So you’ve got your new phpBB setup and you’ve setup some category’s, even posted a few messages, now what? All you can hear is the wind whistling through the empty forum. I know that feeling. A forum is all about communication, a forum is all about building relationships. Relationships take time to build.

So how do you start your forum? By creating relationships, even if it’s just with that one person to start with. You need to build relationships with everyone. So treat your 10,000th member just like that very first member. Give them a sense of belonging, a reason to come back. Do that and you will see your forum grow exponentially.

So to get that first person to visit the site you need to make sure you’ve done the following…

1. Submit your website to Google so people can begin to find your forums via topics they’re interested in.
2. Take time to build up those initial topics.
3. Build up relationships on other social media type sites and then refer them to your forum.

That’s just a few simple ideas to help you get started!

Another great way to start a forum is to invite friends you’ve already got. Invite them all on, start topics they’ll be interested in, something that involves them, treat other members exactly how you’re treating your actual friends, you’ll soon see the difference in user engagement on your forum.

And last but not least, send private messages to new members, welcome them in, make them feel at home, don’t just send an auto reply, type it out yourself, introduce yourself, it pays dividends in the long-run.

Populate your forum with thousands of new, relevant topics, replies and new members, automatically! Get a free trial now: http://www.launchmyforum.com

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