I’m at Whit’s End

[CPOWA]

I don’t want to sound like I’m whining but, I really am…

I’ve tried everything I can think of, short of buying some expensive search engine package like vBSEO to promote my site. Mainly, I’ve submitted it to as many free seo’s as I can find and I’ve customized it to the best of my ability, which isn’t in-depth at all.

So my question is, how do I get traffic to my site?

Should I buy the Blog software and start blogging, myself? That seems like a shameless way to attract traffic, to me.

I’ve been owning this software for over a year now. My first idea failed miserably. The board was originally setup as a free public service for people interested in, or who belong to Neighborhood Watch groups. I quickly found out that people running those groups actually don’t want their membership to communicate freely. They want to “control” things.

So, I set the board up as a political activist site. To make a long story short, nobody seems interested in that either, which simply amazes me.

If there’s anybody out there who would be so kind as to give me some advise or point me in the right direction, I would be deeply grateful.

My board is http://www.changewewant.com/forums/ if you would care to take a look at it.

Regards,
Nita

[Wayne Luke]

vBSEO doesn't promote your site... It rewrites URLs into a different form. However it doesn't do much to help promote your site. The sitemap submission portion is available for free at vBulletin.org so you can install that and submit the generated sitemap to Google, Yahoo and MSN for promotion purposes.

The best promotion though is manual. Visit sites and promote your site within the limits. Mostly this is signatures and linkbacks on forums and blogs. Find sites that are similar and ask them to link to your unique content. Write unique articles on your topic and submit them to article directories. Promote your site on the social networking sites like Digg and De.licio.us.

[CPOWA]

Thank you so much Wayne. I'm off to vBulletin.org.

I'm sure glad I didn't spend $150 on vBseo! (yet)

~Nita

[MRGTB]

1: Do a search for "powered by wordpress" in Google, and post loads of replies on as many WP Blogs as you can (along with your site link).
2: Add all your articles created "yourself", to all the Social Bookmarking sites like Digg and Delicious etc. Don't wait for others to do it for you (they won't) in most cases.

Thats two methods you can use.

Another good method I've found. Is to visit Digg or Delicious etc. And look at the most popular articles dugg in 24 hours. Sometimes you can add your commnets to the site (and your url), because they use WP mostly. And you know because they are the most dugg articles on digg that there getting loads of traffic to that page.

I use one very good site that posts new articles dailly and allows you to post replies with url link. They get over a million hits a week, and it driving loads of traffic to my site from each article I reply too. But I ain't going to share that one.

Don't make the same mistake I did, I used to think posting loads of replies on one site would get more traffic, when in fact it's better post messages on as many different sites as you possibly can for back-links. Hence why I said seach for "powered by wordpress".

[CPOWA]

Thanks for the tips mrGBT.

[Watson]

I also found when I started my site I had a similar number of forums as you have (13)

I was told to reduce that number to around 5, and then as topics get discussed, and more and more content goes into your forums, start to expand when you see fit.

Less Forums that are busy, looks better than lots of forums with only a few topics.

Worked for me when I began

Cheers

Colin

[hitmancode47]

Weel i just visited your website, and not sure if its because i was a guest user, but all your forums were locked for posting, somehow im not sure why that is..

And secondly you have advertising on your website, that is something that will not help get members and more likely drive people away.

I can see you have got some good categories and forum there for people to talk in which is a good start.

Try and promote your site around your local area with like posters etc. or advertise on the web to specific forums that allow you.

Also you might wanna submit your site URL to google, as they MIGHT list it there.

Lots of options open for you, you just need to pick the correct one.

[David Grove]

Some of the suggestions posted in this thread are SPAM. If you can plug your site while legitimately contributing in a meaningful way at another site, then do so, within reason. Don't go spamming your URL in blog comments which are nofollowed anyway.

The best way you can promote your site is by working on the site itself, not on SPAMMING others with your URL. Attract new members by offering contests, giving and away prizes. Create or commission the making of new and quality content for your site on a daily/weekly basis. This should be both within the forums and without. The bottom line is you can promote your site until you drop, but if it's not a great site people won't come back. The converse side of that is, if you make a great site and people find it, they will come back and they will do the promoting for you. Which do you think is the better tactic?

[MRGTB]

Some of the suggestions posted in this thread are SPAM. If you can plug your site while legitimately contributing in a meaningful way at another site, then do so, within reason. Don't go spamming your URL in blog comments which are nofollowed anyway.

The best way you can promote your site is by working on the site itself, not on SPAMMING others with your URL. Attract new members by offering contests, giving and away prizes. Create or commission the making of new and quality content for your site on a daily/weekly basis. This should be both within the forums and without. The bottom line is you can promote your site until you drop, but if it's not a great site people won't come back. The converse side of that is, if you make a great site and people find it, they will come back and they will do the promoting for you. Which do you think is the better tactic?

That depends how you look at it

[David Grove]

That depends how you look at it

Yeah, I guess it does. It's like Clinton and his "I did not have sexual relations with that woman".

[MRGTB]

Well, I was going to say the "Water Gate Scandal" myself.

But to be serious for a second. Most people who use WP and allow people to publicly make reply to there articles - do so because they "want replies". I always post a proper reply (along with my url link of course). So they get what they want, and I get what I want. Where both happy!

Is that spam to you?

[David Grove]

As long a your post an actual, relevant reply I wouldn't consider it spam, but most blog comment urls have rel="nofollow" which discounts some of their value in terms of major search engines, so your effort is probably better spent in actually improving your site.

[MRGTB]

Some do - some don't. The one's that do usually advertise the fact they use "rel="nofollow" to try and avoid spam posts. Anyway, the point is to get traffic from clicks. Not for search engine indexing. Still most don't use that, so you do still benefit most of the time. I'd say over 90% of the time as a guess

I get indexing from my site anyway quite easy, with a good link structure that can be followed by search engines, and good SEO design put in place. But then I don't use a PhP forum, so its much easier for me to do! My aim has nothing to do with Google, it's to drive traffic from other sites to mine.


Anyway, I see my stats have increased 10 fold, so I know it works, along with adsense going up to boot.

The proofs in the pudding, and I've just eaten it!

[l SKN l CHRIS]

What all the others have said in this thread is sound advice indeed. A suggestion from me is to make your site visually appealing because your current skin made my eyes water.

[hitmancode47]

Clinton and his "I did not have sexual relations with that woman".

Off topic Warning:
Lies i tell you, lies!