[Sysko]

Making an Attractive Forum
Before going out and advertising your website, you need to make it look appealing. A good looking forum is the key to getting more members. A good thing to think about is, "If I were a guest, what would I want to see in a forum?" If you were a guest, would you like to join a forum with the default skin and images? A default skin and images shows the administrator either A: Knows nothing about running a forum, or B: Doesn't care enough about the forum to change the skin and images. Both are very bad things for your guests to think about you. A Guest doesn't want an administrator who knows nothing of running a forum, does he? So, get a new skin. It is always better if the skin is hand made by the administrator, for that shows the admin really cares about the site. He didn't just go around and request one, or just pull a random one from the gallery. But I understand a lot of people can't do skinning... So the next best thing is to just request one... Now, for a guest who isn't a big InvisionFree person, a completely unique skin isn't really a big deal. So make sure the skin looks really superb. Also, a themed skin is a great way to gain members. So if you are a LotR site, it would be good to have a LotR themed skin.

Now that you have your skin, you need some images to match. Custom is always better, and if it was made by your site's administrator, (aka you) that is even better. So, either make or request a custom banner. It is best if it has a theme that goes with your board, and if it is really fancy, that is a great way to get members too. Then you need some other images. You can make your own images, but there is so many that that could be very, very hard. Now, personally, I think it is better if you make them yourself again. But it is very hard to do all those images. So either request some or just snag some out of the Member Graphics forum here on IFSZ. Now, when getting images, make absolutely sure they match your site's skin. If they don't like your skin, that is bad news for guests wanting to join. It is also nice if they go with your theme, but not necessary. Clearing all the default images is a very good thing if the images are good. If the images are bad, it isn't so good to clear all the default images. So make sure they are good.

Okay, now that your site has a totally awesome appearance, you can make some forums. (You could have done this before you got the skin, but who cares the order?) Now, it is good if you start with as few forums as possible. If you have too many forums, your new members will feel overwhelmed. It also does badly for your sites appearance. If you are new and have too many forums, and if you have too many forums, you probably have too many empty forums. If you have even one forum that is empty, that is a bad thing. After you create your forums, make sure you post a few topics in each to give your members something to do. As your site starts to get rolling, you'll realize you, the administrator is the one posting most of the topics. So don't let your members do all the work.

Professionalism
The members you should be trying to get are intelligent people who aren't n00bs. You need your board to look professional. A lot of it has to do with the appearance stuff that I listed above, but there is more to it then that.

When you have your board set up, it is nice to have a set of rules. Also make sure you enforce the rules and give out punishments. If there are no punishments, then people won't obey your rules. This is just as bad as having no rules. And having no rules is very bad. If you can't write long and detailed rules, I suggest you use a set of premade rules, such as this one.

Another thing to have a professional looking board is to have no n00bish acting staff. This includes you, the head administrator. Being n00bish includes having bad spelling and grammar and capitalization and punctuation and other English skills. Your staff should act professional, so don't post one word posts like "cool" or "awesome". Many people consider that spam. My suggestion is open up a new MS Word page and edit paste your post into there and spell-check it.

When choosing staff, make sure they know what they are doing. Don't choose n00bish people, or people who don't know anything about the subject. Also if you add another administrator, make sure you can trust him.

Also, it is always good to have a co.admin. Having a co.admin can help your board increase a lot. But I only suggest you get 1 co.admin, so you have only 2 admins. When you get more, things become complex, and your spot as ROOT admin becomes a lot less. When choosing a Co.admin, make sure it is someone who A: Knows a lot about the subject, and InvisionFree. And B: One who you can trust. If you can't trust him, then your board is in trouble at every second. (But I think it’s best to get a co.admin after your board had been advertised to people and everything)

Advertising
Okay, now that you’re all set up, it is time to advertise! In a lot of places, you cannot mess up in advertising, for you only get one chance. Go to all the forums you are a member of and in your signature, put a link to your forum. It is better if you have an image too, because an image is more noticeable. If you have no image, it would be better to make the text in bold and in a large size. Larger text is always more noticeable to members then small text. Also a fancy font is nice. Now, if you are really new to a forum DO NOT post a new topic advertising your website. Most sites say “Only one topic per message board.” And “No Bumping.” If you waste your one shot when you are a new member, people won’t join. They will just assume you are a n00b just joining to advertise. They probably wouldn’t even acknowledge you. Wait till you have a lot of posts and are an active member of their community to post an advertisement topic. Then you’ll get plenty of members. Though I have to warn you, if you have had advertised on that website before, you should get less members than you did the first time. This is an unwritten law in most cases. People think they joined your first board; they don’t need to join your second.

Now that you’ve advertised on every board you are a member of, now join a new message board with an advertisements forum. (Preferably one with the same theme as your site) Put the link in your signature, and then become active on their site for about a month. (Make sure you don’t act like a n00b! Doing so could ruin all your chances of this working!) Then, after that month of activeness, advertise your site in their advertisements forum. You should get a lot more members.(depending on how big the board you joined was though)

Now a few other things you can do are go to search engines and stuff, but they don’t help you as much as my previous strategy would.

A few things you should not do
Do not just go to random websites and joining just to say “join my forum” and leave. This gives you the impression of a n00b. Another thing you shouldn’t do is get angry when your link is removed. This can hurt you in many ways; not only on the site you just joined, but on other sites you may consider joining. Word can get around about bad things you do, and this could crush your advertising strategy completely. Also, don’t complain when someone doesn’t register. This also gives you the impression of a n00b. And, as I said before, use good spelling and grammar, and other language skills.

Documentation By Nemesis! Do Not Rip!

[Silent]

Nice documentation, Nemesis.Great informations and professional tips for Invisionfree beginners.