Member Avatar for Angeleyes1437

I just read the thread regarding a fellow members women's community. Well I have a pet community and I would like to do the same. We really need the site to grow and although I've posted on a lot of places my page rank just isn't going anywhere.

Any tips you have would be GREATLY appreciated.

Also, if I do adwords how much would be a good amount to spend (considering I really don't have much to spend after shelling out everything so quickly on building the site)? Should I wait until my site has it's logo/banners and everything up to make it look nicer or should I just do it now?

Also, what keywords should I use for the best results. This is my first time running a site and it was rather unexpected because our old forum was shut down by the admin (she got very sick) and I stepped up to build another one ASAP. I could REALLY use all of the help I can get!!!!

BTW- I really like this place. Seems like the best advice I've gotten on these subjects just from reading OTHERS posts. Everyone is SO nice and helpful... I love it!! I think I'll stick around!!! :mrgreen:

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Practical, low-risk growth plan for

A tight focus on a single measurable outcome (member signups or first posts) helps decide which tactics are working. The goal is engaged members, not just raw pageviews or pagerank. Build one clear path for a new visitor: a short “How to get started” panel and a topical landing page that directly matches whatever ad or social post brought them in. That lowers friction and improves the value of every click.

AdWords troubleshooting and a simple test plan: check impressions and the search-terms report first — 23 clicks can mean either tiny impressions or irrelevant matches. Run a 10–14 day experiment: pick 5 narrow, problem-oriented phrases (long tail), create two ad variants, use exact/phrase match, add negative keywords from the search-terms report, and measure cost per signup. Track a single conversion (account creation or first post). If the conversion cost is high, adjust keywords and landing relevance before raising spend.

Organic and community tactics that scale: seed the forum with problem-answer threads and photo/story prompts that invite a first post. Use local partnerships — shelters, groomers, small pet brands — as cross-promotion or giveaway partners (this builds credibility as suggested). Surface fresh content on a small portal area (building on ’s portal idea) so searchers and arriving members see activity immediately.

Practical checklist (first 60 days): 1) Two-week paid test with conversion tracking; 2) Seed 10 starter threads and one “Start Here” landing panel; 3) One targeted outreach per week to 3 local partners or micro-influencers; 4) Review metrics (new members, first-post rate, bounce) and iterate. Small, measured experiments beat broad spending.

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Member Avatar for Angeleyes1437

Oh yeah... and should I send everyone to my home page or right to the forums?

Do you all find my site easy to navigate? Would YOU want to join if you were/are a pet lover?

Member Avatar for Angeleyes1437

I did adwords- but I've only gotten 23 clicks in the past week!!! What am I doing wrong?

Member Avatar for Dani

Oh yeah... and should I send everyone to my home page or right to the forums?

Do you all find my site easy to navigate? Would YOU want to join if you were/are a pet lover?

This isn't really the place for site specific advice. Check out our Website Reviews forum => http://www.daniweb.com/techtalkforums/forum170.html

Generally speaking, I like a portal which gives an overview of the latest threads and most interesting posts and such.

I am one for reinvesting funds to grow a site ... a starting point is to begin by spending only what you're comfortable with spending on a hobby project out of pocket. As the site grows, and you start bringing in sponsorships or advertising revenue or contributing sponsors, spend half of what you bring in.

Member Avatar for cyfm

Advertisments and sponsership is key when it comes to running an online community, although most of my projects have used my own money I also use advertisment money such as google ad's, sponsership and that kind of thing. It's good if you can get sponsers who have a sepcific product or service which would be relavent to your site, say for example dog hair brushes (weak example I know :P)

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