How to start up a new community

[oximan]

phpbbhacks.com is another great website for hacks.

[hellboy]

I will try it

[JKhoury]

Definitely a very good list of basics everyone should cover before getting started. I think it's also good to try and separate yourself from the competing forums, by offering a table of discussion they currently do not. Forums also tend to work well with viral advertising, and pulling off some sort of stunt while offering some sort of prize give away, will in my opinion yield sizable results.

[Garala]

starting up a new community can be a exciting and dull task at the same time.

[Excelorize]

Hi folks! I have been on the blogging bandwagon for nearly 2 years and found very few people will post comments. So I was thinking it may be better to try building a forum since people are maybe more likely to respond to posts.

It gets to you after a while with a blog when you know there are 100's of readers and none of them can be bothered to comment on your posts. They are happy to learn and take your information, but don't give anything back.

So to start my forum, I am doing the same as with a blog i.e. posting some detailed topics that should generate interest in my site and get the visitors returning to check out new posts.

To start with I will add my own content. Then, when I have several good topics in place, I will go out and contribute on related forums to get some curiosity generated in my site.

Another thing I have done is to have a brand name that people will hopefully notice and remember. Then if they search on it, the brand name should hopefully be at #1 in the search results. This way, I don't have to post a direct link to my site in posts.

[m1k30rz]

Hey there Excelorize! Welcome to AdminMania

Wow blogging for 2 years, thats neat!! How much traffic do you tend to get to your blog? Hehe yeah thats true I've found that also with blog commenting.

They are some really good ideas you have, be sure to show us your forum when its all up and running mate Goodluck!

[Excelorize]

Hi,

I have 3 blogs now (deleted one) that get about 150 uniques per day in total. So maybe not much traffic to expect many comments?

The forum is up, I just need to add more topics and some plugins. http://www.excelorize.com

[m1k30rz]

Its best to get some more traffic and promote your blog, the more people who see it the more likely you will get signups Nice forum btw!

[scooter]

Ive had a lot of sucess with blogs and can tell you for sure promotion is key Content is also a very important factor

[trose7]

I owned a forum once that got to 100+ members, but it was cracked. I started over just recently, but I just struggled up to 25 members.