Here's a really basic forum promotion guide that I just wrote. It explains how to set up a forum (in limited detail) for all major beginners, then it focuses on the starting steps for getting members to the forum. I pretty much left it without a conclusion, so I'm very open to any ideas or suggestions.

Let’s face it. Owning a forum is tough work. Forums take quite a while to set up, and unlike other websites, you the webmaster aren’t done after you finish that .php file. In most other successful websites, you need to simply write some good content and get a few visitors, which can be achieved quite easily. When you are operating a forum however, you need to feed the bulletin board with post after post after post. Then on top of that you still need to tirelessly promote the website to get more members. Why is this more difficult in forums? Think about a regular website. You, the webmaster, write the content while the visitor reads the content and comes back later to see more content. With a forum it’s a bit more complicated. You still have to write content and the visitor still needs to read it, but in a forum you also ask one more huge favor of your visitor: to respond.

So how do you accomplish all of this? First we’ll start with the absolute basics, setting up your forum. To do this, just go and download a ready made script. Free ones can be found at http://www.phpbb.com, http://www.simplemachines.org, or you could just search Google. If you have a decent amount of money and plan on using your forum as a financial supplement, I suggest you take a look at Vbulletin, located at http://www.vbulletin.com. After you download a script, upload the script to your website host. If you don’t have a host, you’re really far behind and I suggest you find another tutorial. After you upload the script, follow the instructions in the forum script (they usually say something like “run install.php”).

After your forum is set up, you should finish the touches. Create all the boards, add a unique theme that looks nice, and install any modifications that would benefit you, the forum, and/or its users. Now you should start worrying about those members, but there are still a few steps that need to be made. First you should write all necessary topics like an introduction from you, the administrator (henceforth known as admin), rules, and an “About the Forum”.

Now that all of the basics are set up, you should start getting some members to register. This is extremely difficult, but it has to be done if you want a successful forum. The first step is to post a bit yourself, and to keep posting as regularly as possible. After that, you should find a few friends who would be very devoted to your forum. These would be your first members. If you have no friends, I advise you make some as soon as possible (look to other forums, or if all else fails, higher a few members). After you have a few discussions going, start to advertise on other websites. This can be done for free by submitting links to directories and posting about your website on other forums. Once you have a few members from the outside world as well, you should make some “fake” members. What are fake members you ask? Just register a few members yourself and post with them. If you’re really desperate, talk to yourself! Eventually other members will come in.

So now you have some members, but how can you go the extra mile? There are two things that you first need to master: the Internet and the search engines. Mastering the search engines is easier than it sounds. In fact, you already started by adding your link to forums and website directories. Another helpful tip is to make SEO (Search Engine Optimization) friendly topics. This can be set in the options in SMF (Simple Machines Forum) and in all other boards you can find tutorials on the Internet. To master the Internet, however, is unfortunately much harder. To master the Internet you need to make your forum better in some way than all other relevant forums. After all, why is your forum so special from all of the others that are related to yours? Also be sure to remember that to master the Internet is to be the king of the Internet, and a good king is known and liked by his subjects. What does this relate to forum owning: everything. Try to get your username and forum link out on all other forums, especially those related to your own. An easy way to do this is to add a signature at the bottom of your posts with your forum link in it. Also be sure to make long, high quality, posts. This will make members curious about you, and, to find out more, go to your website.

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Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Who Will Live and Who Will Die? Debate it now!

I would just use the generic (C) keys.

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Good intro m8 ... rep added I know how hard it was to start my own forums .. and hell I`m still tryin LOL

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Tech The Planet - Computer n tech forums

Nice read, thanks for sharing!

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