advertising forums plz help

Here's a few ideas from some articles I've written at http://www.getasiteonline.com

In your emails, develop a little mini-signature. I have the following on the bottom of my emails:

Tim
Senior Web Designer
T&S Web Design
my.website.address
my.otherwebsite.address
XXX-XXX-XXXX

I use a similar, but shortened, version of that signature on online forums I frequent. Anyone who has any online correspondence with me should have no trouble finding my website.

Start an email newsletter. Have a place on your website where people can sign up for the latest updates. Just make sure that you include unsubscribe information as well.

Write articles in your field of expertise, and include a link to your website. Publish them on sites like ezinearticles.com

Exchange links with related websites. Make sure that they are not directly competing with you but have the same target audience that you do. You can exchange text links or banner ads.

Submit your link to directories. For example, if your forums were about vacationing in New Mexico, search the web for "vacation New Mexico." Look through the first two pages of results and contact all the website owners. Give them the info about your site, and see if they'll list it. Chances are, some of them will he happy to list it for free, because the more links they have, the more people will visit their site, too.

I think the key to getting your forum going is first of all to write some articles or content. This draws people in from the search engines and gets them staying on your site to read what you have. A lot of people will be hesitant about joining forums at first, so if you don't have something to keep them there they will leave. Publishing them on article networks like Tim suggested is a great idea too. Get yourself out there as much as possible.

A really good way to boost your site would be to think of something really innovative. Maybe a wiki, for example. Something people can contribute to, but also builds content and interest in your site. Something that no one else is doing.

For a site like this you also need to be able to get people responses to their questions very quickly and accurately. The topics there sort of make me feel like you're torn beween being a webmastering forum and a computer support forum. I would probably lean more one way or the other. As it is the topic is sort of vague and might turn off people who have a strong interest in one but not the other.

Your forum also could use some visual customization. It's not a major traffic generator but could keep people sticking around. If the forums look good they might be more likely to participate. And this is the default phpBB layout which many might have seen before. I would also move your " Bullseye Latest News" down to the bottom so the site can focus on the content. Your latest news is not really content so putting it at the top is just self indulgent.

We launched our Affiliate Program forum dentalplanaffiliate.com in January and it has been steadily growing. My number one tip would be to mention it to anyone and everyone. This includes all of your contacts. I also agree that emails and newsletters are a good way of getting the word out.

That's great news! Did you know that we have a seperate Broker Program? I will pm you the information so that you can get the most out of this partnership!

hi dani190 I agree with timjpriebe and I have a couple of websites geared to making email signatures both are free.

I'm reluctant to post the links because I'm new and its like advertising and against the rules I did put them on the introduction forum post.

first, get some content and look into purchasing some relevant pr links to add google search clout. If you're using forum software, look into optimizing it for search engines so the mysql db doesn't shield info from bots. submit a sitemap to google and get a few friends posting good info...that oughta get you started. From there maybe reward users for posting at first(quality posts, that is)...maybe cash rewards...maybe a contest...something....then encourage all of it...and don't get discouraged yourself