Being unique and thinking creatively - both crucial elements. There are quite a few 'saturated' discussion forum niches out there, which is why standing out from the rest is so very important. It's not so much the content that you have to worry about, but rather the amount of activity received and the ability to keep both your existing and prospective members coming back for more. Content is something that can be created rather quickly (and easily) - members can easily lose patience and therefore, take off at any point in time. It's crucial to prevent this from happening. Building a solid foundation will take time, but in the end, is worth it entirely. Some steps that can be taken: Offering members access to a variety of features and content that are not only fun, but entirely unique and not offered by your competitors. Providing content that is both interesting to read and, more importantly, ready to discuss. 'Static' content will spark discussion, but spicing it up will attract increased activity and superior discussion.
I dont hide from my members or guest. My members know what I look like, talk like, sound like. I share part of my life with my members. If my kids and I go fishing, I might make a video about it and post it on youtube. I have a blog that I post stuff on that is separate from the forum. That way people can read some of my opinions and thoughts on certain topics.
Whenever I visit a competing site, I start thinking of ways I could make it better. A better design perhaps, an add-on that they don't have... if I think I could make a significantly more useful site I'll try to build it.
I've learned that most people are fine with situations like that. Elliquiy, Blue Moon and Personal Roleplaying serve different crowds. The 'Vekseid sucks' crowd is not something I can serve, but I'm fine with that really. What sucks is when drama explodes on multiple sites at once. This past year has been a rather harsh one for a lot of people, so everyone's on edge, everyone's had a less than stellar year, and when one thing goes off, a lot of things do. General attitudes are beginning to pick up, though, so I think the Depression may have actually ended last month. Here's to hoping >_>
I offer way more features than most of my competitors. In my weather forum, you dont just talk about weather... we have member blogs, albums, weather forecast stuff, arcade games, a wiki and more. I am hoping that it will make my forum more unique than other weather forums
First, I'd say offer a good environment. Make it user friendly, have personable admins and moderators. Next, I'd say offer unique features - I offer reviews articles and news. Also, visit your competitors sites and see what you like and dont like and even more importantly what the members are saying they like or don't like.
I have a few topics where they can guess Hurricane events. That is sort of like betting accept no money :p
