How Long Should You Give Your Community An Opportunity To Grow

[Dan]

We have all been there before. Out of ideas, no marketing strategies. We are firm believers in, build it and they will come. But they are not coming. Do you have a "magic number" in your head when your worst fears become realized? You put your heart in soul into your site and then, when you think it is time for the masses to flock to your site and no know comes, how long before you put yourself and your site of it's misery?

I have just recently closed down 2 sites due to inactivity and lack of imagination. It is heartbreaking. One site has been up for about 2 years, many of those dormant, and the other has been open for about 6 months. Another huge factor is this site however. As of now, all of my time and energy is going into this site so I didn't want any distractions.

So, as a general rule, is there a time someone should keep in mind when opening a site before labeling it successful or dreadful?

 

[tartan lady]

Well I opened mine 6 years ago went on holiday and the people I left in charged killed it so closed it down for a while then after a few heart attacks decided I needed the quiet life and reopened it as a hobby more than anything else thats how i get past the not so many members the ones I have are great and steadfast hence I keep on going lol

 

[Clark]

I would say give it 12 months if you are serious but plan your marketing strategy before hand. Plan who your audience is likely to be. Right down in bullet-points what differentiates you to others. The costs your willing to spend on marketing and do research on which marketing service would benefit you most and research as a whole on your niche and competitors.

It's really important that you keep it active with content and that you do not sway from your core idea. Plan your budget on each site. Pick a domain that represents the core idea of your site that stands out and also good SEO practices can work wonders for getting you in the search rankings to get you more visitors. Picking attractive software can also help make people think your serious about the community your starting.

It's important you keep it fresh so adding a few features now and then wont hurt. But keep a good balance, too many features and you could put people off. It's all about balance and a great Management team that can lead by example in a community.

Also it's important you pick a good host, ones that slow you down are not going to do you a lot of good so make sure you invest and improve as your member-base grows.

 

[BamBam]

first of all, my english is not perfect , sorry about that, my first lang is not english, i speak 3 langs and that afects u alot.., but anyways

i will start with give you some sugestions, "What i would do with this forum in your place?" (im 28 years old)

well, if you want to make a big comunity, if u want to make your forum intresting, i would change the name of the domain directly, i would create a new domain, the new name will be about "computer/internet/pc/games, hardware, os" something based in "computers/internet" an universal domain name for pc/games/online/repair, ill make this forum not just for selling secondhand licenses, but ill make it universal:

1st Category: Hardware

sub-category: Processors (Intel, AMD, VIA...)

sub-category: Graphics Cards (ATi, NVIDIA, SiS, MATROX, 3DLabs...)

sub-category: Motherboards (Chipsets and Motherboards)

sub-category: Computers assembly - Internal Components (here threads about "i want an 500$ pc, please help me with a config") this will be the core of your forum

sub-category: Peripherals - Accessories

sub-category: Monitors

2nd Category: Storage

sub-category: Magnetic and electronic units (HD, RAID, Backup, Compact Flash, Smart Media, Secure Digital, MMC...)

sub-category: Optical Drives and consumables (CD / DVD and consumables.)

3rd Category: Portable devices

sub-category: Laptops: Support (Having problems with your laptop?. This is your section. Problems S.O. and software has its own section.)

sub-category: Laptops: Commercial models and news (Dell or Toshiba? MacBook Pro or MacBook?? Discuss the latest models appeared on the market.)

and the list can continue with new categorys for secondhand licenses, overclock, game section, im not going to write all the categorys, would take me one years haha, but u understand what i mean

my opinion about this fourm is, a good forum, is a nice idea, but this will not bring you 100000 users on the forum, because is focused in selling and buying licenses, this is my opinion, i could be wrong

finaly, i think that if you want to bring here more users, u have to convert the forum in pc/hardware/games/buy/sell(game accounts, licenses, etc), now i bet that would be hard to manage so many sections, but i think that if u rly want to start something like that, with some effort u will get something intresting

thats what im trying to make myself, but will not be an english forums hehe, i will make it in my native lang

i hope u take this as an sugestion, if u dont like it.., i respect your opinion

 

[Heatman]

Well I opened mine 6 years ago went on holiday and the people I left in charged killed it so closed it down for a while then after a few heart attacks decided I needed the quiet life and reopened it as a hobby more than anything else thats how i get past the not so many members the ones I have are great and steadfast hence I keep on going lol

This is why I'm very careful when it comes to hiring anyone that's going to work on my website project. This is because most people don't know the value of things that aren't their own to me lose when things go south. A lot of forums have been destroyed in this way.

 

[Frost]

As long as you have made a big investment in your new website, you should always be patient with it for as long as it take before you give up on it, otherwise all your investment will become a waste. At least 3 years is good to stick with it.