I am at a loss as to what to do to really kick start things.
I have a alternative news site where I press various alternative news form sources all over the world.
We welcome alternative and black listed news, paranormal, philosophy, matters of faith, world politics, conspiracy theory talk and esoteric things and the UFO fringe. In short a non main stream media site to discuss and share what is going on with the the worlds powers that be. The term a lot of these folks use is The New World Order conspiracy and the Illuminati.
The wordpress section of the website does really well with traffic and visitors. That is not a issue. What can I do to get members actively posting on the forum?
Is there any suggestions?
http://thewatchtowers.com/forums/index.php
Have a new theme and add some useful content!
Members will get signed up soon!
Give them a reason to. I see no reason to so far.
Normally I completely dislike being critical but this might be the only way to give advice in this case:
- As it stands, the board isn't very 'inviting'; the ads are too prominent and irrelevant widgets are everywhere. To avoid the 'generic starter forum'-look, try getting a nice theme for your board that fits in with your goals. Ads are great, but try to be a little more subtle. In short: make the forum easier on the eyes!
- On a first visit, I can only see two forums on your board and neither are very clear about what I'm supposed to talk about. Clearly, you told us in the first post what you're about and what you're looking for, but the common visitor won't know that. Try adding a 'welcome block': "Welcome to The Watch Towers, a forum dedicated to alternative news! Right now you're viewing the board as a guest, so in order to access other fun sections such as _______, please sign up here!". That is, of course, a very bland example, but it's always important to describe your website, especially when it's brand new.
- Try drawing your audience in. Do you have any original content? A podcast? The truth is, a lot of this news can probably be found elsewhere easily, so you need to find a way to get people on 'your side'. Maybe join the 'blog bandwagon' where you yourself vent on these very articles.
Just a few ideas! Good luck!
I'm sorry but I fail to comprehend your website
So it's an offshoot of GLP.us, which is an offshoot of GLP.com? You're trying to Take traffic from huge huge sites like LoP and GLP.com. How exactly do you plan on doing that? You need to provide something new, in a niche that doesn't already have 2 massive forums in it
(2012-02-22, 09:42 PM)VeerWeb Wrote: [ -> ]Normally I completely dislike being critical but this might be the only way to give advice in this case:
- As it stands, the board isn't very 'inviting'; the ads are too prominent and irrelevant widgets are everywhere. To avoid the 'generic starter forum'-look, try getting a nice theme for your board that fits in with your goals. Ads are great, but try to be a little more subtle. In short: make the forum easier on the eyes!
- On a first visit, I can only see two forums on your board and neither are very clear about what I'm supposed to talk about. Clearly, you told us in the first post what you're about and what you're looking for, but the common visitor won't know that. Try adding a 'welcome block': "Welcome to The Watch Towers, a forum dedicated to alternative news! Right now you're viewing the board as a guest, so in order to access other fun sections such as _______, please sign up here!". That is, of course, a very bland example, but it's always important to describe your website, especially when it's brand new.
- Try drawing your audience in. Do you have any original content? A podcast? The truth is, a lot of this news can probably be found elsewhere easily, so you need to find a way to get people on 'your side'. Maybe join the 'blog bandwagon' where you yourself vent on these very articles.
Just a few ideas! Good luck!
Nice input thank you.
"irrelevant widgets are everywhere"...?
(2012-02-22, 10:03 PM)Tom K. Wrote: [ -> ]I'm sorry but I fail to comprehend your website
So it's an offshoot of GLP.us, which is an offshoot of GLP.com? You're trying to Take traffic from huge huge sites like LoP and GLP.com. How exactly do you plan on doing that? You need to provide something new, in a niche that doesn't already have 2 massive forums in it
No plan to take anything , the plan is to have a place for the banned and fed up to be.
Actually, you can take that with a grain of salt if you want. That widget critique was from a glance at the main page ("Share with Twitter, Facebook, etc etc" links are too prominent, tag cloud, and more).
(2012-02-23, 07:36 AM)VeerWeb Wrote: [ -> ]Actually, you can take that with a grain of salt if you want. That widget critique was from a glance at the main page ("Share with Twitter, Facebook, etc etc" links are too prominent, tag cloud, and more).
Ohhhhh OK now it makes sence. The blog / website is doing very well which is why my qestion and puzzlement is with the forum part of it.
(2012-02-23, 07:29 AM)II-Neutron Wrote: [ -> ] (2012-02-22, 09:42 PM)VeerWeb Wrote: [ -> ]Normally I completely dislike being critical but this might be the only way to give advice in this case:
- As it stands, the board isn't very 'inviting'; the ads are too prominent and irrelevant widgets are everywhere. To avoid the 'generic starter forum'-look, try getting a nice theme for your board that fits in with your goals. Ads are great, but try to be a little more subtle. In short: make the forum easier on the eyes!
- On a first visit, I can only see two forums on your board and neither are very clear about what I'm supposed to talk about. Clearly, you told us in the first post what you're about and what you're looking for, but the common visitor won't know that. Try adding a 'welcome block': "Welcome to The Watch Towers, a forum dedicated to alternative news! Right now you're viewing the board as a guest, so in order to access other fun sections such as _______, please sign up here!". That is, of course, a very bland example, but it's always important to describe your website, especially when it's brand new.
- Try drawing your audience in. Do you have any original content? A podcast? The truth is, a lot of this news can probably be found elsewhere easily, so you need to find a way to get people on 'your side'. Maybe join the 'blog bandwagon' where you yourself vent on these very articles.
Just a few ideas! Good luck!
Nice input thank you.
"irrelevant widgets are everywhere"...?
(2012-02-22, 10:03 PM)Tom K. Wrote: [ -> ]I'm sorry but I fail to comprehend your website
So it's an offshoot of GLP.us, which is an offshoot of GLP.com? You're trying to Take traffic from huge huge sites like LoP and GLP.com. How exactly do you plan on doing that? You need to provide something new, in a niche that doesn't already have 2 massive forums in it
No plan to take anything , the plan is to have a place for the banned and fed up to be.
What I meant was, you're battling for traffic that is from two or three huge sites
(2012-02-23, 08:36 AM)Tom K. Wrote: [ -> ] (2012-02-23, 07:29 AM)II-Neutron Wrote: [ -> ] (2012-02-22, 09:42 PM)VeerWeb Wrote: [ -> ]Normally I completely dislike being critical but this might be the only way to give advice in this case:
- As it stands, the board isn't very 'inviting'; the ads are too prominent and irrelevant widgets are everywhere. To avoid the 'generic starter forum'-look, try getting a nice theme for your board that fits in with your goals. Ads are great, but try to be a little more subtle. In short: make the forum easier on the eyes!
- On a first visit, I can only see two forums on your board and neither are very clear about what I'm supposed to talk about. Clearly, you told us in the first post what you're about and what you're looking for, but the common visitor won't know that. Try adding a 'welcome block': "Welcome to The Watch Towers, a forum dedicated to alternative news! Right now you're viewing the board as a guest, so in order to access other fun sections such as _______, please sign up here!". That is, of course, a very bland example, but it's always important to describe your website, especially when it's brand new.
- Try drawing your audience in. Do you have any original content? A podcast? The truth is, a lot of this news can probably be found elsewhere easily, so you need to find a way to get people on 'your side'. Maybe join the 'blog bandwagon' where you yourself vent on these very articles.
Just a few ideas! Good luck!
Nice input thank you.
"irrelevant widgets are everywhere"...?
(2012-02-22, 10:03 PM)Tom K. Wrote: [ -> ]I'm sorry but I fail to comprehend your website
So it's an offshoot of GLP.us, which is an offshoot of GLP.com? You're trying to Take traffic from huge huge sites like LoP and GLP.com. How exactly do you plan on doing that? You need to provide something new, in a niche that doesn't already have 2 massive forums in it
No plan to take anything , the plan is to have a place for the banned and fed up to be.
What I meant was, you're battling for traffic that is from two or three huge sites
I get you. And the issue is I have not really been putting up much of a fight in this battle.