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| + | ====== Advertising ====== | ||
| + | An extremely effective means of bringing in new people and a path that provides a good option is advertising. If you advertise effectively you can pull in small clusters at first and eventually attract larger numbers. | ||
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| + | ===== Search Engines and Directories ===== | ||
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| + | A simple method is to submit your forum to one of the many search engines. Most of us use these things on a daily basis to hunt things out or just to trawl through what's out there so why not add yours to the pile? It will inevitably take time before this can bring in semi-regular users but once you have established yourself you will begin to climb the ladder. | ||
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| + | ===== Start a blog ===== | ||
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| + | Zetaboards has blogs built in to the software, but if you already run one somewhere else, use that to advertise your new community. | ||
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| + | ===== Alternative Methods ===== | ||
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| + | Word of mouth is an extremely common form of advertising; by "spreading the word" to people, you can draw in new members easily. If your members are happy with your forum they're more likely to recommend it to others and this can seriously increase your numbers! | ||
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| + | So too can utilising forum signatures and "My Website" profile fields to advertise on other forums. Many places are happy with links in signatures and the allotted profile space so you'd be mad not to take up the chance on the forums you're active in. And you can implore your members to wear signatures or link to your community at forums they are members at. It is important, however, that you check the rules of any forum before doing this. If you violate advertising rules you may end up creating enemies and finding your URL is blocked by a number of forums. Equally, do NOT encourage members to advertise senselessly; advise them to be sensible and to heed rules! | ||
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| + | "Plug your forum" and similar services can also be found on boards. These are generally forums in which you can post an advertisement, free of charge typically but you may have to accumulate x posts before you can use it. Don't see this as a bad thing - it's an opportunity! You get to sell your forum and be active, thus allowing people to see what kind of person you are. People like to see personality so it doesn't hurt to make an appearance on other boards. | ||
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| + | Directories and resources to help get you started! | ||
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| + | * [[http://s1.zetaboards.com/zb/directory/|ZetaBoards Directory]] | ||
| + | * [[https://ecom.yahoo.com/dir/submit/intro/|Yahoo! Directory]] | ||
| + | * [[http://www.dmoz.org/add.html|Open Project]] | ||
| + | * [[http://search.yahoo.com/info/submit.html|Yahoo!]] | ||
| + | * [[http://www.google.com/addurl/|Google]] | ||
| + | * [[http://search.live.com/docs/submit.aspx|Live Search (MSN)]] | ||
| + | * [[http://www.ask.com/|Ask.com]] | ||
| + | * [[http://search.aol.com/|AOL Search]] | ||
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| + | Article written by OcelotJay | ||