My forum has 26,000 members. Now what?

[newseo1]

Ok, my forum has over 26,000 members. See statistics below.
Sadoun Tech Forums Statistics

Sadoun Tech forums
Threads 16,298
Posts 66,075
Members 26,470

Most of these members are not active.

What do you suggest to help the forum become more active with member participation?
What ideas did you use on your forum?

[Brian Cummiskey]

It seems like most of the people come to your site for set-up info. After they are set up, they are done with you, save for the few die hards that want to compare stats/etc.

I don't know enough about the niche to offer a valid suggestion, but somewhere, you're missing "ok, i'm set up now, why should i continue to stay here?'.

[newseo1]

Thanks Brian for your bright remark. You may have hit the nail on the nose. I will look into this suggestion.

What ideas webmasters use on their forums to stimulate traffic and discussion (content)?

[Pandemikk]

That doesn't make sense^.

Why would he delete inactive members? And what do you mean analysis?

My advice would be to expand your forums. You need some more general discussion areas and you need to offer some incentives for members to stick around. Consider installing an Arcade, getting a better looking skin and provide more content. Perhaps you could make an area where people could talk about their entertainment center set ups. And you could periodically post pictures of some of the best setups you found in Google images.

Maybe you could compare prices, see if people could get a better deal for their package. Give a forum for feedback on DishTV and other popular choices.

Your forum doesn't have to be specifically based around installation. The vast majority of people will go the official websites for that information.

[StarBuG]

One major tip for you would be to reduce your forums to a bare minimum.

Do you really need to have 7 subforums for satelite radio when only 96 threads are present.
Or 12 subforums for sport feeds with only 81 threads?
Use prefixes instead if you must!

The more forums you have
a) the more users have to click to find the information (annoying)
b) the longer your forum looks empty and inactive even if it is not.

My suggestion would be to reduce your forums to 10-15 forums max and only add forums when there really is demand

Another big tip to create a community feeling is a introduction forum.
Give members a place to introduce themselfs and make your staff greet them ALL.
That makes them feel welcome and part of your community.

Send all users a warm welcome message when they register.
Tell them where to introduce themselfs and where to post questions.
Offer them assistance and give them a warm welcome from you and your team.
At least every 10th person that registers on my forum sends me a reply on my welcome pm and thanks me for the warm welcome.

Also do this: Get users to register, and keep them coming back.

And install/create this: Welcome headers - Improve community registration rates

Another way is to reward users for posting.
A nice way for this is a modification like this: vBActivity Pro

You wont believe what users do for some nice pixel graphics


Greetings

StarBuG