This article was adapted from its original format: http://www.phpbb.com/kb/article.php?article_id=185

Hi all. In this article I'll try to make clear how your forum/website needs to be promoted professionally to gain a respectable reputation. Very often you will see pages trying to promote themselves without success, and that's because they are doing it the wrong way!

I will briefly tell about my background for writing this. I have a big interest in advertising and promoting. I have helped out several large sites on the internet. My favorite is how I promoted a supermarket chain from Denmark, I hope I have the basics to explain a bit to ya!

In order to even promote, you have to make these things clear to yourself, and your "customers":

1. What's the point with your site?
2. What's your goal?
3. Let people know that you exist!
4. Try to give the site a good layout that makes people feel 'welcome' when they enter the site
5. Make connections with 'brother/sisters' sites
6. Get a staff with useful knowledge
7. How to be a good administrator
8. Treat other people as you want to be treated yourself
9. Ad's / banners
10. "To be famous is so nice"

1) What's the point with your site?

First of all, what's the point with your own forum/site? What are you trying to accomplish, and what is your 'subject' at the site?

You need something to attract a target-group. I've chosen to use my own concept in this article. So basically, you need a subject at your site to attract people! Way to often have we seen all-round pages, which have forums about everything, which isn't attracting many people. I can see the idea, but it just isn't cool! Personally, I think that forums with a single subject is much better, because the information is more concentrated about what you need, and you are sure to meet other people with the same interest. To point out your point with the site, is something you got to do, before you even start it!

2) What's your goal?

What's your goal with creating your forum/site ? You have to be very sure about this because that's how to define how your site should be promoted.

If you are trying to make a site as big as phpbb.com, you will have to do drastic things in order to accomplish that. (I will get back to that later.) Your goal might only be to gather a community with 300 people, or maybe just to gather your friends. Then you won't need the drastic stuff!

3) Let people know that you exist!

Now the fun part begins! Advertising and promoting your site =)

How do you let people know that you exist, and how to do it the right way? I will start by pointing out what NOT to do! The following concepts will only hurt your forum!

• Spamming in other forums, such as phpbb.com. That's mostly because there's two kind of people: Those who need help, and those who help out other people. The people who need help, aren't interested in reading spam, they ignore it. The people who help out other's are very annoyed by spam and will start to hate your page. - So don't do it!
• Spamming in public places, like game channels and the like.
• Wannabe-conceiting ( my own word =P ! ). This is mostly because you often see small sites trying to be like the big ones. It doesn't work ;-)

So, how do you let people now that you are here, and how do you attract them to your forum? Well, first of all, you need a group of people with knowledge. Let's use my own forum, which is still under development, as an example.

It's about role playing games, and therefore I need a large staff to assist me. In total there are 62 sub-forums right now, which might seem like much, but it isn't. To assist me, I have 11 moderators, 4 Game Promoters and 3 other administrators. In total that's 18 people to help me. And I promise you, each of these guys have their own "area" of knowledge, so it's a strong foundation! You will need the same, maybe not in that scale, but you'll need it! - If you want to run a serious forum, you need helpers. And make sure that you can trust them. Before 'hiring' the people, make sure they know something about communities. Also, be sure they've tried it before.

So, how do you advertise, and what do you have to make sure, before you do it?:

• Your forum/site have to been 100% completed! You cannot launch a forum without a main site. It's NOT possible!
• Make sure you have the time, and control, to do it. Being an admin for more than 3000 members isn't easy.
• Being friendly is your best weapon! Try to contact other sites with the same subject/goal as yours and ask if they are interested in linking to your site.
• Friends! If your site has something to offer, and you let your friends know, it will spread quickly.
• Start by linking to other sites. Then they will find out you exist!
• Add your site to search engines like www.google.com, www.altavista.com and www.yahoo.com - Search engines are your friend. Remember Google might add you, even without your knowledge ;-)

4) Try to give the site a good layout that makes people feel 'welcome' when they enter the site.

The worst thing I know about the matter is to come to a impersonal site. By that I mean a boring site, a place that looks like a hospital ( No offense, but I know more exciting places =D ). Make sure your color-choice is nice and calm. Especially, make sure that your forum template fits into the main site design. Personally, I would say that going from a dark main site to a template like subSilver, is the worst possible thing that can happen on a site! It simply ruins the experience.

Also, you can make a special index page when people enter your site. On that site, you might write a few lines about the site, or even better, place comments/awards and so on. Also, keep your forum clean! Hostile posting will make members disappear, or scare coming members away so they won't sign up. Read more about this in "7. Being an administrator"

5) Make connections with 'brother/sisters' sites

This one is a bit hard. If you're unlucky and there are no 'brother/sister' sites, there's not much you can do, but at least give it a try! At my page, which is about role playing games, I've tried to contact most of the other Danish sites about a specific game. I told them about my goal and point with my site. I've gotten some nasty answers, but also got some great responses. Now I'm sure at least more than 1000 people are aware of my site. Try to do the same! Do a quick search at a search engine, like Google, for sites like your own, and contact the webmaster; ask him if he knows your site. But remember to be nice and use a professional language. Check for spelling errors and other things. It has to look very professional to have any effect. If you are the only site of it's kind, make sure to grow, and become the largest. When that has happened, be friendly, and help up other sites. Helping other people/sites only helps your reputation, which is everything!

6) Get some staff with knowledge

I've mentioned it before, so I won't tell much about it. It is important that the staff you find know something about the subject of your site. If you have a strong wish about using your friends, put them at an off-topic forum, showoff forum, or something similar. A moderator without the needed knowledge just sucks! Sorry for the language, but they really do ;-)

7) Being an administrator

A bad Administrator can ruin a site completely! So be careful!!!

So, how are you going to act as an admin? Well, first of all, do not be too 'bossy'! That's really the best and most important rule. Do not act like a jerk just because you're an admin. Actually, the best thing you can do is to be a bit neutral. Of course, if someone breaks your rules, you have to let them know, but there are several ways to do it. My recommendation would be to lock the thread ( pretending that a flame/racism thread was started ), and maybe put in a little line about why you locked the thread. But the discussion with the specific user has to be taken care of through mail or PM. An admin discussing with a member in public isn't good for your forum. No matter how you look at it.

Just try to be a part of the community. Again, do not act 'bossy'. As an admin, you have to trust your moderators and give away some control. It's important that you don't stress up. Your members know if you can't handle the forum. If that's the case, get a co-admin!

8) Treat other people as you want to be treated yourself

Very simple. As I mentioned in "7. Being an administrator", it's not nice for a member to be corrected in public. It's very humiliating! You show how grown-up you are just by closing down the problem, and then figure it out by PM/Mailing. Being everybody's friend isn't impossible. Do not make enemies.

9) Ad's / banners

Advertising and banners at your forum. Be careful! I mean really careful. Some people ( including myself ) simply refuse to use sites that have pop-ups. A banner is okay at the bottom or top, but not pop-ups! If you're as lucky as me to gain money from a banner ( or pop-up, if you have such ) make sure the members get to feel it! A way to get more members is to get a better connection so everything will be a bit faster to load, or maybe some sort of completion, with an award. It's important that you do not tell your members how much you get from banner-ads! It's important that you get a bite of the cake ;-)

10) "To be famous is so nice"

I will round off by saying that you should make sure that your fame doesn't get to your head. Once your forum reaches more than 1500/2000 members, some people will start to see you as a saint, or the big boss. Do NOT let it get to your head. Try to be a part of the community, and just be happy about the fact that you've created a nice community.

In the end, I want to thank you for reading, and sorry for my comparatively/relatively poor English. I'm from Denmark =)

Regards and good luck,
Wuddk / Jens Quitzau ( Denmark )