Categories for feel, not content

[clare12345]

I have a feeling that getting people to talk in your forums is not just about the content of what is being talked about but also how comfortable people feel talking about it. Some people just like to chat... a lot of people like to chat. And so, my idea is that I should be adding yet more categories to my boards.


I'm thinking aside from the "General Discussion" category, what are some other popular kinds that make people feel more at home and just want to post?
"Member's Lounge" List more, help me out!

[Jan]

How many members do you have? To add more categories, you need a heap of members and at least 20 new members signing up a day. Keep it simple if you are just starting :)

[clare12345]

I have only about 10 members... I am having trouble getting people to post and its partly because I have so many categories. I deleted a few categories yesterday, and added an introduce yourself cat and a general cat. Hopefully that will help!

[Jan]

Take it slow, it is hard to build up a forum these days with millions already online. Stick to categories suited to your targetted audience and they will come.

[clare12345]

Thanks. Could you take a look at my site and tell me specifically what you think? Its not as modern looking as vbulletin but I made it for use more than looks (maybe a bad idea). What do you think about the categories/layout/content? Thanks!!

[TheDPQ]

You need to find a balance between the # of categories, and the # of users/posts you actually can get. If you have only a few people then your best bet is to have very FEW categories.

At only 10 people the # of categories doesn't matter as much as how many posts you can personally encourage them to do. IM/Skype/PM them and try to get them more involved.

You need like... 5 categories... tops. Encourage them to keep posting different things and reorganize them later if need be. No one is going to jump around the forum just to read one post with no replies.

[clare12345]

Well, in the past 2 days I've removed 10 categories.. and added 3 or 4 topics like introduce yourself. So, hopefully that will help! If not I will continue to scale it down. Thanks!
PS Anyone on this board who would post (even 1 post!) on my board would be a giant help! Thanks!

[SoftWareRevue]

You can only convert vistors to members. What kind of stats do you have? :)

[SoftWareRevue]

Now that I've had a better look (Hey! I looked at it when you first joined too!), I have to agree that you probably have too many forums.

I know you want to cover everything. But a bunch of empty forums isn't very appealing to a visitor and doesn't give them much incentive to join in.

You could merge all the forums you have in the Shopping Experiences into one. I know, it doesn't sound organized that way. But tight organization isn't necessary at this stage.

If you don't want to make it one mega-category. You surely could break it down to three or four. ;)

[clare12345]

I get at least 30 visitors a day, just put the site up last month anyway. So I guess thats not so bad! I've deleted more categories, so far its been helpful (I got 1 more person to register and post!) Thanks!