Member Avatar for Dani

Is it possible to promote a new forum with AdWords? Is it possible to word the ads cleverly enough that people will overlook the new emptyness of it all and still register/post?

My current strategy = Massive SEO work to get new threads indexed and highly ranked. This sends LOTS of users to individual thread pages from Google, but they're 99% lurkers and leave after reading the requested page.

For fresh forum blood, I invest in AdWords directed towards my navigational pages (such as the forum index and category pages). With no real content, Google isn't going to rank these pages very highly even if there is a link directly to them from Google's homepage. However, they make the best landing pages, and users who find these pages early on have a high tendancy to register. Therefore, it pays to actually pay to send traffic to these pages for fresh member blood even though we get so much traffic for free through the SERPS.

Now my question ... I want to massively promote this Site Management category, which hasn't exactly been up to par lately. Where do I turn first?

  • 3 Contributors
  • 4 Replies
  • 126 Views
  • 2 Days Discussion Span
  • Latest Post Latest Post by Dani

Dani AI

Generated

For a small-budget push to revive the Site Management category there are two parallel goals: get the right visitors, and make it trivial for those visitors to become contributors. These notes expand on ideas from (content alignment) and (CPA-style thinking) with practical steps that can be applied immediately and measured.

Start with micro-landings, not generic index pages. Create 3–6 short, problem-focused landing threads (one clear question, one high-quality answer, a visible CTA to "join and follow this topic"). Match each landing to a narrow long-tail search or audience segment so ad copy and landing content align exactly with intent. Use minimal-friction signup (one-field email or social login) and a short on-page prompt that suggests first-post topics to lower the barrier.

Run lean tests in paid channels. Use narrow keyword match types and low-volume audiences to keep CPCs down. Track two conversions: registration and first post. Import those goals into the ad platform and start with small daily budgets to find a viable CPA before scaling. Add a remarketing audience of non-registrants and run a separate creative that reminds visitors what they missed and invites a low-effort action (vote, follow, or reply).

Seed and retain activity. Schedule a few pinned starter threads and arrange short, visible events (weekly "open desk" or a Q&A hour) so new visitors see recent replies. Invite 3–5 trusted members or industry contacts to seed answers and use a simple welcome email that gives a clear "how to post" checklist. Measure the ratio of registrations->first posts and 7-day retention; iterate landing copy, targeting, and the onboarding flow until those rates move up.

Keep expectations realistic in ad copy (honesty beats clever vagueness). Focus first on measurable micro-conversions, then scale what actually produces engaged members rather than only raw traffic.

Recommended Answers

All 4 Replies

Member Avatar for jonhel

It's somewhat of a catch 22 isn't it! You need the participation but people don't feel motivated to participate in a forum that looks too quiet.

From personal experience this is a very difficult obstacle to overcome. I'm new here so haven't had the opportunity to look thoroughly throughout the site yet, but could you tailor content more to this area in the Site Management Blog that I see linked in Related Features?

Jonathan

Member Avatar for Dani

In getting started when my forum was new, one of the main things that I tried to do was respond to every single poster within a couple of hours. I found that users didn't always mind that the site was empty as long as THEY had someone to talk to and THEY were being heard. That's what got them to come back with their friends. Eventually you do reach that critical mass.

This thread was created because I spent half of today in AdWords trying to drive traffic to the Site Management category, one of the categories here which gets hardly any traffic (at least compared to others). The Site Management blog definitely leaves a lot to be desired as well ... It's a community-based blog so you can actually contribute to it by visiting our blog section.

Member Avatar for ithelp

Try pay per lead campaign , pay only if someone joins your forum.

Member Avatar for Dani

Easier said than done :) Where could I go to purchase such a campaign without a five figure budget? Unless I were to set up a DaniWeb affiliate program of sorts myself :)

Be a part of the DaniWeb community

We're a friendly, industry-focused community of developers, IT pros, digital marketers, and technology enthusiasts meeting, networking, learning, and sharing knowledge.