How Did You Get Your Site Up and Running

I'm starting a new RPG from ground zero, with no co-admin or anything like that to help me out. I'm okay with that, but I'm running into that issue where no one will join a board with no members, and I can't get new members unless a few people will join. For those of you who have started a new board from ground zero -- really ground zero, not a bunch of buddies agreeing to start a board together -- how did you overcome that obstacle? What strategies did you use to get people to give your board a chance?

 

Realistically, you shouldn't start alone, because very few people are willing to join an empty board that will probably not take off. This is what interest checks are for.

The origins of my board were in another larger general RP community and we started as a board for my little faction and its internal canon (e.g. what uniforms it used, etc) - people started wanting to join me and it just sort of organically grew from there until we were our own self-sufficient community that no longer needed the original one.

 

Advertise the heck out of it. I usually create a few more characters so that it looks like there are other that are paart of the game.

 

I have a small group of friends who pretty much join any board I make, even if only temporary, to make sure there's an active RP community while I'm going out and doing all the advertising.

 

Thanks guys! So far I've found the Site Requests to be sort of helpful--I got my first member, followed by my co-admin, that way. And then I actually asked a coworker to join and she's going to tonight, so that was kind of a cool break. That would make 4 members, which is a pretty good start from nothing. So I'm excited about that :)

 

I think advertising is really your best bet, because you'll fill up quickly that way :)

Also have something unique you offer, there are so many roleplay sites ... for us, we offer totally uncensored, because that seemed to be something we felt there was a niche for. I'd seen friends turned away from sites for being furry, for being mpreg, all sorts of things, and so a friend and I started something where all are welcome. Just find the one thing you can offer that is unique and makes YOU stand out. Something you don't see other sites or games offering.

Maybe it's something you want to offer that you feel you can do better than anyone else?

 

I often start sites off solo. The biggest thing I've learnt is to limit the 'front page' as much as possible so you only see a small amount of boards. You can have sub-boards if this is supported, you can even have categories ready set up but viewable only to staff/members. The big thing is to ensure that you don't have a lot of empty boards that couldn't feasibly be quickly filled! guests are forgiving at having say a small amount of empty boards, they're less forgiving at having say 20 empty boards with no posts that could take forever to fill!

 

I always get a bunch of close friends to join my board, in attempt to get more members, while I go out and advertise the forum.

 

When I started out I had a group of friends who wanted to continue the RP we were doing on Gateworld. I left there first because the site wasn't allowing us the freedom to run it properly, you couldn't do any moderation whatsoever. From there I went to phpBB forums, then Zetaboards and finally a paid SMF forum. Best thing I ever did.

 

Starts with an idea, then you gotta find at least one other person online who wants to help you lay the foundation. Create your site, the background story, the world, environment, etc, then start advertising, and making personal invitations.

 

Get creative with your advertising. Don't just drop links on other boards, but join directories and post in rpg resource forums too. Social media can also be used to gain membership!

I was lucky that, in my site, it was a bunch of us picking up after another had closed its doors. We were basically continuing from an old site that no longer existed and there were still a lot of people interested.

 

Advertise in any and all ways, and also submitting to feedback, not only does it potentially improve your site but people may choose to stay after giving feedback :)

 

Unfortunately I doing everything by myself right now. I need to start advertising and seeing if i can find some people to join and help build with me

 

Hey! So I sort of started from ground zero with JTTS.

First was getting the site basics up. Coding and writing up docs was something I absolutely enjoyed and required no site opening date. Second priority for me was finding a co-admin to help me manage from there. Thankfully a friend had the same site idea so we merged forces. If my friend wasn't interested I'd planned to advertise around for a co-admin. Some places like RPG-Directory and Shine have areas for finding staff.

Now you have the site basics done and ready to get members. Create your characters and give the members something to chew on straight away. Throw up wanted ads, plot ideas, a couple of open threads. Just some things to get someone interested in playing with you specifically.

Be active, post up in your own chatbox often. Then from there advertise until your little fingers can't advertise no more.

We're still in the first month of our site opening and as of today have 16 members joined. It's completely blown up and while that's great it can also be overwhelming. I'm super glad I have a co-admin there to work alongside, seriously plan to have someone cover your back for when you're ever away.

 

Time... perseverance... and accepting that it will take a while before you get a steady and active member base... and that it taking a year to push forward from your one member that isn't staff until there are actually more member characters than staff ones...
Oh and if it doesn't work... it's not necessarily your fault!

 

Advertise, keep it original, and don't start alone. RP as much as possible. The prettier and more active it looks, the more second looks it will get. If you get a second look out of someone, good chance is that they'll join.

 

Star Army's point about people not wanting to join an empty forum rings true. I think if you're starting off as a one-man band so to speak, you want to start as small as possible, even if you're making posts to yourself every few days for the first few weeks, so that as people hit your site they can see that it is still active semi-recently, and at least that a staff member is around also

 

By working hard with a whole team

 

What a great question! Solo adminning is certainly a challenge but I’ve found it harder to find a team, to be perfectly honest.

For myself, after creating the site itself I always ensure that my characters have all posted open threads before I even start advertising. I also try and spread the threads out into different boards. This helps the forums themselves not look so empty. It also gives potential members different options to roleplay in when they first get going.

I have a cbox on the site where guests can pop in & have a chat. I make myself available when I can to just hang out there and answer questions.

Getting the word out about your site is just a matter of advertising anywhere & everywhere. Directories are fantastic but there are fewer. Site to site advertising is still big and it’s where most of my members of the current site have found us. There’s different tumblr directories you can advertise on as well, it’s worth getting a tumblr for that if you don’t already have one.

Good luck with your site! Opening something solo can be very rewarding

 

I will say that starting solo is definitely challenging. And just when you think you've got a solid group of members, they'll vanish one day. Part of finding members is locating the people who will add quality to your site, not just your general topics area. And finding role players is a very difficult task. I mean, after all, why should I join a new site, when I'm already playing on like three other sites, that fit what I need just fine? I feel this is an obstetrical that is pretty common for new admins to overcome.

I've had a really tough time finding new members for my forum reboot. Most of the people I've known through the years have moved on to other hobbies, or just flat out don't care about role playing (or anime for that matter). Finding the people is the most difficult part of running a site!