Why is my forum dying?

[Haimovfids]

Forum URL: feathertalk.proboards.com

I don't know what to do anymore. I'm on the forum everyday, make posts everyday, I have mostly contests, I advertise on Facebook, I even have my forum on 2 top sites lists. I'm really trying hard. I had this forum in my possession for over a year and it's the same. I make most of the threads. It's just not taking off. My board theme is very unique and well designed. 

I don't think I'm a bad admin. I'm very respectful, yet I try to be a little professional. I never leave a member out. Is there any hope for me?

The reason I want y forum active is because I have always wanted to help people with their pet birds. I have one, and i'm very passionate about them. I know I can just join a bird forum, but its not the same. I want to be there. I have always wanted to just be there for people in need.

What am I doing wrong? I'm a little upset. The owner of my forum previously had a couple of members on it that were active. Don't get me wrong, I have had good days when there were up to 5 members on some days. I was really happy. Now, It's just 2 admins, and occasional my moderator and member. I'm basically the only one making new threads. 

I have thought about making many accounts and post in them, but I don't feel like its right.
What am I doing wrong?

[Former Member]

Sometimes, it's not the admin, or the forum.
People have lives, and sometimes, they do tend to stop being active in places they don't have a need to continuously post in.
A forum dedicated to care of a type of animal, is a very hard one to do, and I commend you for the effort, and the success that seemed to have. However, people do tend to only got to sites that are basically support sites, when they need, well, support. Whether that's for PC support, bird care, forum support, whatever, it's a tough thing to be into, as there's no reason for many people to just hang out and chat.

Suggestions:
Some fun chat boards.
Maybe a picture board, where they can post pics of their birds.
Advertise on any bird related sites you can find, best way is an 88x31 mini-banner affiliate link, and try to contact site owners, for sites that are not forums.

[Matt]

It's tough running a forum, It's been hard work to get my forum active since I started it last September, it is possible though, personally I find that general chat sites tend to to better than sites focused on one specific topic, if you try to reach to a wider audience you may find that your forum starts to do better, even if you want to keep your forum centred around one main topic it wouldn't hurt to add a couple of general chat/games boards as well.

[Kami]

That is not a weakness... it is life.

Probably my favourite quote ever, because it's so applicable to a variety of situations.

From the sounds of it, you're doing everything right. It can be really hard to get a forum off the ground, especially for something so niche. Many people may own birds, but the overlap of birds and forum users may be small; alternatively, it could just take a longer time for your forum to get attention in comparison to other topics. I don't think it's possible to answer "Why is my forum dying" at this stage, because it could be a variety of factors, including but not limited to what I mentioned above.

But there's always hope at getting a forum off the ground. Aggressive advertising, not just on facebook (branching out to other social media like twitter, instagram, tumblr, etc -- and considering the number of parrot videos on vine & youtube, you may want to try and being active there ) can be a start, as well as advertising on other forums, even if they are unrelated to your topic (so long as it's permissible by that forum's rules). I especially recommend posting on non-like forums if you can, because you're extending your audience to people who are already into forums, who may have birds, but may not have considered joining a forum about them. To use a personal anecdote as an example, I found members for one of my other forums by posting in an unrelated forum's general chat area and finding out that many of the members there shared an interest in my forum's topic.

To be honest, a year isn't really a long time to have a forum struggling to get noticed. I know it seems like a long time, and in terms of days in general it is. But relatively speaking, it can take much, much longer. Sometimes people luck out because they happened to have perfect timing. Other times, people have to work for many years to build up a community.

I know it's really disheartening to have this happen. I wish I had words that could pinpoint exactly why the forum isn't taking off so you could correct it and have the site blossom. All I can suggest is that you keep at it (if you want, because if it's not fun anymore then I don't think you should subject yourself to that) and try and broaden your advertisement range to try and get as many different types of people as possible. If you only advertise to bird-themed sites, then those people may already have a forum to call home; if you extend beyond bird-themed sites, then maybe you'll find people who are looking for a bird forum.

My 0.02, such as it is.

[Haimovfids]

Thank you guys! I added a snake board, and a horse board. I think this was the greatest idea yet. I realized we had a couple of snake owners. We also had one horse lover. I feel like expanding our knowledge base would make our forum stand out.

[Former Member]

May 8, 2016 15:33:08 GMT -8 @burkeknight said:

Sometimes, it's not the admin, or the forum.
People have lives, and sometimes, they do tend to stop being active in places they don't have a need to continuously post in.
A forum dedicated to care of a type of animal, is a very hard one to do, and I commend you for the effort, and the success that seemed to have. However, people do tend to only got to sites that are basically support sites, when they need, well, support. Whether that's for PC support, bird care, forum support, whatever, it's a tough thing to be into, as there's no reason for many people to just hang out and chat.

Suggestions:
Some fun chat boards.
Maybe a picture board, where they can post pics of their birds.
Advertise on any bird related sites you can find, best way is an 88x31 mini-banner affiliate link, and try to contact site owners, for sites that are not forums.

Hi CrazyConure,

What Burke Knight has posted is bang on the money. 

As you can tell from my avatar, my forum- World of Myrmecology specialises in ant keeping, which of course is a very specific subject and either you like it or not! It may surprise you to know that there is several ant keeping forums out there and some have been around for a long time with over 1000 members, so it can be done! It's good to have a bit of competition! As mentioned, as Admin of my forum, I look at it as a place of support where members are free to drop in and out for questions and information as they please. Too keep members hanging around would be very difficult. The only bonus my forum has is that our members can take a scientific view in ant keeping and keep ant journals on their different species. This makes members come back to update their own journals, somewhere to keep them logged and help other members in reading them. I understand in pet birds this will be very difficult to overcome. 
I have my forum running for a year and a half and I am just near hitting 60 members. You need to have plenty of patience, hard work, dedication and passion (which you do) to keep at it and be successful over time. 
Advertise on like minded forums and sites and also affiliate with other pet keeping forums. I found going on YouTube and leaving comments on like minded topics really helps, also Facebook groups. Just get your forum name and URL out there anyway you can and keep your content fresh and up to date. Log in at least once a day, so guests and members see the Admin is around. No staff or Admin in a forum would put me off. You could lock one or two boards to make guests curious and register to view them. I have got a few members that way. It will take time to build a forum, but stick to it and it will grow in time. Advertising and Marketing is hard work and a chore, but if you get a new member out of it, then great.
I would not do dummy accounts personally, as it's a tad dis-honest, but can understand why Admins do it to get the ball rolling.

I hope this helps a little! Good luck with your forum. Your signature looks cool by the way! 

[Haimovfids]

Thank you @1mako, How can you advertise on youtube comments? I have been thinking about it but it just seems like spam to other people. I don't want people hating on me for it. How do you word it out to not sound like mere advertising?

[Farren]

Try putting in a chatbox too. How about adoption information and personal stories?

[Former Member]

May 11, 2016 13:58:21 GMT -8 Haimovfids said:

Thank you @1mako , How can you advertise on youtube comments? I have been thinking about it but it just seems like spam to other people. I don't want people hating on me for it. How do you word it out to not sound like mere advertising?

That's where I got a bit clever- I just used my forum name as the username on Youtube. I did not spam on the comments about my forum, but comment on the videos themselves. People get curious and look up your forum, if they are interested. I don't post links direct on the comments sections of peoples videos unless they ask for it! If they click my username on Youtube, it would take you to my profile that has all the info and links on my forum too! 

[imagineer]

I have the same problem on my RPG forum. It turned 4 months old yesterday, but I still do not have any active members
I do not know if there is anything in particular putting people off joining, or if it is just one of those things. As has already been said people have lives and stuff.

I know it is very disheartening but all I can suggest is that you hang in there and keep at it.

I would also suggest doing what Kami said as well:

If you only advertise to bird-themed sites, then those people may already have a forum to call home; if you extend beyond bird-themed sites, then maybe you'll find people who are looking for a bird forum.

You are welcome to place an ad in the non RPG advertising section of my forum if you want. And I would be happy to swap affiliation codes with you if you do that.
I get about 30-50 guests a day so it might draw some attention to your forum, apart from that I can’t do any more to help you I’m afraid.

[Haimovfids]

I get about 90 guests a day. They are probably all bots though.

Farren, i don't like the chat box. It just makes people talk there instead of talking on the actual forum. I looked at some threads here and they said it's best to remove it.

thanks @1mako, I started commenting yesterday. I'm hoping this helps. I have a Facebook page about feather talk and I got a good amount of likes on it. Some people even shared the banner.

[Former Member]

Haimovfids, I beg to differ on the chat box.
I have on all my forums, and it does not take away from forum posts.
However, what it does, is keeps one liners, and info on forum before people join, going, where not crowding the forum with posts that don't need to be on the forum.

Also, for some sites, it's a lot easier to let guests post to chat box, than to allow them to post on forum, as they usually do not have to face a captcha.

[Haimovfids]

Well, based on this thread: support.proboards.com/thread/28730/chat-box-shout-tagboard

I came to a conclusion to remove it. There wasn't a need for it anyways. Also, Guests can't comment on my forum. They have to register to post.

[Former Member]

Hi,
I read your initial post and wanted to join your forum, because I felt bad.

Then I checked it out and decided not to join because I am not a bird person.

I will tell you why your forum is struggling. Because one topic forums do not generally tend to succeed. People don't want to "just" talk about birds.

I started off on a one topic forum years ago that was based on the subject of the death penalty. It was active for awhile due to a high profile death penalty case at the time.

Today that forum is a ghost town, and even the admins have abandoned it.

My suggestion to you is to change your entire forum theme, with the bird section only being one category. The rest have games, general, check out other forums and get some ideas for categories you like.

People like birds but it's just not enough for a full forum's success, in my opinion. One topic forums do tend to totally die.

I hope I have been helpful and all the best to you.

[Former Member]

Just keep updating topics, wether there is replys to them or not. One thing I don't get is forums that look thrown together at the last minute, and they are busy! By last minute, I mean theme colors are an eyesore and poor grammar. I deleted a bunch of members, I would send out monthly letters, they would come back but, not make one post! I don't get why some take off and others don't.

Good luck to everyone and your endeavors.