(or blog, chatroom, website etc.) for free using Twitter Promotion, Facebook, YouTube, Blogging and more
| Let’s pretend we have a forum about red cars. How do we get more traffic? |
Search Engines (like Google etc.)
The best thing you can do to achieve better search engine ranking is the honest, straightforward and simple approach:
Get your forum linked by relevant websites. Perhaps there are members on your forum who have a relevant website who could link to you, or you know friends or colleagues with relevant sites. The most important point is to focus on only having sites that are relevant to your forum’s content link back to you, having a bunch of sites that are not relevant link to you could be considered spam, and having too many incoming links can also be considered spam. So be moderate and choose quality over quantity. Also be patient as search engine rankings take time.
Twitter
Twitter is the hottest site on the web right now. It’s a social media tool where you follow people and gain “followers.” When you post a message on Twitter, your message appears on the Twitter homepage of your followers: a great way to network and gain some forum members. Here’s how to do it:
Create a Twitter Account.
We recommend making your password one that you’ll only use for Twitter, as you can also use it to access Twitter tools and you don’t want to spread your main password around out there.
- First, you’ll never get too far on Twitter without a profile picture. Be sure to add a picture in “Settings” – then click the “Picture” tab in the upper middle of the screen, then “Browse” to select your picture. For example, you could upload a nice picture of you with your “red car.”
- Next in your Twitter Profile, link back to your Forum URL (web address). Go to “Settings” then “More Info (URL).”
- Mention keywords related to your forum in the “One Line Bio” – like “I’m a red car fanatic.” Even better, change your “Name” and/or “Username” to contain your forum topic, for example the Name “Red Car Fan” or Username “redcarfan” will help others who are into red cars find you.
- Go to WeFollow and add your Twitter identity, you can add three tags (or keywords related to your forum) at a time. Note: we found it’s best to do a search for the most popular tags by using the “Search” box on the left (you may need to scroll down to see it). It also appears you can add yourself multiple times.
- Go to Search Twitter for keywords related to your forum, for example “red car.” Click to go the users Twitter profiles who mention red car, and “Follow” them by clicking the “Follow” button on their Twitter homepage. A certain percentage of people you follow on Twitter will follow you back, and some will visit your forum.
- Send new followers a thank-you message using the “Direct Message” feature, also inviting them to your forum. A service who can automate this process and much more is Socialoomph.com.
Blogs
Blogs are a way to network and attract informed and active web users to your forum.
Go to Google.com or Yahoo.com and search for Blogs related to your Forum. For example search for: “red car blog.”
Get to know each blog and post some relevant comments, making sure you link to your forum when leaving a comment in the space often provided (or you may need to create a profile to leave a link).
Be sure not to seem “spammy” in your comment (over-promotional), just leave valid comments that enhance the dialogue. You may not only become a regular visitor to the blog, but others who visit the blog may follow the link back to your forum.
YouTube
Order Now with YouTube which automatically creates your own YouTube Channel. Link to your Forum in your YouTube Profile (in “Account” -> “Profile Setup” under “Website (URL).”
Then search for other videos and leave intelligent comments, for example about “red cars.” In the comments mention you have a foruml for anyone who may be interested in “red cars,” for example.
And better yet, make and “Upload” your own video and in the Title, Description and tags, mention “red car” (for example). Be sure to link to your forum in the first line of the “Description” – make sure you use http://your-forum-url – if you do it right, there will be a blue link to your forum on the video page.
Other Relevant Forums
You can also see if there are other forums, like search for”red car forum” on Google. Don’t copy the forum content or style, but maybe you can offer a different angle that some of their members would find interesting.
Newspapers – online or brick-and-mortar
If there’s a newspaper that might be interested in someone starting a forum community, be sure to contact them and maybe they’ll do an article on your idea. Calling or emailing the newspaper is best, and asking for the department who handles story ideas.
Offer incentive to join
one other idea is to offer an incentive for people to register a membership, even with great traffic many will just browse unless they have a reason to register. For example create a board called “Best Kept Secrets of …” and make it so only registered members can view that section, then add a news blurb (in Admin under News and Newsletters) telling people they need to register to view that special board.
In a nutshell…
The idea is to get your idea out there, and if people find you or your idea interesting, a percentage will check out your forum and join.
Of course results may vary, it’s really up to how you present your forum to the online masses. Good luck and happy networking in this new frontier of Social Media! – OLI
