Where can I get more members?

[actingbiz1]

I started a forum with the initial interest of targeting filmmakers and their interests in sharing ideas and advice. But now I would like to open it up to people who have a general interest in film tv games and music. Just a place to discuss.
Any suggestions?
forums.dynamicfilms.net

[Ryan M]

The easiest way to get more members is to make your website a worthwhile destination. Often, this may seem a bit daunting because it is indeed a catch 22. In order for forums to gain members, it ought to have lots of interesting discussion, however to have a lot of interesting discussion it ought to have a lot of members.

If you can make your forums a good destination, then it is time to proceed with these next few steps.

1. Make sure Google/yahoo/microsoft are indexing your website. They all allow you to submit your url to be indexed for free. Soon your page will be high in the search rankings. As long as you have interesting content, you can expect the user to poke around a bit, and perhaps joing your community. Make sure that the search engine web crawlers can easily index your pages efficiently. This is called Search Engine Optimization. There is much information freely available on the web, (or expensively available in your local bookstore). This information can help you avoid potential pitfalls that could result in lower ranking or not be indexed at all.

2. Integrerate with pre-existing services. This can be simple as adding RSS feeds to your site and forum, as well digg/reddit/del.lico.us/stumbleupon submission buttons. Consider uploading interesting and related videos to youtube that display your sites url. Consider makeing a facebook fan page, that integerates with your site. If you have the skills, or the money to pay for the skills, consider making a related mobile (smart) phone app. This is only the tip of the iceberg. The idea is subtleing inject your site presense into the social media. However do not spam these services or competing sites with 'free ads' this will only result in your URL being blacklisted.

3. Advertise. Advertise with Google, Facebook. etc. Not over the top, but just enough to attract the user's attention, grab their interest and bring them to your pages.

The only way to retain members is to have interesting topics/content. This maybe hard at first, but the bueaty of web 2.0 and social networking, is that as soon as users flow into your forum it wont be too long before it is self-sustaining!