|
| Author |
Message |
Cross_+_Flame
Joined: 10 Oct 2005
Posts: 70
Location: United States of Canada
|
 Posted: 3/21/2006, 7:38 pm Post subject: Getting through the dry spells |
 |
|
Any of you who have had a forum for a while know what I'm talking about...those dry spells when the member additions come down, the postings drop, the traffic slows. It's not your fault or from a lack of content/dedication...it's just that time of the year when postings go down.
How do you bring them back up? How do you keep from panicking?
For instance, my forum has a lot of content-driven stuff. Blogs, rss news feeds, wiki, forums, articles, links, books, etc...lots of fun stuff for members to come and experience daily. However, we've dropped in the past two weeks to <30 posts a day (normal is 60), and few new members in those two weeks. While this is a 3.5 year old community, and I'm not worried about it dying, those dry spells suck and can dissuade less-experienced members away.
What do you do to rejuvenate a community that is going through a dry spell? Or do you sit back and weather the sand until the rains come again? What gets you through it?
_________________
Cross+Flame
Visit my Religion & Interfaith Community |
|
| Back to top |
|
 |
Triumvirate
Joined: 10 Sep 2005
Posts: 262
Location: New York, USA
|
| Posted: 3/21/2006, 9:20 pm Post subject: |
|
|
One of my first communities launched in the beginning of summer one year (around May/June) and had a good amount of activity all summer, but most of the members were school students so they had to go back to school again in the fall and I hit a dry spell for a couple of months from about Sept-Early November. It was tough but it picked back up again after that. Mostly because of the holiday season and breaks from school, etc. This time of year it's about the same, just turned to spring a couple of days ago, people are making plans doing a lot of stuff, going places, getting ready to go places it's hectic.
So, basically I guess my advice is just weather it for a while, make sure your activity stays up there and if it gets to the point where it's looking like it won't pick back up, do a little extra advertising than you normally do. But, at least for the moment, I wouldn't really worry about it.
_________________
MMO Gaming |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Niksa
Joined: 26 Dec 2005
Posts: 27
Location: Iowa
|
| Posted: 3/22/2006, 1:24 am Post subject: |
|
|
In one forum I worked on, we decided to implement a mailing list-to-post system for one board. Through email, people could submit a new post or reply to an email post, and it would go to the board. This was a major boost because all of our users checked their email often enough to reply, and it was easy for them to keep in touch without feeling hassled to come back to the forum. We only set this up for one board on the forum so it wouldn't become the lazy way to post. 
Also, we sent out a monthly newsletter with big stories and links to discussions. It seemed to work out well. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Ex0dus
Joined: 26 Sep 2005
Posts: 235
Location: Zarasu, Lithuania
|
| Posted: 3/22/2006, 6:05 am Post subject: |
|
|
I just step up my activity that much more. I dont think i handle the situations well though since it doesnt take alot for me to freak out about things like that.
Funny thing in my dry spells, my registered users go way up (and no not bots) but the posts go down. When the posts go back up, the registered users slow. I cant seem to hit a full boom or a full bust >_<
-Ex0dus
_________________
The home of the Sv2 Network Forums and MetaBB! |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Patrick
Administrator
Joined: 28 Aug 2005
Posts: 2006
Location: Harbinger, NC, U.S.A.
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Nick
Joined: 09 Sep 2005
Posts: 772
Location: Next to the stereo
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
harishankar
Joined: 10 Sep 2005
Posts: 203
|
| Posted: 3/23/2006, 12:33 am Post subject: |
|
|
I believe the best idea would be to rope in personal friends to keep a community going during dry spells. It doesn't matter much if the discussions are off-topic from the community's main focus, but keeping a forum busy and appear to be busy is important I feel.
New visitors hardly come back to a forum which they feel is dead. Even though it might just be experiencing a temporary lack of activity.
_________________
Literary Forums
My Blog |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Mercury
Joined: 24 Oct 2005
Posts: 184
|
| Posted: 3/23/2006, 3:07 am Post subject: |
|
|
If I have dry spells, I just do what I always do, perhaps to a greater extent: promote, work on content, etc. For a forum such as mine that doesn't have a reliable source of traffic, as time passes you're bound to have more and more abnormal periods of low activity.
_________________
[ The Infinity Program Forum ]
“Tomorrow, every Fault is to be amended; but that Tomorrow never comes.”
— Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richard's Almanack |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
~HG~
Joined: 25 Sep 2005
Posts: 423
Location: Australia
|
| Posted: 3/23/2006, 5:40 am Post subject: |
|
|
| Mercury wrote: |
| If I have dry spells, I just do what I always do, perhaps to a greater extent: promote, work on content, etc. For a forum such as mine that doesn't have a reliable source of traffic, as time passes you're bound to have more and more abnormal periods of low activity. |
20,000+ posts from 393 members is what I would called a damned good forum so I wouldn't be concerned too much about traffic.
Why not install the Referral mod by Mentalmaze and run a little comp with the winner getting $5 or $10 a month for the most referrals.
Trust me that works and the numbers certainly grow.
_________________
~HG~
|| Click here to view all my phpBB Communities || |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Nick
Joined: 09 Sep 2005
Posts: 772
Location: Next to the stereo
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
