Not sure if one of these already exists, but here is my guide.
1) Be dedicated to your forum.
By dedicated I mean actively posting, keeping your forum alive. Do not expect people to sign up, and post by themselves. Most people only join active forums
2) Make your forum presentable.
If you make your forum look extremely cheap, do not expect many users to join. I would suggest investing in a custom theme from a professional developer. (Again, you must be committed to your forum)
3) Pick an unsaturated niche that you are comfortable with.
Pick a topic that you yourself know a lot about. Try to pick a topic that doesn't have hundreds of thousands of the same kind of forums. Picking a niche that is not overly saturated will increase the amount of members you have.
Examples of over saturated niches:
4) Upgrade to a TLD
Many people start off with a free domain. This is a bad idea if you want your forums to be active. Top Level domains are pretty cheap, and it will make your forum look much more professional (Depending on the name that is)
5) Keep the number of forums to a minimum.
You want every section to be active. When you have a lot of forums, with a low user base, most of the forums will not have enough activity to sustain themselves
(Don't use the Tab plugin if your forum is not active yet)
These are just some general guidelines to starting a new forum. Of course, it is not a necessity to follow this list, but it will greatly increase your user base, if you are looking to start up a forum.
1) Be dedicated to your forum.
By dedicated I mean actively posting, keeping your forum alive. Do not expect people to sign up, and post by themselves. Most people only join active forums
2) Make your forum presentable.
If you make your forum look extremely cheap, do not expect many users to join. I would suggest investing in a custom theme from a professional developer. (Again, you must be committed to your forum)
3) Pick an unsaturated niche that you are comfortable with.
Pick a topic that you yourself know a lot about. Try to pick a topic that doesn't have hundreds of thousands of the same kind of forums. Picking a niche that is not overly saturated will increase the amount of members you have.
Examples of over saturated niches:
- Hacking related forums
- General Discussion forums
4) Upgrade to a TLD
Many people start off with a free domain. This is a bad idea if you want your forums to be active. Top Level domains are pretty cheap, and it will make your forum look much more professional (Depending on the name that is)
5) Keep the number of forums to a minimum.
You want every section to be active. When you have a lot of forums, with a low user base, most of the forums will not have enough activity to sustain themselves
(Don't use the Tab plugin if your forum is not active yet)
These are just some general guidelines to starting a new forum. Of course, it is not a necessity to follow this list, but it will greatly increase your user base, if you are looking to start up a forum.
