This question seems to come up alot and I get messages quite frequently about it. So I figured I would do a little outline.

Question: I just started my forums, I have it setup with nice features and a good looking skin. Now how do I get members? And don’t forget I don’t have any money (hehe) !

1. Of course the first and easiest solution is putting your site link in signatures at other forums. I’m going to assume you know what that is. But signatures can be very powerful. Not only can they advertise your site for you, but they can also be counted as IBLs (Inbound Links) although this could be debated. But remember when putting your site in your sig don’t just use your URL, use a text targeted link. Like I use “Cruise Reviews” . And try to keep it to a phrase that people may type in search engines. You might want to do a search here inventory.overture.com . Now don’t just do that at your current forums you participate in, start registering at any and every forum you find. I probably have 100+ forum accounts that I post on, and every time I do I am giving my site that chance to be seen by others that might be interested. Just think how much time it takes to make 10 posts on a forum, not very much. So the more sites your making 10 posts a day on the more your going to be seen.

2. Kind of like sigs you have Top Site Lists. Now you may or may not get any traffic from these but anything is worth a shot. You are just starting your forum so you should try everything. There are tons of Top Site Lists out there so just do a search and enter in as many as you can. Any publicity is good publicity.

3. Newsgroups. Join lots of newsgroups. This is kinda of like joining a lot of forums and using a sig. Do the same thing with news groups. But remember nobody likes spam, so make good lengthy posts with you site after your name. This is another easy FREE way to mass broadcast. I must add that this is a very valuable and underused option. Not only do people read newsgroups directly but they also subscribe to them, some sites even grab their feeds and publish them. This method can really boost your visability, just remember to keep the posts informative and “sneak” your link in there.

4. Yahoo! Chat. This option is spammy but what the heck, you need members. I even used this option before. Go onto yahoo chat and talk with people and every now and again do a blatant Spam post with your site. This way people see you are real and not a bot, and they get to see your site link. Again, FREE IS THE KEY.

5. Exchange links with anyone willing. I don’t care if there site gets less traffic than you, exchange links. I don’t care if the site is relevant or not, exchange links. The more incoming links the better. The more your site name is out and about, the more people will see it. But try to setup a link directly from your site, this way you can keep all links one one area and off your main content.

6. Do a press release. I think the site is prweb.com. Do one everyweek. Ok now I know this option isn’t cheap but I reccoment the $80 option. You will get picked up by all the major news portals and if your write up is interesting you will get gobs of traffic. But remember nobody likes spam so you have to make your PR less about your site and more about information. Write something up that somebody may have interest in, or a tip of some kind and include your links right after your name. They even have pay for professionals that will write something up for you, but they are not cheap.

7. Many sites love people that write articles. So get to writing and submit them to other sites. Again you put your site link in the article and boom, instant advertising.

8. Make use of digg.com. While you may not have anything worthy of getting a top position it’s always good to get your name out there from time to time. Again any traffic at this point is good traffic.

9. Post exchanges. There must be 1,000’s of other startup forums on the net right now. Get to know these people and establish relationships with them. Mention that they get involved on a 1 on 1 post exchange. This way you help them out and they help you out. It’s a simple idea that can go a really long way. I remember doing this in my early days.

Anything that is free is worth doing. And do it until you can’t stand it any more. If you want success you have to do anything to achieve that.

Remember it’s always good to know other people in the forum business. These are the people that been through this before, so take their advice whenever you can.

This is the very basic beginning for those that are just starting a forum, but of course it doesn’t hurt for those old timers either.

Rex Bowden @ CruiseLineForums.com