CK, you have done well and you've got a good base on which to work from into the future.

It's at this point your motivation and enthusiasm could take a beating, so look for ways to retain the excitement you felt when opening the forum and look at ways (read, read, read and jot your ideas down wherever you are!) on how you can gain traffic and create good content that search engines and your members will love.

Create a unique blog, get it linked, get RSS, make sure Google and Yahoo love you by giving them original spider food!

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When you say uniqure blog, wht exactly do you mean? I dont fully understand RSS Either, or how it will benefit my forum. And then what is Spider food? I just though they would near enough search what they needed anyway?

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Sorry, CK - I was being 'flowery' with my language, by 'spider food', I mean food (original content that sets you apart) for the search engines who love to visit your forum/site and eat it up!

I'll have a dig around for a few links for you - it might take me a while to find them though.

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Thanks

I think i probably was been a little hopefull with finding a dead/failing forum to merge into my own for free

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As far as getting a forum to merge for free...picture yourself on the other side. Would you be willing to offer your forums to a stranger to merge for free (even if they are dying or dead)? Probably not.

We all know how hard it is to build up members, posts, etc...and then, if things dont work out in the end and we've got a good number of members and posts, we're not just going to throw them away or give them to somebody for free...people pay good money for this kind of stuff.

There is a possibility that you could find somebody willing to give you their forums (or database) for free, but this is not likely...if you do find it, grab it up as quick as you can - free members!

If you dont have the funds to purchase another forum, then a merge is probably not the solution to your problem...I'd focus on what you currently have and how to build it into more.

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...some super-sweet signature

Absolutely right, you only have to look at Sitepoint to see what's for sale.

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I took a look at sitepoint, its all expensive stuff lol.
its hard enough maintaining a forum on less than a few dollars a month, but then getting members and stuff, thats hard lol.

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I think it's fine for only being 3 months old. Be patient CK! Actually all of the topics started get quite a few responses which is great IMO.

What are you looking for with it? Debating, interesting topics that appeal to all age groups, a fun younger site?

Personally as a member I don't think it's a good idea right now to merge. There has been drama and things need to settle down.

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OH yes, my forum has had its fair share of drama during its short life, a part of it you probably have experienced. Most of it is settling down now. though i feel my forum is starting to become empty

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Hang in there CK. It will pick up. A lot of the members on your board have probably started back to school. Once they get settled they'll be back.

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