My misunderstanding. I was under the impression that the homepage link you mentioned was the reciprocal link. ;)

That sounds more like a "reciprocal link" than a "one-way".

Yes, "PageRank" is based on links pointing to a page.

That sounds interesting. What kind of incentives do you think would work best?

Quality Links + Quality Content = Happy Webmaster. :)

The site wouldn't load for me. Sorry. :(

I have the minimum set in vBulletin to ten (10) characters and haven't had any complaints. ;)

Yes. Free advertising is nice but some places you just can't get to without paid advertising.

No, guests are not allowed to view profiles on our forum nor do we display email addresses to members. I believe it helps to keep the SPAM down.

I understand where you're coming from. :) Pesonally, with so many options available to a person for promotion I would find a better avenue for getting the word out.

You can always distribute articles of interest to your target audience. In this way they might find one of your articles on another site and follow a link back to your website.

You could also host...

Thank you for your input and suggestions. :)

I have a friend who recently wrote, "My daughter is an avid fan of Japanese animation (called anime). She is also a very talented artist and draws anime-like cartoons continuously. She has asked for...

Thanks for the positive feedback. ;)

I too would love to hear your ideas. ;)

I was responding to the question, "how long does it usally take to get a good forum off the ground?"

IMO, the two (2) primary factors that will determine "how long" are:

1. Subject Matter: What...

Are you asking me? :?:

IMO, that will depend on your subject matter and your promotion efforts.

I agree 110%. If I wasn't so interested in the subject matter there is no way I would invest the time, energy and resources needed to keep my sales and marketing forum running.

You might consider a name like vg-forum.com

Here is a post with a few ideas: http://www.daniweb.com/techtalkforums/post143812-4.html

To my knowledge, "A Small Orange" is reliable.

Yes, you can place your own logo on your vBulletin forum even when the branding has not been removed.

You might check into "A Small Orange". I believe they have hosting as low as $5 per month.

Ooooh! Gotcha. ;)

I'm currently running vBulletin 3.07 on both my boards and am anxiously awaiting 3.5. :)

I believe the minimum requirements are:
PHP 4.1.0
MySQ: 3.23.33

Just like any other marketing method, it works for those who use it effectively.

Here are a few ideas you might consider looking into...

* Viral Marketing [Freebie from your website]
* Search Engine Optimization
* Niche Directories
* Online Communities...

I just noticed the directory and it looks great.

I too would be interested in knowing if the Directory is a custom script or if it is available for purchase. ;)

Can you elaborate?

Hello from Arizona!

I just wanted to say "Hello" before I started picking everyone's brain.:)

--Jeffrey Blackwell