Best way to promote a business forum?

Originally Posted by Robson Where are you going to get the content without members?

What about just a high quality skin like talkfreelance and no good content ?

Originally Posted by Enthonia Tech What about just a high quality skin like talkfreelance and no good content ?

The design is the first stepping stone, the content comes next.

Exactly jon

Originally Posted by Robson Yep, if you had a skin of the same standard as Talkfreelance I can guarantee a) I would join b) about 100 of my members would join and c) people wouldn't look at it and think it's going to be gone next week.

Thanks. Will we work on getting a better design - do you know where TF purcahsed its skin at?

I’m going to jump back into this thread I think. In reply to your “ if you were the owner of DiscussBiz what would you change / do differently than what we're doing now?” comment…

Like already mentioned, I would pay someone to design a really nice new skin. I would stay well away from the bland, stock-photography, cliché layouts that you see all over the place and go for something completely different. Bright colors, big fonts give it a unique style. I would try and make the forum appear more “fun and friendly” rather than corporate and business-like but at the same time make sure the site doesn’t loose its professionalism.

I would completely drop all of the adverts on the website in the first few months. For the few cents you will be making on them they are pretty pointless. I would only add adverts to the website when its got a solid user base and is getting a decent amount of traffic. I would also try and find another way to make money out of the site, forums are notoriously bad money makers when it comes to adsense and other PPC banners. Offer a premium membership upgrade with added features and the like.

Buy a copy of vbulletin and port the posts over.

I was going to rant on for longer but I need to head out now. That should get you started though.

Oh, and talkfreelance was designed by Tarun Hari, you can view his portfolio at vbcustom.com.

The best thing to do is not look at it as if you want members... get solid FRIENDS to join.. They will get there friends who get there friends.. Get people who want to be there.. to be there... then in no time you will notice others joining etc..etc...

3 years later... big well known forum

Originally Posted by jon I’m going to jump back into this thread I think. In reply to your “ if you were the owner of DiscussBiz what would you change / do differently than what we're doing now?” comment… Like already mentioned, I would pay someone to design a really nice new skin. I would stay well away from the bland, stock-photography, cliché layouts that you see all over the place and go for something completely different. Bright colors, big fonts give it a unique style. I would try and make the forum appear more “fun and friendly” rather than corporate and business-like but at the same time make sure the site doesn’t loose its professionalism. I would completely drop all of the adverts on the website in the first few months. For the few cents you will be making on them they are pretty pointless. I would only add adverts to the website when its got a solid user base and is getting a decent amount of traffic. I would also try and find another way to make money out of the site, forums are notoriously bad money makers when it comes to adsense and other PPC banners. Offer a premium membership upgrade with added features and the like. Buy a copy of vbulletin and port the posts over. I was going to rant on for longer but I need to head out now. That should get you started though. Oh, and talkfreelance was designed by Tarun Hari, you can view his portfolio at vbcustom.com.

Thanks for the help Jon, will try to get these ideas done over the weekend.

The best thing to do is not look at it as if you want members... get solid FRIENDS to join.. They will get there friends who get there friends.. Get people who want to be there.. to be there... then in no time you will notice others joining etc..etc... 3 years later... big well known forum

Thanks for the idea - will try it.

I wouldn't offer a premium membership at all, you're just excluding people.

Originally Posted by Robson I wouldn't offer a premium membership at all, you're just excluding people.

Great! If they feel excluded that will give them more of a reason to sign up. It’s a business forum, 90% of the people on there will happily upgrade their account for $20 a year just for a badge next to their name.

If you’re looking to make any serious money out of this project Cpvr then I suggest you look into it. You’re going to get no where with adsense and cpm banner networks won’t even accept you. This is the only other feasible option.

Great! If they feel excluded that will give them more of a reason to sign up. It’s a business forum, 90% of the people on there will happily upgrade their account for $20 a year just for a badge next to their name.

Where has that figure come from? I would like to see some proof of your statistics. The forum isn't even established, I highly doubt anyone would pay $20 to participate in a forum that isn't even active. I would not advise that method at all....

Look at forums that do offer a similar service, webhostingtalk does...I don't think 90% of the forum have a premium membership, hell I don't think even 1% do! And they have more reason to because it's such an established and professional community.

On another note, you can make decent money with forums, I made $1200 last week from adverts, never use adsense or something like that on forums though, rubbish.