How many forums should you open up with?

Discussion in 'Member and Staff Management' started by cpvr, Feb 12, 2013.

  1. cpvr

    cpvr Regular Member

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    I've seen a few forums over the years open up with a ton of forums. This is a bad idea because you need to populate all the forums with content before you even think about advertising your community to the masses.

    When I start a new forum, I tend to add 3-4 forums and expand as my forum grows. This method is a good one because you don't have a lot to populate and build on.

    So, how many forums do you tend to open up with when you start and open a new forum?
     
  2. ProSportsForums

    ProSportsForums Regular Member

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    It really depends on what your forum is about.
    But, as a rule, dead forums and never-ending index pages are bad practice.
    If I was going to start a Redskins forum, for example, I would have a Redskins forum, a forum for the 31 other NFL teams, a forum for other Washington area sports, a forum for off-topic B.S., and probably a staff forum hidden from the membership.
    Any other forums would have to prove they could self-sustain before I would create them.
     
    dwdmadmac likes this.
  3. bauss

    bauss Regular Member

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    I think 3-4 forums is not enough, and I like to create about 5-8 forums for a new forum. It depends on the niche, but you should fill each section with new threads before launching the forum to the public.
     
  4. Brandon

    Brandon Regular Member

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    It depends on how many you need; there isn’t a set number that will work for everyone. I wouldn’t show forums with very few threads in it. I see this all the time that admins will make a new forum, with several categories and a few posts in each. They make all the categories thinking it will help their SEO, sometimes it does. Most of the time it’s a waste of space and will ruin the users experience unless they are really determined to use your forum and you win them over with your charm.
     
  5. Jessi

    Jessi Regular Member

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    I cannot think of any forum niche that should start with more than 10 forums to begin with. Even ones that have big goals and want lots of subforums.... they should start much smaller and split off as the forums begin to fill with enough threads.
     
    Brandon likes this.

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