I have just created a forum for a new local community website, but the forum is not yet visible to the website’s visitors.
The plan is to build up the number of visitors, and collect email addresses from them so that we can notify them when the forum is live. I currently have about 30 email addresses and the new site has received just over 200 unique visitors in the fist week. There are a number of on-line and off-line efforts to increase the website’s visitor numbers.
I now have the dilemma of deciding when there is sufficient momentum to launch the forum. The forum can be seen at www.nightmareonflores.com/forum/
I would appreciate any tips that you may have for starting a forum and any methods for keeping things going.
We’re exhibiting at a local community fair at the end of the month and will be collecting email addresses and generally raising awareness. That seems like a good time to get going.
You need to offer something unique, don’t rely on a forum as the sole method of communication. Most people enter forums because they like the other services a place offers, having a forum with no existing website is like having a music gig with no bands anyone has heard of. No-one is going to give their time or trust to an empty stadium when the chances of finding something in common to talk about is next to nothing.
