Forum popularity, google searches, etc ?

[Trinity765]

I have a non-biking friend who has had a successful career in marketing. I asked her last night for "a few bullet points for building up a motorcycle forum". This is what she came back with; I think you already have a lot of it covered.

Well the biggest single thing is to get all members to engage. Ask them to all post a ‘biking tip’ or ‘biking tallest tale’ - to get it moving/re invigorated.

Then find avenues to promote it by word of mouth - Facebook is full of biker groups. Linkedin appears to have one small (25 people) group - BUT, so many professionals have bikes, hence if you started a post on the forum suggesting they ALL do a linkedin post about their passion for biking, with a push to join the forum (link in comments for joining ). If the average person had 200 connections (which is super low), that would help - as its word of mouth to own network.

Are any of them natural wordsmiths? If so, linkedin allows any of us to publish articles for all to see ‘riding the outer limits of my career’ my passion for biking, as a release from the day to day grind, escape the intensity of covid when lockdown eases. Appeal to the rebel in all bikers/wanna be bikers. Linkedin has never been more receptive to people sharing details of their hobbies. Weave in a mental health benefit of a hobby - biking - and you’re on topic!

Facebook is the other place to promote what you’re all doing.

Some more stuff re forums: A new forum is VERY difficult. You need a critical mass of people there asking questions and creating content or new people who come won't come back. I would start by having the forum "seeded" with passionate people to get it started. As it builds, they can start inviting more.

Then use social media to drive traffic.

In the long run, forums tend to work well for SEO. You can do keyword research for high traffic keywords and start topics in the forum with those words in the title and text. Keywords are important - get key members to post, using ‘keywords’ - motorbike, rideout, bike forum, any ‘biker language’.

More...Promote Yourself as a brand make your forum fun interesting and trending on trending topics.

Promote your forum on free classified ads an online directories.

Post on Social media post on youtube. wait a few months new websites take time for google to acknowledge.

https://growtraffic.com/blog/2016/07/wa ... sers-forum

[Dodgy69]

I do think its a bit different with non bike specific forums, many folk join forums because of their newly acquired bike or nearly acquired. So that could make for more general chat which some bike folk aren't interested in.

Don't matter...I like it.

[weeksy]

I have a non-biking friend who has had a successful career in marketing. I asked her last night for "a few bullet points for building up a motorcycle forum". This is what she came back with; I think you already have a lot of it covered.

Well the biggest single thing is to get all members to engage. Ask them to all post a ‘biking tip’ or ‘biking tallest tale’ - to get it moving/re invigorated.

Then find avenues to promote it by word of mouth - Facebook is full of biker groups. Linkedin appears to have one small (25 people) group - BUT, so many professionals have bikes, hence if you started a post on the forum suggesting they ALL do a linkedin post about their passion for biking, with a push to join the forum (link in comments for joining ). If the average person had 200 connections (which is super low), that would help - as its word of mouth to own network.

Are any of them natural wordsmiths? If so, linkedin allows any of us to publish articles for all to see ‘riding the outer limits of my career’ my passion for biking, as a release from the day to day grind, escape the intensity of covid when lockdown eases. Appeal to the rebel in all bikers/wanna be bikers. Linkedin has never been more receptive to people sharing details of their hobbies. Weave in a mental health benefit of a hobby - biking - and you’re on topic!

Facebook is the other place to promote what you’re all doing.

Some more stuff re forums: A new forum is VERY difficult. You need a critical mass of people there asking questions and creating content or new people who come won't come back. I would start by having the forum "seeded" with passionate people to get it started. As it builds, they can start inviting more.

Then use social media to drive traffic.

In the long run, forums tend to work well for SEO. You can do keyword research for high traffic keywords and start topics in the forum with those words in the title and text. Keywords are important - get key members to post, using ‘keywords’ - motorbike, rideout, bike forum, any ‘biker language’.

More...Promote Yourself as a brand make your forum fun interesting and trending on trending topics.

Promote your forum on free classified ads an online directories.

Post on Social media post on youtube. wait a few months new websites take time for google to acknowledge.

https://growtraffic.com/blog/2016/07/wa ... sers-forum

Great info. Apart from the Facebook thing and the Linkedin, i think we're doing pretty much OK with that lot.

We've got an FB site, but it's managed by another member as i don't do FB.. But maybe in spring when we get the bikes out i need to think about content in a social media context then too.

[Yorick]

I have a non-biking friend who has had a successful career in marketing. I asked her last night for "a few bullet points for building up a motorcycle forum".

You are new to the forum, but you are quite active and fit right in

Can we ask how you discovered our site ?

And why do you stick around ?

A lot of us on here have been pals for up to 20 years. In real life and online. So lots of in-jokes and banter. Just wondering if it seemed a bit cliquey ?

[Horse]

...".

you are quite active and fit ...

Wondered where that was going ....

[Trinity765]

I have a non-biking friend who has had a successful career in marketing. I asked her last night for "a few bullet points for building up a motorcycle forum".

You are new to the forum, but you are quite active and fit right in

Can we ask how you discovered our site ?

And why do you stick around ?

A lot of us on here have been pals for up to 20 years. In real life and online. So lots of in-jokes and banter. Just wondering if it seemed a bit cliquey ?

A long, long time ago, when I was actually fit, I was scouring the internet for a Twister forum and stumbled across a place called VD. I hung around for a bit then followed my own biking path for a few years and have had the best years of my biking life since then. I had a TRC account but never followed it. I can't remember what my name was on either of them and I can't remember if/what I posted Its been a long year and I've had time to get nostalgic and looked you up. Here I is.

Any group who have known each other for so long is going to seem cliquey and there's probably nothing you can do about it unless you're actually being c****s. The "thanks" button is new to me and its encouraging to be thanked for a contribution.

Who knows if I'm sticking around? You'll see a lot less of me in the spring