Francisco, you wont get many takers.

Obvious advice, link, link & link again. Make it look great, make it easy to navigate amd easy to join.

[Viva]

Forums are hard to monetise irrespective of the traffic. How much are you paying for the hosting?

[emanuel.b]

Forums are hard to monetise irrespective of the traffic. How much are you paying for the hosting?

It's costing me about $6 a month, but it's not too much.

I didn't really start it to make money, I just started it for fun, just something to do in my spare time. :)


What's the site about? Don't see it mentioned, haven't looked overly hard mind you!

It's a tech forum.


Thanks for the great advice everyone! Be on the lookout for my site!

[Viva]

$6 is a lot to pay for a site with little traffic. You could probably use a cheap $1/$2 host. I don't think we can help you much without looking at the site.

[fatality_uk]

It's costing me about $6 a month, but it's not too much.

I didn't really start it to make money, I just started it for fun, just something to do in my spare time. :)



It's a tech forum.


Thanks for the great advice everyone! Be on the lookout for my site!

That's OK then. I mean a quick Google search only brought back 131,000,000 results, so you should be able to get that page rank RIGHT up there.

Unless you have a VERY USP for a tech forum, you are VERY, VERY unlikely to get many visitors and even fewer staying.