I am wondering about ideas on how to bring new members to this forum. I have considered directing people here from americanhistoryforum.com, although I don't normally like the idea of harvesting other forum's members. The problem is, that site is being swarmed by spammers and so I'm not sure that any good history discussions can take place there anyway, so I might be justified in helping people out. I'll think about it.
Well, at least here I am pretty vigilant about deleting their accounts and banning their IP addresses. I have to delete a few accounts on this site anyway when I determine they're bogus. I don't know why americanhistoryforums gets so many members when there's so much spam there.
Well, not that many people. We've got a lot more posts (and intellectual discussions) going on here. But I wouldn't mind some novices coming here and signing up to ask for help with history homework or whatnot.
Perhaps a paid advertizement campaign is in the offing? I'm going to do something like that at NJO. Try to find a news source who will get your url out there in their news cycle. Or find some history bloggers who will mention your site. I don't know, there are probably hundreds of marketing strategies you could employ, but you should only use the ones that will attract the kinds of posters you want. So be selective.
Stumpfoot, yes, I have kept an eye on my site's progress on Google. It took some time for G to pick my site up and so that was one of the problems at the beginning. And Donnie, when I began this site I did a pay per click campaign to try to attract members, but it didn't work well at all. I feel that PPC use to try to attract forum members is really not that great of an idea because it costs too much. However, I like some of the other ideas you presented.
Post exchanges is also a better way to promote forum, and when u do post exchange, don't forget post ur website in the forum with which you do post exchage 😀
Post exchanges is also a better way to promote forum, and when u do post exchange, don't forget post ur website in the forum with which you do post exchage 😀
Wouldnt that be inviting spammers? Unless you know who your exchanging with.
I don't think it's search engine spiders who are signing up as spammers. Rather, it's programs that spammers have created to go around the internet and sign up automatically and post spam. These tend to be foreign spammers – Russian, Dutch, Asian – though I have run into scam artists from places like Brazil and Nigeria. I can say that I'm glad I live under the safety of U.S. laws, but the internet necessarily brings you out of this into the “wild west” form of government where things aren't so secure. That's why vigilante actions are sometimes required. 🙂 Ok, maybe not so much vigilante, but rather watching your own back and defending your castle.