Ads for your site?

Where did you guys get your ads? Are they ppc or pay per referral? Where and how did you get them?

also, how do I get my forum going? I know people read my site, the stats say it all, but my forum just is dead. How do I kick it up?

Post threads; link it in with your site more. Get Comments Tags on Stories you have to make new threads in your Forum to talk about it. Things like that - most good Forums you'll find will have resources which all people to have the interactive experience. You don't generally get a Forum which doesn't have something its connected to in order to bring people and get them talking. Unless its a general girly chat site in which case you'd get a Chat Site.

Do some posting of your own! A common mistake people make is to start a forum adn expect conversations to start themselves.

Start a thread on a controversial subject that a lot of people might disagree with. You'd be suprised how many people will sign up to your forums just to disagree with you. Basic human psych 101

Yeah. Some of the best threads to get Searches popping up will be the controversial ones. I did a Microsoft vs. United States of America about a year ago now. It had long since gone off point but a few days ago - when somebody replied after it hadn't been talked in for about 4 months I noticed it had gained around 30,000 Views. The largest Viewed on that Forum, which only barely has 100,000 Posts in itself. I can only imagine the users its brought it. But its that sort of stuff that will.

Do some posting of your own! A common mistake people make is to start a forum adn expect conversations to start themselves.

Haha, great point! I know that feeling very well....

In terms of adverts i'm running the "web design library" ones for free simply because the adverts look nice and are relevent to the community. I have one paying advertiser right now (actually two but the other advertiser hasn't contacted me with their banner yet!) I post my offers on forums such as wht, sitepoint etc.

I would never use ppc/adsense etc, the adverts look ugly and don't bring in alot of revenue.

In terms of improving your forum, post more threads, bring in your friends to help you, add your link to your sig in every forum you post on! Perhaps consider starting a contest to kick start your community.

Google Adsense is a very nice ad program. I suggest using that, and also go around some other websites and offer advertising on your site for a small fee. I made $250.00 in one day on my old website (Advanced-Gamer).

Google Adsense is tacky

Don't make a site to make money. Make a site to loose money - that way whatever happens you're making a difference, if its going well you're breaking even. If you're doing very well you'll make some money but always put it back in.Spread the Love. Google represents the Hate.

I like adsense, It fits well, I'm just looking for some alternatives.

And no, I didn't make a site to make money It's almost beena year though, I'd like to see a LITTLE revenue

The will for revenue will direct your attention away from what your users want. Do they really want to see Adverts? Especially not tacky Adsense Google ones which just look plain bad.

Do you have an advertising page on your website? Maybe create one with different types of plans and send out an email to a few webmaster's that you know. Or post at a forum about your advertising openings. That could work...