What went wrong?

[brandscontrol]

I opened my forum 3 months ago and I got 109 members and 827 posts.
I know that people are interested in this niche and this is like the first forum about it. I advertised it on many forums and youtube, i always add content.
I don't know what I do wrong, can someone give me some tips?
This is my forum: www.brandscontrol.com

 

[LeadCrow]

It appears to be about...brands? Is there really an audience outside shoppers, traders and maybe minor brands (as sponsors/official discussion place. Overlooked easily guaranteed traffic)?

One of my first expectations on landing was an associated shopping site with reviews.
Perhaps you could ask your most involved users what might they feel is missing or areas they believe might be underperforming?

 

[EddieC]

Your forum gives no indication of what it's about, the name of the site doesn't make it obvious & there's nothing on the site to explain to someone who stumbled across it what it is they're actually looking at.

I would also have to question if there's much interest in the niche either. From a purchasing perspective I imagine there is, but to actually register on a forum to discuss the subject I'm not so sure. When you say you know people are interested in it is this based on anything or just your presumption? I honestly think you're going to struggle to build a successful forum in this niche as it doesn't open up too many topics of discussion, but best of luck to you!

 

[brandscontrol]

It's about counterfeit & original products, the shops, selling them, etc...
What could I do to make it more obvious?

 

[LeadCrow]

A light skin for one perhaps. Dark ones should not be appropriate here.

 

[brandscontrol]

You mean something like a light blue skin?

 

[EddieC]

It's about counterfeit & original products, the shops, selling them, etc...
What could I do to make it more obvious?

You could add some welcome text at the top of the site, explaining what it's about, or add a tagline to your banner.

 

[Wayne Luke]

It's about counterfeit & original products, the shops, selling them, etc...
What could I do to make it more obvious?

Are Brands Control the proper keywords for what you're trying to put across? Are people going to rely on a website for legal information on protecting their intellectual property? As that is what a brand really is, intellectual property.

Have you marketed to the marketers and tried to bring in information on how to make a lasting brand that everyone knows? Like Coca-Cola, Pepsi, McDonald's or Disney?

 

[MasterM]

Your shoutbox put me right off with some of the comments made such as "I don't fuc**** know"

 

[bauss]

I wouldn't give up after only 800 posts, you got to keep building QUALITY content. Don't just make one liner threads, make LONG posts so you will get more traffic from search engines. How are you currently promoting the forum? post exchanges?

 

[Judge Dredd]

The dark style is frustrating and even after reading your brief description, I still don't understand fully what your site is about.

I see a forum description that says "how to make money with counterfeit goods." Is this a site about recognising fakes from originals, is it about stopping the fakers, is it about making fakes? What is it?

 

[LeadCrow]

A visible lack of focus could also be to blame.

Among others, I expected more niche-specific ones. Like for articles regarding how to identify counterfeit goods, disputes outside your forum's maketplace dealings (scams do not necessarily happen to those reporting them, given samaritans tend to spread awareness regarding such), useful information categorized by state/country, prices/manufacturing costs (production/sale/labour/etc), essentially educating about the trade, its realities and effect on society as a whole.

For a start, but so far the visual identity (skin and logo) might be the first point you'd want to look into.

 

[brandscontrol]

It's a forum about selling and buying counterfeit items.
I'll work on the logo and the theme and I'll add some threads about identifying fake products. Thank you all for tyring to help, I hope I'll get some more members with the tips.

 

[bucket]

What could I do to make it more obvious?

put a few words that say what it's about right under the logo.

put a few words that say what it's about in the html TITLE tag for the webpage.

 

[brandscontrol]

I changed the whole forum, what do you guys think?

 

[EmmaRay]

Will it be encouraging people to suggest ways to sell counterfeit goods? And if so, is that legal?

 

[EmmaRay]

Okay, after having a browse through some of your threads...

Why do you have a hiphop music section on a forum about fake goods? Or is this meant to cater towards your suspected target audience?

What kind of atmosphere are you going for here? I'm seeing an admin telling a member in public to 'stop with the dumb comments' and... well, to be honest after reading this thread here, it puts me right off looking any further: http://www.brandscontrol.com/thread-176.html

I'm obviously not your target audience, not even close, so perhaps my opinion isn't worth much here. But the way you talk on your forum and how you allow other members to talk looks so, so bad to anyone reading it for the first time. That might be something to consider in your hunt for new members.

 

[Judge Dredd]

"Fashion and swag?"

"Music?"

I thought it was a counterfeit goods site.

 

[echo_off]

You have no specific niche, and your forum is all over the place, You can't just have a general forum, unless that is what you intended. Go for a niche that you are most interested in, and you have good knowledge of.

But from first view, I would not think of joining, the theme is dreadful, way too dark for what seems like a general forum. You need a general theme for that, most gaming forums use a dark theme, because most games and dark themes go together, maybe not animal farm or whatever, but you see what I mean.

 

[BSMedia]

You need content other than a forum, especially with your site.

Launching a forum only site is a very hard and complicated/long process. Get some content that can lead to organic traffic.