Do's And Don't's

I wanted to get some tips here, I plan to make a forum related to graphics soon. I know there is a lot of people have made forum that did well and not so well. Any tips for one who plans to start in the graphic forum biz

 

Make sure that:
- You have a focused audience
- You actually have some content that will attract members upon opening
- You have a good staff team that will help you out
- You find good ways to advertise

Make sure you don't:
- Send PM ads anywhere
- Have nothing on the forum
- Open prematurely

Just some tips I've picked up from opening many forums.

 

staff will be the hardest, I plan to run in myself for two months or something

I currently been stocking up with stuff that will be on the site, it will be a render based community first than will evolve into something more. I a lot of huge gfx site where render based first

 

That's smart then.

I would really suggest though getting at least one or two moderators for the forum, so that way you'll have at least someone to help you moderate the area, and possibly another person who can help you incase something goes wrong somewhere on the forum.

 

Do's

Make sure you have designers, that aren't on your staff. You need more than just your staff.
Make sure you have resources to aid the average member
Also you have to make sure you have something that will make the user want to post everyday, no just for 1 day.
Advertise your site wherever you can without breaking any rules.

Don't
Give away staff positions like candy at halloween, make sure you get to know the people before you hire them.
Don't spam the link of your site on other sites, it usually just annoys people and will get you banned.
Release the site as soon as you purchase your forum, make sure you have all of the products for your site.

 

And make sure that you always have recent news,
if you keep the forums with "old" topics, the
users / visiters may not want to stay.

Also you can think about changing the design every
month? or so...

Does not have to be the whole design but maybe the
color, making it more interesting visiting your forums.

 

There are already a lot of Graphics Communities on the internet, so it will be a hard market to crack so make sure you offer something unique that other Graphics Forums on the web do not offer. Something really good and unique would bring you many GFX Members if it is actually quite effective and good.

Also join other forums like the AdminZoneForums, they are a dedicated forum on forums and there are plenty of useful articles there and many questions you can ask to do with marketing etc. I am not new to the Forum trade and I have owned quite a few medium-large boards in the past, so I can give you some tips & tricks with my past experience, if needs be.

Good Luck with your new forum and if you need any help, you know where you can find me !

 

Here's a don't for you - What we don't need is another graphics related forums.

kthx

 

Be sure to set up your forum first, before opening it and sending everyone pm's/advertising.
Nothing as annoying as having to go to a forum that is still under construction.

And like said here before, get good content for it. A forum is based on user added content, but when starting out you have to make sure that you have things to put in it at first, which will get you new members and thus build on your content.

Other then that, don't try to start out too big, because the fall might be deeper then you think