Member Avatar for CaptainPeanuts

I have recently started a forum and was wondering what the best way to drive traffic to it is. I have seen many "pay to post" companies out there, but I am worried that all that will accomplish is filling my board with meaningless clutter. I have not started a forum for myself, but I have managed several larger ones. Is patience the key? Or should I be more pro-active? Any tips would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

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Dani AI

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As is building a Moola community, the practical focus should be on building a small, active core and making the site the best place to solve real Moola problems. Start by deciding three concrete reasons someone would choose this forum over the existing one (fast answers, curated how-tos, exclusive tools, local groups, etc.), then create a set of 20–40 high‑quality, evergreen starter threads that answer the questions those users have right now. Recruit a committed founding team (friends, early adopters, a few subject-matter contributors) to seed conversation and model the tone you want.

Outreach needs to be targeted and respectful. Instead of mass unsolicited invites, approach other community owners and moderators with a clear mutual benefit (guest Q&A, cross-posted summary, or co-hosted event). Use your own channels — blog posts, mailing lists, social accounts — to promote specific discussions so visitors land directly on useful threads. Organize a few time-bound events (AMAs, troubleshooting clinics) that give people a reason to join and participate at launch.

Retention and quality come from fast responses, clear onboarding, and visible value. Have a welcome/“how to ask” sticky, automate a polite first‑post followup, and set moderation standards so new members aren’t greeted by noise. Add small, practical resources tied to Moola (one-page guides, checklists, import/export tips) that keep people coming back. Track simple metrics (new registrations, replies per thread, time‑to‑first‑reply, 7/30‑day retention) and iterate based on what actually moves those numbers.

Caution: treat outreach to other forums as a relationship-building exercise — ask for permission and offer something useful, otherwise you risk getting blocked (a point and raised). Be proactive but patient: get a tight, active core first, and organic growth becomes much easier from there.

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Member Avatar for Memento

I think if you are patient you will end up with an old website with few users. I am experiencing a similar problem myself regarding new forums; it seems you have to reach a certain critical mass of users for it to sustain itself. I have seen programs where you join a group of people who all post in each others forums but I agree with you that seems like a recipe for a forum full of BS. I signed up for Google ads two days ago so I need to give it more time to see how it turns out.

What is your forum going to be for?

Member Avatar for andrewbowe

try private messaging loads of users on other forums as they will most certainly at least take a look at your new forum

Member Avatar for Memento

try private messaging loads of users on other forums as they will most certainly at least take a look at your new forum

The most positive spin I can put on that maneuver, would be to call it impolite. How would you feel if someone used your website to pull your hard earned forum members to a competing service? At least with advertising, the competing forum gets something out of it.

Member Avatar for CaptainPeanuts

The site will be a community for a site called Moola. There is only one other one out there, so I'm hoping to make mine a lot better and more inviting than theres...

Member Avatar for einfoway

HI,

If we PM users to send invitations to our own forumns does not that sounds like SPAMMINg? will admin not block you right away.?

Member Avatar for BamaStangGuy

Here is an article on tips for growing a forum:

Member Avatar for einfoway

Here is an article on tips for growing a forum:

Hi Wilson

That was cool, If we ask moderater of other forum like you yourself, to join our forum will that be fair for forum owners?

Member Avatar for musicbox

provide free services

Member Avatar for einfoway

provide free services

What type of services. At present we are offering

$5 and/or Free hosting and have competitions as well. Still dont see that punch like on this or other forum.

Member Avatar for andrewbowe

anyone can be a member of your forum including everyone on this forum so i dont see a problem with asking them

Member Avatar for einfoway

yes any one can me a apart of my forum. But if you ask the members directly dani will block you :) I mean any other forum owner will block you. if you PM them it might be considered as SPAM :(

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