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View Full Version : Would a forum help my site?



incka
10-23-2003, 01:54 PM
My site is http://www.games2go.co.uk

Would a forum help it improve traffic? I certainly would like to get to know my visitors, because I don't like to be blind to their views...

But would it take up too much space or bandwidth? I want to use phpBB because I've set up a sample on it on a free host once when I was bored and know how to use it...

incka
10-23-2003, 01:56 PM
And if so what categories should I have?

Which general chat categories and should I have a category for each game (I think alot won't have any posts) or a category for each category of games?

X Q mano
10-31-2003, 04:22 PM
It all depends how you manage your forum. An active and thriving community helps. A dead and silent one does not...

Chris
10-31-2003, 05:23 PM
Forums usually don't bring in new people, they help keep the people you do get.

As for categories -- keep it smaller at first less people get turned off by big empty spaces.

incka
11-02-2003, 02:28 AM
I've only got 5 members.... And I know 3 of them already from emails/MSNs....

BTW: My pageviews for October was 62,000.... (Please get to 100k soon...)

Mike
11-02-2003, 02:44 AM
How many pageviews did you have a month or two back?

michael_gersitz
11-06-2003, 04:14 PM
Building a forum is an excellent way to build return visitors, and once you have those visitors, you can share quality links with them! (Your other sites)!

MarkB
11-07-2003, 06:28 AM
How many unique users do you get per month?

How long do they tend to stay?

Those are important factors if you're planning on adding a forum to your site. Also, how you integrate it into the site is also important - don't just tack it on and expect people to jump in. Link your content to the forum (eg, if you launch a new game, have a link to a thread where the topic is 'What do you think of <new game name>?'). Prompt people to become involved, don't just have 'join our forums!'.

And, most importantly, join in! And not just in an admin role. The best admins (IMO) are those seen as regular users that aren't 'above' the 'plebs'. Welcome new users, and enjoy yourself.

incka
11-09-2003, 09:26 AM
I've put on everypage get cheats and give cheats for this game in the forum...

incka
11-20-2003, 12:54 AM
I got about 3 new members yesterday :)

And some members that hadn't posted before posted :)

Percept
11-20-2003, 08:34 AM
off topic:

Wouldn't it be better for SEO if you added the word "games" to all the links in your menu ? Like this:

Home
Adventure games
Arcade games
Casino games
Puzzles games
Shows games
Sports games

snoopers
12-03-2003, 10:59 PM
Forums are hard to start, but once you get critical mass its a nice source of traffic.

You might want to post as different usernames to "jump start" the forum. I know that sounds pathetic, but I've heard that it works.

incka
12-04-2003, 01:01 AM
Originally posted by Percept
off topic:

Wouldn't it be better for SEO if you added the word "games" to all the links in your menu ? Like this:

Home
Adventure games
Arcade games
Casino games
Puzzles games
Shows games
Sports games


There isn't enough space...