If you remember my post about the Pros and Cons of Running a Forum, you’ll know that I was torn between whether the pros outweighed the cons in running a forum or not. And naturally, I did make the forum because I thought that it would be a great thing to allow for the growth of my science network. And I’ve found that I get more people interested in my blog because of it. Every once in a while, I write a thread that links back to my forum. And then people reply. So, it has done its job that way. But, here are a few things I learned.

      -Getting people to post is easy if you give them some sort of an incentive. That means, opening with a contest really is a good thing. It helps because when they want to get something, they’re willing to post a lot. Sure, you get some spam posts, but overall, the contest is really a good thing.
      -Posting lots of threads really is important. When I first opened, I stayed up late posting thread after thread. If you really want to get things going for your forum, you really need to post lots of threads.
      -Add a few plugins and you’ll find that more members will join. I highly recommend the visitors message because they see a little more about what the forum is about and no matter where they are, they can get a good understanding of what it is about.
      -Ads on a forum are important. If the members get used to them, they won’t have a problem with them. But, if you throw them on a few months in, you’re going to have some problems. Making money is hard on forums, but they do have it in them.

These are just a few things that I learned from running my forum. It is difficult, but I have learned that if you work hard and follow the above things a little, you’ll have a more successful forum. But, don’t take my word for it. Try it out yourself! Just remember…The most important thing is constantly writing threads! As an admin, you need to post at least ten posts/threads a day. If you post more, you’ll naturally grow faster. But, your job is to really get that forum rolling. Good luck everyone!

It takes a lot out of me to write these blog posts. Buy me a beer to cool me off!