First of, I am not trying to advertise here, so I will not be posting a link to it. It doesn’t compete with GS in anyway.
I have started a Islam related forum (about a very specific ritual). Just started it 3 weeks ago, but as of yet, no users. I am using PHPBB as the forum software. Only 4 bots have visited me so far, but I do show up in their search engine.
What can I do to get some visitors and users? I see maybe 1 or 2 uniques per day. I do try to make some posts in there, post some news articles, links, and pictures, but I don’t know what else I can do.
I don’t really want to spam other forums, or blogs (that’s just sleazy). Should I do google adwords, just to see some visitors coming in?
Reason I started this forum was that I couldn’t find a forum for this, even though it is such a big thing in Islam. I imagine several thousand people around the world search for this information everyday.
Re: Confused about how to get visitors to my forums.
Well you could have introduced the idea here in Gupshup in our feedback forum, and if it would be feasible, we could create a sub-forum.
Anyway, it all depends upon people's interest to visit forums. A forum only specific to one aspect of single religion probably wont attract much visitors anyway.
Re: Confused about how to get visitors to my forums.
have you published any content on the forum yourself? You can't expect a forum to grow from scratch with only member generated content. That's usually a second step. First you need to attract potential members to it. Sometimes, starting a debate on a few controversial topics or posting queries is a good first step. This will instigate initial participation and you will need to maintain the rhythm even if its only a couple of members participating at that point.
Also, 3 weeks is really nothing! it can take up to three to six months before a forum starts picking up. This is more so if you're starting a very targetted forum for a specific topic. You are basically inviting a very narrow niche of online users... so you need even more time.
Re: Confused about how to get visitors to my forums.
Have you considered Pay Per Post type of services?
If GS was to offer that service, image how rich some people would be (including myself) :D
TDW I had a couple of friends who started their forum and they advertised it via MSN nick name and also word of mouth. They told their friends who told their friends and who told their friends and so on. Not sure if you've already done it. Also, as someone said above, once you narrow down the focus, you also narrow the audience. You may want to extend the topics that you discuss there.
Re: Confused about how to get visitors to my forums.
Search for it, there are some good companies that do this business but many impostors so becareful.
There are plenty of other ways to run a forum (my self having over 5 vbulletin licenses). I can’t say much in this case until I see the forum and how it looks and most importantly, the niche, etc.
Yeah but you would only get like 5 cents per post… of about 15 cents that the company would make per post… so no body is getting rich on this, trust me.
Re: Confused about how to get visitors to my forums.
I hope he doesnt mind me saying this, but yeah that’s his website. I asked him through pm for a link when he first posted this, and thats the link he gave me.
TDB- Dont be mad at me please You’ll get more visitors now!
Re: Confused about how to get visitors to my forums.
^ So, what is that called in legal terms? You had prior knowledge about the crime and you failed to help the police? That is bad. I would hide, run, etc.
Re: Confused about how to get visitors to my forums.
Some general things I've done to get members are:
Having the URL of the site in my forum signature, though not some forums might not allow it.
Having the URL of the site in my forum profile. Every now and then I will check out the sites in people's profiles.
Linking to relevant content on the site when posting in discussions.
Outright advertizing of the site.
Some comments specific to your forum:
You can try improving the look of your forum. In its current state, it is pretty dull.
As many people have mentioned, by restricting the topic, you are also restricting the audience.
Hajj season is something with a specific duration, so you would mostly expect activity on a site dedicated to it mostly about a month or so before the actual Hajj season starts.
All the topics you've started are pretty late, i.e. I know that a lot of people were leaving or had already left for Hajj in the first week or so of December. Your topics are all starting around or after mid-December.
*]If I were going for Hajj, I would personally be more interested in Information/discussion/comparison on Hajj packages (including accomodation, buses etc).
You’ll get more visitors now! 
