So as of yesterday I began promoting 2 of my new online communities.

I am running Adword campaigns to promote them and I actually had 3 people sign up!! **YEAH**

I have been thinking about having some kind of contest or giveaway...such as join for free, post at least 20 times, and be in a drawing for a free iPod.

So...here is my thought process....

Cost of iPod about $250 (or maybe cheaper if I go with a shuffle or a mini) but for a cost of $250 and if advertised correctly it could be a nice promotion and bring a bunch of people to my online community.

Thoughts? Anyone have similar ideas, thoughts or experiences? I look forward to hearing everyones thoughts!

Peace,

DJ Bill

Hi I am Mr Typical Poster, I see your competition and think "wow, what an easy way to win an IPod". I then join and post 20 really pointless posts. I dont win the competition and I become depressed, I think to myself "stupid forum" and leave never to return again.

My point? $250 will buy you members, but the wrong kind of members. Instead you would be better investing your $250 on content, maybe paying some article writers or whatever, but content draws and keeps a crowd, a competition usually only brings people looking for a free meal, once they get there feed they look for there next free meal.

it is all about the content - try building up a nice forum by importing external feeds.

Thanks for the feedback...

The one thing I have heard over and over is content, content, content. Which makes sense totally...I guess I struggle with where to get the content.

Also, can you define "importing external feeds" for me...sounds cool but the where to find and how to implement into my forum seems to elude my understanding. So any info would be appreciated.

Thanks!

Peace,

DJ Bill

I am trying not to self promote here -- however, there are some programs that allow you to pull feeds (import) from multiple sources - rss feeds, newsletters, newsgroups, and other 'hosted' forums.