Membership How to get people to join your forum

[Gandalf in Westeros 5]

I have been doing a bunch of advertising for my new Lord of the Rings/Game of Thrones crossover forum, and so far there have been between 30-60 guests visiting the forum every day, but I have yet to get a single person to join the forum. People have said that they love the idea or that the site looks cool, but I have had no luck in getting members. 

 

So how do you get new people to join your forum?

[Shades 676]

That's a rough one. I'd say it's easier to get people to join if you come to them when they're already looking for something (replying to ads). That does take some care, though, since the chances of people joining decrease if you shoot indiscriminately and drop your ad on requests where it doesn't fit.

 

Also, easy to take wanted ads (not lore-heavy, to help people get their feet wet), clear lore, to allow even people who don't know too much about the source material but are interested to join and not feel at a disadvantage, and clear, concise and neutral rules, that don't hint at admins being micromanagers and at past drama are also nice.

 

I'd advise, if you haven't, putting your site up for a review and getting a set of outside eyes looking in.

 

Good luck!

[Morrigan 1,826]

Well the first thing that I can say is get a review. I can tell you, straight off the bat just from looking at your forum, you talking about how the guests aren't joining is unappealing and a turn off. First and foremost advertising creates a lot of "fake" traffic as spiders and bots find your forum so most of these "so called" guests, I'd say about 80-90% of them are probably not even legitimate users.

 

A thread forever ago:

 

Talked about how it's a bit of a turn off for potential users to see staff members greet them. if they want to engage they will. So talking about where they are browsing and the fact that they aren't joining is definitely not earning you any points. It makes you seem like a micromanaging admin and those sorts of admins are never fun to play with.

 

That being said it takes time... months even to sometimes get users to join a site even with a lot of advertising, even for a really good idea. So keep at it, advertise in RPG Request forums on Directories like these but be sure to adhere to the person's wants and not just post to post. You have to really just be patient and inviting.

 

The saying, if you build it, they will come, is a real thing and it does work but you have to put in the work.

[Elena 546]

First, how many members are already on the forum, and how many active threads? Nobody would join an inactive site. Bring 2-3 friends, get your characters approved (this would start the standard for the others who further want to join, seeing what you are expecting from the character bio and threads), start writing threads, get some open threads left for those who might want to join, then, indeed, advertise everywhere. 

 

What advertising means have you used up to now? How many site directories is the site listed in? How many tumblr directories had been the advertisement sent to? Do you have wanted ads to promote too? Have you advertised the site on Facebook (included related fandom groups), on reddit and other platforms? 

 

You have a fandom site. Are you active on fandom discussion forums which allow a more discrete button/ banner of your site in your signature? People would like your writing and click on the signature to see the site, and maybe join.

Edited February 15, 2018 by Elena

[Gandalf in Westeros 5]

15 minutes ago, Morrigan said:

Well the first thing that I can say is get a review. I can tell you, straight off the bat just from looking at your forum, you talking about how the guests aren't joining is unappealing and a turn off. First and foremost advertising creates a lot of "fake" traffic as spiders and bots find your forum so most of these "so called" guests, I'd say about 80-90% of them are probably not even legitimate users.

 

A thread forever ago:

 

Talked about how it's a bit of a turn off for potential users to see staff members greet them. if they want to engage they will. So talking about where they are browsing and the fact that they aren't joining is definitely not earning you any points. It makes you seem like a micromanaging admin and those sorts of admins are never fun to play with.

 

That being said it takes time... months even to sometimes get users to join a site even with a lot of advertising, even for a really good idea. So keep at it, advertise in RPG Request forums on Directories like these but be sure to adhere to the person's wants and not just post to post. You have to really just be patient and inviting.

 

The saying, if you build it, they will come, is a real thing and it does work but you have to put in the work.

Thanks for that feedback. I hadn’t thought about it, but I can see why that would be a turn-off. 

18 minutes ago, Elena said:

First, how many members are already on the forum, and how many active threads? Nobody would join an inactive site. Bring 2-3 friends, get your characters approved (this would start the standard for the others who further want to join, seeing what you are expecting from the character bio and threads), start writing threads, get some open threads left for those who might want to join, then, indeed, advertise everywhere. 

Right now, I am the only one there. That is why I am so desperate for players, because I know no one wants to join an empty site, but the site will be empty until I get players. It’s an annoying paradox. Bringing friends doesn’t really work because none of my friends are interested in this sort of thing.

[Elena 546]

If I am the only one interested, with no hope to have a writing partner from the start (eventually a moderator or co-administrator) then I would never open the site, and I'd write the story alone. This was what I did for a Viking site, which was built by me in 2013 with the hope to find another staff member and open it, but it never got opened because I never found a reliable staff partner. And based on those characters I published my first novel....

[Gandalf in Westeros 5]

I’m not willing to give up on this quite yet.

[Shades 676]

I'd say then maybe focus on finding a buddy, more than general people to join the site? You know, devise a plot or two and try to get people to write those with you? To generate some activity without people feeling like they'll join a site with nothing to do? I hope it helps!

[StormWolfe 557]

29 minutes ago, Shades said:

I'd say then maybe focus on finding a buddy, more than general people to join the site? You know, devise a plot or two and try to get people to write those with you? To generate some activity without people feeling like they'll join a site with nothing to do? I hope it helps!

 

This is actually how our American wild west site came about. A friend who is not technically minded - even less so than I am which says quite alot - kept suggesting a western. I loved the old westerns, grew up on 'em so, eventually, I caved. Initially, it was just me and him writing our trail buddies. After it had been buzzing along for a bit, we advertised, a couple more people drifted in. Now, we are getting a few people at least looking us over as our members suggest our site to friends. Of course, while I want a few more active players at each of my sites, I am not in a rush. I never want to get into having to manage a really huge site again!

 

I still haven't put my site up for review, but I plan to as soon as the final lore documentation is done.

 

The keyword is patience! 

[CovertSphinx 710]

Don't give up. I only have myself and one other person on mine, and idc how long it takes, I'll RP with myself if I have to. I come from Old Days when people joined brandnew sites for the Startup Legacy and because they were truely interested in the content, and I choose to hold out until one day when people filter back to the other side of the pendulum.  Just keep doing what you're doing; keep RPing with yourself between a few characters, and keep throwing your link to people looking for something similar to what you offer. Eventually you'll find people that want to write what you want to write. Even if it takes 2 years. 

[Icewolf 258]

As your site is relatively new, do not worry about snagging members too early. It takes time!

 

I think some re-wording of the rules would make the site more attractive to potential players. Take a look around to see how other sites do this. (The ones regarding OCs in particular come across a bit harsh, so it might be a good idea to soften them a bit.)

 

You have plenty of things going on in the timeline of the Third Age for Westeros , but what about Middle-Earth? What's going on there? Knowing what's happening there would be a hook for those interested in writing characters for Middle-Earth. Which factions of Westeros are most likely to be on Sauron's side? Who has his servants managed to corrupt? Which factions of Westeros are more likely to be neutral, unsure, could go either way, or want to stay out of it? What reaction are the dwarves, elves, etc, going to have when they meet men from Westeros? Do any of these have legends about the lands of Westeros and it's peoples and vice versa? (I think that the lore could do with work on it so that people can get a good handle on how their character will fit into it. Both have a lot and it needs to fit together well.) A lot of sites I've visited recently don't appear to have their lore completed and this part of the site will be your biggest job at the start. (It's a fine line between having enough lore that's essential for people to know, and have too much, but I think a project like this will be more lore heavy than other rps because you have to get two fandoms work together.)

 

Putting up some wanted ads for canon characters would be useful to draw people in, so do a good mix of Middle-earth and Game of Thrones characters. Most forums also have a section where people can discuss plots, post requests for characters they'd like someone to take on. Some sites also have sections where people can post character journals and short stories about their characters, and any other information about their characters that they'd like to share.

 

There are lots of ways you can advertise your site - resource forums, other rp forums that have ad sections, tumblr, twitter, etc, but get the other parts of your site done before you start advertising.

 

It might be a good idea to have a small site plot event to get it started off once you've completed the things you need to get it off the ground.

 

 

[Gandalf in Westeros 5]

2 hours ago, Icewolf said:

As your site is relatively new, do not worry about snagging members too early. It takes time!

 

I think some re-wording of the rules would make the site more attractive to potential players. Take a look around to see how other sites do this. (The ones regarding OCs in particular come across a bit harsh, so it might be a good idea to soften them a bit.)

 

You have plenty of things going on in the timeline of the Third Age for Westeros , but what about Middle-Earth? What's going on there? Knowing what's happening there would be a hook for those interested in writing characters for Middle-Earth. Which factions of Westeros are most likely to be on Sauron's side? Who has his servants managed to corrupt? Which factions of Westeros are more likely to be neutral, unsure, could go either way, or want to stay out of it? What reaction are the dwarves, elves, etc, going to have when they meet men from Westeros? Do any of these have legends about the lands of Westeros and it's peoples and vice versa? (I think that the lore could do with work on it so that people can get a good handle on how their character will fit into it. Both have a lot and it needs to fit together well.) A lot of sites I've visited recently don't appear to have their lore completed and this part of the site will be your biggest job at the start. (It's a fine line between having enough lore that's essential for people to know, and have too much, but I think a project like this will be more lore heavy than other rps because you have to get two fandoms work together.)

 

Putting up some wanted ads for canon characters would be useful to draw people in, so do a good mix of Middle-earth and Game of Thrones characters. Most forums also have a section where people can discuss plots, post requests for characters they'd like someone to take on. Some sites also have sections where people can post character journals and short stories about their characters, and any other information about their characters that they'd like to share.

 

There are lots of ways you can advertise your site - resource forums, other rp forums that have ad sections, tumblr, twitter, etc, but get the other parts of your site done before you start advertising.

 

It might be a good idea to have a small site plot event to get it started off once you've completed the things you need to get it off the ground.

 

 

Thanks. This gave me a lot to think about.