In need of some friendly feedback :)

Heya, I was hoping to get some feedback on my forum (which isnt open yet, were working on some content and the theme) with vbSEO installed.

The theme being used is an old one which we are going to be changing prior to opening, but any feedback and recommendations would still be nice and help towards the final skin. The problem we see at the moment is lack of professionalism.

Also I am a bit stuck on how to work with vBadvanced CMPS, we use it as a Welcome Portal and also for a couple of pages but our forum is in the root of the domain as the idea behind the site is not only a forum, but to also provide content within the forum environment (We don't intend to run anything else on that domain). We currently run the portal as index.php so its the thing people see when going to the forum, and the forum is at forum.php. Its been aright so far, testers haven't had a problem with it but now we installed vbSEO is there any suggestions on how to deal with it?

The forum URL is: Digital Existence Network (digiex.net)

I left most of the vbSEO settings as they are, minus a few changes and it seems to be working well.

I would be thankful for anyone who can make suggestions to improve our SEO and also the forum as a whole

Cheers

I like replacing the showpost links with permalink (a vBSEO feature), but this is optional.

You might consider keeping the forum ID in your URL formats as well.

Some of your forum names are a bit generic. You might consider doing some work on the names and descriptions.

Your logo looks nice by the way. It looks nice. I'm not sure it immediately communicates your theme. I understand that "Digital Existence" means the lifestyle of people who are big into technology, but there was no real call to action there. Techie people are really good at using Google to find info all over the Web. Why should they stay on and get involved at your site?

I liked the work you put into your site welcome message description:

You are free to view content on the site, but you must login to be able to reply to existing content, or to start your own new topic. Like most online communities a site like this costs a lot of money to maintain, we prefer that lurkers take part in our community and offer a lot in return to those willing to take part in our corner of the web.

These are some of the features available to you once you register at Digital Existence Network

• Access to a great community, with a massive database of experience on hardware & software issues, gaming, recreational activities, and more
• Download Center 2.0, access to all downloads within the Digiex Download Center with no download limits and the ability to share any files back
• Access to Digiex Services including Digiex Mail with no limits and support for any mail client and Digiex User Webspace to upload your own content to the web.
• Play in Digiex Arcade which is packed full of casual games to play and enjoy, old favourites like Tetris to modern console games like Sonic the Hedgehog. Play for fun or play competitively with leaderboards. Also, with at least one new Arcade Game added every Monday you're bound to be in there at least once a week!
• We understand & respect your privacy, so we offer anonymous browsing, your account is hidden when enabled!
• Removal of all advertising within the website
• It takes just a few minutes to register, and it's free!

I would love to see if you could make a graphical representation of all that. Although the text is great, there is so much of it, most people will not bother taking the time to read it.

Checkout the way they do their intro highlights box on Cnet:
Tech product reviews for cell phones, computers, MP3 players - CNET

You might also consider doing something similar to what we've done for our featured customer and product info on our vBSEO homepage.

If you could convert your description into something like this, it would look fantastic and do wonders for communicating your site theme, and getting people more interested.

Consider using our Relevant Replacements feature:
[How to] Setup Relevant Replacements with vBSEO