I have the third largest dog forum on the internet in Norwegian. But I want to grow, be the biggest. It will be difficult because the two others are profesionals, they have the site/forum as their job.¨
Ryan just gave me a tips on posting flyers in local petshops and vets.
I will try that.
Anyone has some other tips for a dog forum to get more members?
I have 700 members now btw.
I think I will try to targeting the Danish marked, we have very similar languages. I am still unsure about how that will work out. I accept tips on that also. There are more people living in Denmark so the marked may be a little bigger here.
But I am still unsure on how it will be to have 2 groups who speaks a little different from eachother.

The link to the page is www.hundesonen.com btw. But I am planning on changing to IVB very soon. With the Blog tool present. I think my members will love that. They love writing about their day with the dog.
And also the gallery so they can post pictures.
I am also working on a frontpage with some articles and a place where members can sell and buy stuff.
And at last I am building a Dog Wikipedia

Well, you could always put flyers up a pet shops and vets-oh wait, nevermind If you do that, just be sure to ask the owners of the stores first, of course.

Other than that, I'm not sure what else you could do specific to your forums...there is of course the typical promoting for other forums such as signature links and paid banners...other than that, I'm not real sure

Have you given your members unique features? Perhaps like "dog blogs"...or dog galleries where they can create picture galleries of their dog

I editet my post 3 minuttes ago to say I was planning to that.
I think you are reading my minds or something

Well, it sounds to me like you're definitely on the right track...and have been on the right track for a long time. I'd just keep doing what you have been doing, and get those features you're working on out there...your members will love it

I think that for you to be the third largest dog forum and you are below two professionals, that's a pretty good accomplishment. It takes time to create a successful forum and from what I can tell, yours has some very good activity right now. Like Ryan said, keep up the good work as whatever you are doing, is working well for you. Good luck with your future changes as well.

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Mark Blair
NowParenting - "Parenting Discussion Community"
HostHideout - "Where Professionals Discuss Web Hosting"

It sounds like you are doing quite well. You are definitely doing better than me. I would post, but I am not too familiar with Norwegian, even though I want to live there.

Well one things you should definably do is switch from phpBB it will give you a more professional look and will get more traffic. If money is a problem put up a google ad or two or sell ad space.

I am buying invisionboard. I asked the members to give some money to get some new features. And I already got a donation for 150$ from a single person.

Why do you wanna live in Norway DomainerZone? Its cold

i think you may want to check out other dog forums and stuff and try to get members from there to yours or do what ryan said and advertise at a pet store and stuff

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Will Stumpf - TalkNikon
Submit your sites -> Quality Link Directory

I think promoting offline might be your best bet here. As I've talked about in another thread, promoting via other forums is time consuming and the returns are quite low. Especially promoting via direct comeptitors. You could try Norwegian forums that would target a similar audience (like a womens forum or something). But it doesn't look like you're that desperate.

Offline would be good because you could target people who aren't already members at your competitors' sites. Posting flyers at pet shops, veterinarians, groomers etc. or going to dog shows with business cards might be good ideas. Just make sure your flyers make it clear why someone should want to join your forum - a lot of regular people don't understand the concept of online communities.

Another idea would be to ask a vet to do a Q&A on your site. You could offer good promotion for them, and they could refer clients to your forum in exchange. Think cross-promotion.

You could also do cross-promotion with pet stores and groomers etc. With a small(er) geographical area targetted you have more opportunities available for this sort of thing.

Looking at your forums - it looks like you are doing really well already! Nice looking site, and a good amount of posts.

The dog wikipedia sounds like an excellent idea. That will be a great way to separate yoruself from the competition and get some index-able content.

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Megan
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