Hi,
Well, make sure that you are busy in there. If you have to create conversatiosns, well why not. You want there to be new recent postings everytime a visitor comes to your site.
You could set one part of your forum aside for people to promote their businesses, spam and worry free. That should bring in some people. Also, try Google AdWords, if you can invest a little money $100 or so, and you do it carefully, forums are a popular search on the internet.
Lastly, keep promoting your forum in your signature while you visit other forums, and contribute a lot to other discussions. Good luck,

Paul-Marc

One other idea, offer a free ebook in your promotion for registering for free at you forum!
Cheers,

Paul-Marc

Thanks Paul-Marc, will definitely have a think about offering a free ebook.. anything free is always good promotion!

Contact me and i can help you with your goals

The initial approach should be to get listed in different forum directories and start visiting relevant online forums, your signature will work there especially if your forum has good topics with considerable number of posts.