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View Full Version : Ideas for getting more traffic into the forum



Justin
24-10-2009, 10:30 PM
Thought this justified a seperate thread.

Been mulling a few ideas over tonight. I wondered about contacting all the obvious sublimation suppliers to see if they wanted some input into the forum. I have no intention whatseover of selling out to a single company but wondered about having sections where they could detail special offers/events etc. Maybe we could gain access to substantial databases of potential members and tap into techincal support? Not sure if this would be a good idea or not really but I thought I'd throw it out there!

I know how well sublimation machinery etc. sells on eBay so we should be able to get some advertising/auctions on there and pick up a few members, just need to work on that one a bit more.

Anyone else have any ideas? Can't beat a good brainstorm eh?!

Justin :-)

Paul
24-10-2009, 10:35 PM
yeee... always good to ask :) some supliers would be very interested with it as this would be free advertise for them but we can not cross the line as happened on "old forum".

Justin
24-10-2009, 10:38 PM
Just what I was thinking, they get free advertising with a target audience.

I think forums linked to one company (as per the other) are fine but I do see benefits to staying independent here.

Justin

Paul
24-10-2009, 10:43 PM
personaly I dont see anythink bad in banners and advertising on forums. If those adverts r connected to the subject - no problem. and if they not as big as my screen :) but when I see porn banners or datein site banners I am off... :/ so subli supliers r welcome I think :)


ps. I always wanted to see subli portal. not only a forum. so we can add guides, tutorial videos etc.... maybe one day... http://illiweb.com/fa/i/smiles/icon_clown.png

Justin
24-10-2009, 10:45 PM
Yes, been lookig towards guides etc. which is where supplier input would be useful.

I can enable banner adverts at the top of the homepage I believe. maybe generate a little revenue to help move the board forward.

I have contacted the printwear magazine about advertising. Not cheap but may get us a bit of decent coverage.

Justin

Paul
24-10-2009, 11:01 PM
yes. but I would not do adverts on top of the page as yet. ;)
Paul

lets concentrate on forum now so we can make it as big as it should be

Justin
24-10-2009, 11:07 PM
Absolutely, the aim at the present time is to keep things simple and uncluttered. We don't need any revenue at this stage. WHEN things move on to a higher level it would be good to get some revenue to make sure the board is running at it's best but the last thing I want to see is adverts all over!
Other than in Member2Member that is!

Justin

Justin
25-10-2009, 12:49 AM
First emails are on their way to suppliers to see if we can get any support. Will keep you all updated on my progress.

Justin :-)

Stitch Up
25-10-2009, 12:11 PM
It's a bit of a 'catch-22', more members to make more posts which in turn attracts more members ................

Keep posting guys

bms
26-10-2009, 08:01 PM
One way of getting more members would be for some of the sublimation suppliers to link through to this forum, but this is potentially a double edged sword for the suppliers and may require you to moderate the posts more actively. As a supplier, I'd be interested in linking through because (a) it serves our customer base to engage in a dynamic discussion place and (b) to be honest we don't have time to moderate a forum ourselves! I think it is a little incestuous if a supplier has a forum as a pseudo discussion forum and then uses it to their own ends - such forums should be open and free to comment, but ensure posts are fair and do not damage the hard earned reputation of other genuine suppliers. Therefore the mods need to ensure posts are fair and unbiased - we can all rant and rave when things go wrong and if they continue to go wrong then others need to know about it - that's fair enough, but some boundaries need to be defined by the mods to ensure things don't get out of hand.

So which suppliers would be interested in linking through from a prominent place on their website?

Paul
26-10-2009, 08:04 PM
I dont think sublisupplies would like to link to us.. :)

bms
02-11-2009, 10:08 PM
Just to let you know that I've created a link from our main page (www.printerowners.co.uk (http://www.printerowners.co.uk)) this evening to DSF - hope this will drive some new traffic your way.

Paul
02-11-2009, 10:13 PM
thats fantastic! 2nd web site with link :) hope it will bring some more trafic :D

Justin
02-11-2009, 10:17 PM
Just to let you know that I've created a link from our main page (www.printerowners.co.uk (http://www.printerowners.co.uk)) this evening to DSF - hope this will drive some new traffic your way.

Brilliant, many thanks for this Martin.

Justin :-)

Paul
02-11-2009, 10:22 PM
You desered for nice http://trzebuchowscy.com/MMH/images/kozqkv0zt3wfjrna6q1.jpg BMS ;)

JSR
02-11-2009, 11:56 PM
We don't need any revenue at this stage. WHEN things move on to a higher level it would be good to get some revenue to make sure the board is running at it's best but the last thing I want to see is adverts all over!
That's good to hear. I run a small forum of my own and I'll never have blatant adverts on it. All I have is one text line about my own business to have more pages come up under a Google search. There are no other adverts and will never be.

As soon as you rely on income from adverts, you become a slave to those adverts - and any attempt at impartiality disappears straight away.

In addition, there are so many ways to stop adverts from displaying these days that it may be questionable how beneficial they are. Are there really more positives than negatives? I admit, it often surprises me when I view a website on my iPod to see adverts that I've never seen before on my PC with Firefox. If any site utilises pop-ups or fancy animations that cover the content and require clicking off, then I leave the site and never return. Life's too short for unsolicited spam - whether that's emails or websites that prevent you from reading the content.

That said, having a special "Suppliers" sub-forum where suppliers can announce special offers is something that could work. It wouldn't annoy members because you wouldn't have to browse that sub-forum, yet it would be there for anyone who's looking for a special offer. The suppliers I use often have special offers and it'd be good to have them all in the same place! :lol:

Justin
03-11-2009, 12:05 AM
Yes, I've been thinkming about chatting to suppliers about a specific section.

Justin

Karen.
05-11-2009, 04:40 PM
I havn't been around for a while, as been bogged down with work. Lovely to see Martin here though and the link through from the BMS site :)

Paul
13-11-2009, 06:18 PM
I had enough of waiting for more info from PPP :(
I think this forum should stay!

I just posted forum Link on PPP.

I propobly will be deleted from mmbs list now but I dont care as I like this forum more :)

So I hope this will bring more traffic to our forum :)

Paul

AJLA
13-11-2009, 06:28 PM
There are still quite a few members who were quite active there and haven't joined here, do they not know or can't be bothered or just loyal.

I think speaking for many of us were it functioning ok and things happened on there we would still be there but it didn't so we're here. I do have a nose occasionally and may even have to look up an old post for info until this bulds up a good archive.
I'm here to stay.

Paul
13-11-2009, 06:37 PM
my link is already removed by kev :(

Justin
13-11-2009, 07:47 PM
Naughty boy Paul, slap on the wrist for you. I know you intentions were good but I can't approve that I'm afraid :-(

Justin

Paul
13-11-2009, 08:03 PM
why is that? I think those people who still asking questions on there and waiting days to have a answare deserve to know there is better place for them to ask Q.


Paul

Justin
13-11-2009, 09:10 PM
Yes they do but I don't feel that it's good etiquette to do it in this way , without the permission of the boards owners. If Kevin etc. was to come on here to drum up support for the PPP we wouldn't be best pleased.

The DSF is still progressing well and we need as many friends as we can get :-)

Has there been any input from the new owner Richard?

Justin

Paul
13-11-2009, 09:49 PM
ok. sorry about that. my fault :(

and I did not noticed any Richard input I am afraid...

Justin
13-11-2009, 10:04 PM
Not a problem, nice to see others as keen as myself to promote the board!

Cheers Paul,
Justin

Paul
15-11-2009, 10:46 PM
thats one of my ideas....
http://trzebuchowscy.com/MMH/images/vnolupd2b6s5y04za2z.jpg (http://trzebuchowscy.com/MMH/)

Justin
15-11-2009, 10:48 PM
Where is this Paul?

Paul
15-11-2009, 10:49 PM
google adwords

Justin
15-11-2009, 11:04 PM
Thought so. I tried AdWords a few years back when I launched my site but couldn't get on with it. That was probably just me though! It may be good for the forum.
Justin

Paul
15-11-2009, 11:06 PM
I did not spent any huge amount of money. also I dont know much about key word etc... but trying to do my best so lets fingers crosed :)

Justin
15-11-2009, 11:09 PM
So have you done this already or do you mean for your own site Paul?

Paul
15-11-2009, 11:30 PM
I have done that already. Got 3 adverts online. This is one of them.

Justin
15-11-2009, 11:31 PM
Watch this space then, see how it goes! Nice one Paul.
Justin :-)

JSR
15-11-2009, 11:41 PM
The trouble with using Adwords is that someone's got to pay for them. And if you're going to keep the costs to the bare minimum, then no one will ever see the ad because it'll be buried away somewhere. Besides which, with the appropriate add-ons on FireFox, you don't see Adwords anyway. I know I don't (I have to fire up IE if I want to see my Adwords).

I don't know what the answer is, just putting forward a view.

Paul
15-11-2009, 11:47 PM
I dont think is bad idea. It already hade 300 impressions.

JSR
16-11-2009, 12:00 AM
I dont think is bad idea. It already hade 300 impressions.
I'm not saying it's a bad idea, just that it's important to know what to expect. An impression isn't traffic, a click is traffic.

Paul
16-11-2009, 12:27 AM
Jes. I know that j :) but impressions show me that there is people up there who serching for sublimation guides etc... For 300 show ups we had only one click. But still think this is beter then n othing :)

JSR
16-11-2009, 12:47 AM
It's certainly a good way of understanding interest, I agree. Do you know which search phrases/keywords are triggering the impressions?