Need some advice

[dragonhawk28]

I have a brand new forum, and I need some input about that to put on my portal.

At this point I have a few unique visitors a day, but no one is signing up. One fucking day I had 70+ people on at one time and no one signed up. I do have discussions and threads going with people that have already signed up (mostly my RL buddies). I even have an arcade for people to hang out on.

I want something on my portal page that will entice visitors to register, but for the life of me I don't know what. So I am asking you all this, what would be better, a logo for the site with a quick intro or an in depth intro and no logo?

What would catch someone's attention and peak their interest enough to register?

Any suggestions on how to improve the overall site?

Here is the link:
Sport Memory Lane

Thank you and any and all help/criticism is welcome.

 

[Lavish]

Just logging onto it then and having a look, I think that you should have active topic posts or categories in the Welcome box, much like the index to this site. I had a hard time figuring out what your website was about, the header should be more exciting or eye-catching... pixel images from arcade games, perhaps?

In saying this, I am totally new to this myself.

 

[kofiannan]

The vast majority of forum readers never post anything, even when they register. You can either:
a) Use this to your advantage and put lots of affiliate links in posts, letting anyone click on them or
b) Make everyone register before they can view the posts.

 

[dragonhawk28]

The vast majority of forum readers never post anything, even when they register. You can either:
a) Use this to your advantage and put lots of affiliate links in posts, letting anyone click on them or
b) Make everyone register before they can view the posts.

My two fears are that if I put up tons of links it will make it look like I am just out for a quick buck and if I make them register they won't bother so they wont see what is inside the forum.......

Let me ask this, should I worry about the pages SEO? I mean, it is a forum so most of my visitors will be direct instead of via search engines. Am I correct to assume this?

 

[ScottDaMan]

dragonhawk28, you are obviously new, let me save you a shitload of time, do not start with a forum! I used to run a forum, worst mistake of my life. Sold it.

 

[d00723]

dragonhawk i have to agree with scottdaman, i feel you may be in a bit over your head especially referring to it as "...the pages SEO."

 

[d00723]

dont mean to burst your bubble dude, but start small, shit start a blog especially if you speak from an authority, build up to a forum, its easier that way.