i have my own website (in sig of course). but the biggest thing that is driving me round the bloody bend is my forum. i have tried my upmost to get members.Postings etc can i !!!. can i hell as like i just dont know what to do its so so sad as i spend HOURS working on it. 47 members in 1 month makes me wanna cry. im just so confussed. i am very new to web creation etc, so any advise would be great . Also anyone know good places i can submit for forum etc ie; free advertising.

thanks

Hello and welcome to the community. Having briefly checked out your forum it seems that you have to register to view the content. If new visitors can't see what is being discussed they won't be enticed to get involved. You need to allow guests (i.e. anonymous users) to view the forums. If these guests think the place looks interesting they might well register. You'll have noticed thats how its done on Daniweb. Hope this helps.

Steven.

Don't be too desperate when you start a community. Everything takes time to grow so in that perspective, you've made a pretty good start. Don't burn yourself out by trying too much. You'll end up hating your community if you do that.

I would suggest you give yourself lots of breaks from your community and allow the forum to grow naturally rather than forcing the pace.

Nice site!

2 pieces of constructive criticism:

1) Make the link to your forum more visible and accessible. It's buried too deep down.

2) Don't have so many categories in the forum. It becomes a little too confusing with so many categories.

You definitely need to get more activity going in the forums. The biggest problem is that most visitors don't want to participate until they see some real activity. So it's a bit of a catch 22 unless you pay for some initial posting and then have it looking like you've got a lot of activity going already.

Site looks great though. Keep up the good work.

Communities take time to grow. Gaining 47 members in a month is actually a good start. I know of communities that spend a great deal of time, only to net a few extra members per month. If you can continue to gain members at a rate of 25-47/month and keep them interested in active, you'll be well on your way in no time .

Keep in mind, the community will not build itself overnight. Communities take time, development and more time. Dedicate yourself to the community and continue doing what earned you the 47 members in the first place as it seems to be working .

Wow, you have some high expectations. I would love to have had 47 members in my first month.

wow, i can't believe your so down about it, i have a web chat and people don't even need to register and my max connections so far is 5 and its been running for months. i am currently trying to setup a forum and if i get more than 1 a month i'd be smiling practice more patience and work on things that give a wow factor so you can put it in your site to entice people to view it, definately allow guests to view posts and just let it plod along slowly, believe me, if you were suddenly hit with a thousand users, you'd be in an administration nightmare, it's far better to go at it slowly and keep tweaking it, and keep asking th users there for constructive criticism too, this will make them feel needed and they will come back to see if you implemented their suggestions. remember, your making it for the community, not for you, if your community is small, it doesn't make it any less important!

I think you're progressing rather quickly! Every community gets off to a rough start but eventually becomes a lot bigger, depending on the interest in the site.

Be patient, you're doing well!

I agree I think 40+ members is good for the first month... just make sure you keep your forums nice and active.

btw... your site is down... i hope you havent given up.

The site won't open for me .. maybe it's my connection (again). Don't worry .. it's a good number for a first month. Keep on promoting, add new topics and it's gonna be OK