Well lm in desperate need of help my forum is dying a death already due to facebook yet again lm 63 years old and tech isnt my strong point but l cannot figure out how to improve the look and to attract new members..l had 19 members but only 6 were posting rest were just lurking and taking info so were deleted ..
if anyone wants to have a look feel free to see what can be done...
mooksinsectcritters.freeforums.net
Anyone out there please help if poss l dont want to close it down yet again...
Get in touch ok..
Well, the primary issue is that you have "Guests Must Log In" turned on. The
please join the forum.. thanks message is not going to get anyone to join. Here are a few bullet points to explain why this is, and I'll try to keep my wording as tech-free as possible but please let me know if anything I say needs to be expanded on or broken down into less technical terms. Most of my feedback & advice will concentrate on
practice rather than
technical changes, so hopefully it won't be too confusing. It might be overwhelming at points, I do tend to be a bit long-winded, but stick with me to the end; I promise it's worth it.
1. 30 SecondsThe actual statistic varies a bit depending on who you ask, but overall it takes the average user about 30 seconds to decide whether or not they want to further invest their time on a website. For forums, this generally translates into a question of whether or not the user a) understands the forum's purpose, b) likes the aesthetic of the forum, and c) understands the culture and environment of the community. With "Guests Must Login" enabled, users cannot assess the forum for these three points and thus, broadly, will not join.
2. Forums vs Social MediaUnfortunately, a big reality of the internet is that forums are on a comparative decline to social media platforms due to ease of use. Forums require you to create an account for each forum that you're interested in, whereas social media platforms require only a single account letting you find multiple pages and groups and communities over a variety of interests. If you want to have any hope of combating that, then you need to make it as easy as possible to understand your forum's purpose and demonstrate that you have a good, worthwhile topic & community that people should invest their time in -- to go
out of their way to invest their time in by creating an account and posting away from their existing social networks, and to spend the time to cultivate
new relationships. Having the forum in "Guests Must Login" actively works against that, because no one can see anything without registering.
3. Strong-arm Tactics SuckThis one may be a little harsh, and I don't mean to be disrespectful, but it's a reality you'll need to understand if you want to have any hope of having a successful forum community. Whether or not this is intentional, having a plea to join your forum while simultaneously denying any sort of access without a registered account, will come across to a majority of guests / potential members as a strong-arm tactic to force their registration. At best, it comes across as a "pushy" admin who wants to put low-effort into attracting members (or wants to deter all but a select group); at worst, it comes across as a
manipulative admin who is gatekeeping content in exchange for the time investment of registering. Think of it this way: would you become a regular customer of a shop that did not allow you to see inside its windows and didn't tell you what they sold, and just had a small sign on the door that said "please spend money... thanks"?
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So that's the feedback. To summarise: enabling "Guests Must Login" is actually a huge deterrent to budding communities because no one wants to go through the effort of joining a community that they know absolutely nothing about. How to fix it is not easy, and definitely requires a HUGE time and effort investment on your part.
I will be very blunt: being a forum admin is not for everyone, especially not in this day and age. Many, forums will take months, even years to see any form of success (consistent activity/membership). Many more forums will actually
never see significant success (whether it's a lot of daily activity, a lot of active members, or both). As a forum admin, you have to be okay with that, and you have to not give up and close down the forum because it's taking too long to see success.
You mentioned that your forum is "dying a death already due to facebook yet again". That's going to be your reality
forever unless facebook shuts down. Facebook communities already have a built-in pool of potential users. They don't need to advertise or spread the word about their group because facebook did all the work for that already. It built a platform that gathered people to 1 spot, created an algorithm to show those people posts and pages of things they might be interested in, and then made it simple to join those groups with an easy single click. If you want to be a forum admin, you just have to be okay with that. If you're not okay with that, if you don't want to face the sisyphean task of fighting against social media to establish your community, then honestly, running a forum may not be for you.
But if you're committed and dedicated, and are willing to invest the time and effort, then there are ways to increase your forum's chances of success.
1. Turn off guests must log in. It's doing absolutely nothing for your success. Instead, leave the forum open and visible to everyone, but set the individual boards of your forums up (in your admin panel, under the "categories and boards" section) so that the only people can create and reply to threads are members & staff. Set the viewing and access permissions to "everyone", that way guests (read: potential members) can see what your forum is about, and the kind of community you want to build.
2. Be the ideal user you wish you had. The admin of a forum is the person that sets the tone. Create topics to discuss -- and I mean really, discuss; don't just create a thread like "Some people's favourite colour is purple" and then expect people to jump in with their opinions and thoughts. You need to be an active member of your own forum, because potential members are much more likely to join a forum where the admin is dedicated and involved.
3. Have a good looking, but functional, forum. Aesthetics are subjective, but there are a few common threads that are universal: everyone likes colours that aren't particularly harsh or cause eye strain; people prefer text that is easy to read in size and appearance; people like images that represent the theme of the forum's topic. It's totally okay if you're not technical; posting here can get you any technical help you need (I may be biased but the support PB provides on this front is top-notch) and you can also access the
Theme Library to find a theme to install on your forum.
4. Be member-focused. It's not just a "forum", it's a
community. You have to be community-minded and let that be the guiding post for what you do and the decisions you make. For example with the Guests Must Login -- if you had, perhaps, instead of "how do I get members" or "how do I protect my content" , been member-focused and oriented towards
community, the question might have been "will turning on this feature increase the quality of the member / guest experience?" or "will turning on this feature encourage conversation?" At the end of the day, a forum is only as successful as the community you cultivate. It's like a garden: till the earth, plant good seeds, care for the plants with whatever needs they may have. Putting the garden inside a concrete box and demanding someone become a member of your exclusive garden club before viewing your garden will just kill the beautiful things inside.
5. Lastly, pivot your efforts to focus more on "converting", with "attracting" being a secondary goal. There are a lot of forums out there that are beautiful and attractive but their turnover rate (the people who join, and then leave or fall inactive) is incredibly high because the forum has very little substance and the community bonds are weak. Attracting members is important (which you can do through advertisement on social media or on other forums that have a section for advertisments), but member
retention is actually the key to success. Having a small, dedicated community leads to more conversion ("attracting" guests to become members), though it might seem less successful initially because it's slower and less, "numbers go up fast" with regards to who registers or not.
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This was long, but I hope it helps you out. Please let me know if you have any questions or if you want me to expand on any of the above thoughts. Best of luck!
