Content is a King

I learned that content is king but this is the problem I'm facing now.
I opened my forums and they are pretty new, I Have few members registered but they aren't posting that much. i can' push them to post, the only one who post is me. now it looks kind of cheesy to have just me posting everywhere in the website.. i'm thinking about even rewarding members with valuable posts or just post an ad to hire ppl posting quality thread and get the site going. any tips you can share with me? creating different accounts and pretending I'm different users? <- cloning is lame but if that's the way to go to give the boost i have no choice.
please advice.
Thank you

Do you have any really cool feature content that you can promote at the top of the site, or even in the header graphic? That would give visitors an easy way to find something really interesting.

Are you getting any search hits for any of the topics you have posted so far?

Maybe you can disable the "by webmaster" part of your template within your sub-forum display pages (list of threads), so that visitors see what's happening by do not see that it seems to be predominantly from one account.

If you decide to "clone" yourself, or use paid for posting services (and you feel that is it "lame" or unethical) perhaps you can keep track of those accounts, and after your forum gains its own momentum from real users you can delete them.

You might even think of it in a different light. I did this when I got started, so that I would be able to get the community started and deliver valuable info/promotion about my country to visitors all over the world. In other words, the end result may override your uncomfortable feelings about what to do for a quick jump start.

FYI - I hope you consider the new vBSEO 2.0 template when it is released. I think you will find with some minor customizations, it may help you to keep some of your traffic from bouncing, and perhaps create an environment more encouraging for users to want to stay and participate.

Personally I don’t like the idea of creating multiple accounts and talking with yourself, I guess that is one of the reason why I have around 10k posts in my 50k post forum.

Best option is to write articles and travelogues, not to forget, participate in other forums belonging to similar niche and try to help members there and be genuine i.e. don’t spam and don’t ask people to come and join your forum, just help them even if it means giving away valuable tips which you would otherwise only share at your forum and put a link back to your forum in your signature (if it is allowed by their rules).

Something I have recently done is make detailed responses to blog postings or threads (on other sites). I then make a smaller response on that blog & acknowledge that I've covered it in more detail at my site, but I refrain from placing the link to my site. I prefer they find it by checking my profile, or searching for my username (if it indicates the name of my site).

I think that creates a fair balance between contributing somewhere else, and allowing users there potentially to visit your more detailed info. Ultimately it is up to the 3rd party blog/forum to decide if they will permit you to do so.

Traffic is king, Content is queen IMO
You need original content, not copy pasted or duplicates from blogs, other forums etc.
I don't believe blogs will work but they could, depends on the blog and how much traffic it gets but very few of them actually work since its all about the traffic to that blog.

Originally Posted by Joe Ward

Something I have recently done is make detailed responses to blog postings or threads (on other sites). I then make a smaller response on that blog & acknowledge that I've covered it in more detail at my site, but I refrain from placing the link to my site. I prefer they find it by checking my profile, or searching for my username (if it indicates the name of my site).

I think that creates a fair balance between contributing somewhere else, and allowing users there potentially to visit your more detailed info. Ultimately it is up to the 3rd party blog/forum to decide if they will permit you to do so.

Sometimes the owner will ask for the link, or post it on your behalf, allowing you to set a link without risking being labeled as a spammer (which you might if you post the link right at first).