What Discourages Users :(

Users are a very sensitive part of your forum, but users are the life of your forum. By this I mean to keep your members happy.

Most members get discuraged very easily, when a user gets discuraged they move along and leave your site.

Users get discuraged when they make a support thread in a specific forum, and their topic is flodded away by spam or other post. When a member seeks help in a forum, its mostly because he doesnt know anyone that can help. So if you have a forum (Specially a support forum) when someone asks a question or seeks help, post in their thread and help them with what YOU know about that subject, that will make other people see the thread and post there.

Guest get dicuraged when they cant get to see the index page unless they register. This is a very bad technique in my opinion, because you cant get a member to join if he does not know what the forum offers.

This is just a little tip :)

Setting Up Your PHBBFM Forum

Here is how to set up your PHPBBFM Forum after it is installed Via FTP

Under Forums
In Configuration all should be left as is, unless you want change some default settings, go right ahead, but its not recommended

In Management you would start by creating a new category and all the forums you want to set up. This being PHPBBFM you need to see all that it offers when creating a new forum, like Forum Category which is in what category the new forum will be placed; And if you set up a Money Mod, you should see at the bottom Allow [FORUM MONEY NAME] to be earned in this forum and you can choose if they can earn Forum Money from that specific forum.

In Permissions you can set up the permissions of that forum, to see what permissions are and how to set them up Please read this article

All other things should be left as is, but you need to check them all because most of them is to your liking.

Under General
In Configuration In Site Name Put in the name of your site. Example, Forum Blog. Also under Site Name there is the Site Description and what you put there will appear Under the Site Name.

In the Account Activation its really up to you, if your setting up a private forum then you should set it up to Admin that way you will get an e-mail when a member joins and you manually activate their account. As of User or Disabled its up to you, although I would choose Disabed because most users get discouraged when they have to go to their in-box to activate their account. I know I do.

In Enable Visual Confirmation you should activate it, that streams away Bots like advertising bots which post in several forums about the assinged site, also streams away bots like the Google, Yahoo and MSN Bots, that join the site to more informations out of it, you might say that that is good, but its not, because they don't index you less or more even if they join. So that should be enabled.

Other parts should be left in Default or are up to you.

Create a Site Staff

You should always have a couple of good Mods when you have a very active forum. Mods can take care of misspelled words, advertisments, enforce rules, and keep an eye out. You can set up the Permissions of a certain Group so they moderate the forums you want.

Groups

Groups are simply a group of members with special Permissions. With groups you get your "Staff Members" more organized. Staff Members can be more organized by not having to add each member as a Mod in every forum, you can just add the member to that group and they have the same permissions.

I also recommend you not only make a group called Site Staff, also make a group of "Promoters", which can appeal to the members if you make them Mod of 1 of the Default Forums like the Introduccion Lounge or something else, this way members can see that is they promote your site they wil be rewarded.

You also should take advantage of the topic of your site, if your site is a GFX (Graphics) site maybe make a group of Designers, which can take care of the graphic request. If you have a support forum, if its a computer support forum, make a group called "Hardware Support Team" or something along those lines.

Groups just make your forum look more sleek and clean. You can play around with your groups, it all depends on the topic of your forum and the tittle.

If you want to learn how to make your group read This Article third paragraph :)

Default Forums

All forums have Categories, categories are used to divide up the forums in which post are stored. Now, if you want to get members to stay in your site more and post more, I suggest adding a Category in which members can chat about things that are not related to the site's topic. Most people have it in their forum already, most people use as the Category name "Members Lounge" but you can play with that depending on the name of your site. In that category you can add a forum called Chatter Box, Speak Your Mind ect... And there they can post anything that is not about the site, if you want to go further you can add a Multimedia forum or a TV forum.

Apart from the Members Lounge category you should always add a category at the top of your forum named "The Site" or the title of your site like "Forum Blog" and in that category add Announcements, where the site staff can post announcements regarding the site. Also add a forum called Suggestions where the members can post their suggestions on the site. If you don't have a forum called "Introduce Yourself" where members can introduce themselves (the title says it all... LOL)

If your forum has a lot of members and you have many staff members, as in Moderators then I do suggest a "Staff Hub" or a "Staff Forum" where only that admins and moderators can see that forum, and this can be made by playing around with the Permissions

Just a little tip for the newbies :D

Permissions

Permissions are used in every forum, permissions are a way for the Board Administrator to keep a handle on things in the forum. Some examples are, the admin makes a Group of Moderators and makes them mod of certain forums, and they can edit your post. Maybe an Webmaster makes you Admin of the forum, this gives you the permission to do all a Webmaster does. To access and change the permissions in a PHPBB forum for groups is

1. Under Group Admin click Permissions and choose a group you have made

2. Then you can see all your Forums and you can choose if that Group is Mod of the chosen Forum

3. Click submit and you are done !

Now permissions are not only good for groups, but they are also good for default forums like "Staff Forum", in the staff forum's permissions you should (if in simple mode) set it as Moderators Hidden that way only Mods and Admins can see that forum, if you want to set it in Advanced Mode I suggest you set most as MOD or PRIV. If you have an "Announcement" forum you can set the permissions (if in simple mode) set it as Moderators, if you want to set it up in Advanced Mode I suggest you put View and Read as ALL; Post, Delete, Sticky, Announce and Poll create as ADMIN; and Reply, Edit and Vote as REG.

Most people know about permissions, this is a little tip to the New Admins ;)

Ways To Increase Traffic

Well almost everyone that has a forum is always looking for ways to get more page views and members, there are many ways to advertise your site, some are good and some are bad.

I always try to join as many forums that have a "Show Off" or "Post Your Forum" section like Forum Finder and Anything Forums. But what I do suggest is post around first, make a few good post, and if they don't have a "Show Off" section its like my friend PChuck always says "You always have a signature" and he is right. A signature is even more effective than a Show Off section because it shows up in every one of your post. And it does not have to be a forum the has a show off section, you could join a support forum of a topic you know about and help people, they see your signature and maybe they go and check out your site. Also when you advertise in your signature make good use of BB Code to hyper link your forum, those long links don't look good.

Also to advertise your site you always want to be in search engines, like Google, Yahoo and MSN. These are the links to add your site in Google, Yahoo and MSN. But when adding your site in Google, the Google Bot will collect a small amount of information, a great way to get the Google Bot to stay in your site more, visit more frequently and collect more information is Google Site Maps

You can also try to convince people and members of your site to link your site to the other forums their members of in their signatures. A great way for this is a UserBar, you make a userbar that has the Logo of your site or the name of your site and hyperlink it using BB Code

If you want a more detailed explanation on how to add your site in search engines, read this article entitled Publicising Your Blog

Just some helpful tips =)

Rated Forums

You all may have noticed I have "Rated" a couple of forums, I do this as a service, a service to help people improve their forum. The "Rating" process takes at least 48 hours while I join the forum and see what it offers, meet the people, post around and get some feedback so then I can post it here divided in these categories.

Forums & Categories - Which basically means the forums, how they are named, the descriptions, the placement and the accessibility (by this I mean the Staff Forum, Announcement Forum ect...) In categories I rate by the name of the categories and the forums that are placed there

Skins & Templates - Skins as in the colors and the style of the site, for example Dark styles, light styles ect..., templates as in the arrangement of the site, maybe it has a side bar, where are the Ads placed ect...

Banner or Logo - The site banner, is it well placed, well developed, poorly developed, ect...

Suggestions - The suggestions part of the article is used for any loose ends I've spotted, tips on forum descriptions, just suggestions it varies by forum

Over All - In the over all section I give you your over all rating in a 1/10 scale, and I also give you one last suggestion

Apart from giving people advice on their forum, this gives them a small advertisement from my part, I am up for rating any forum but I might close the "Rating" request every once in a while.

If you are interested in getting your forum rated all you have to do is post at least 1 comment in any of the post in this blog, then go to our Google Groups Page and make a new topic requesting a "Rating", wait for atleast 48 hours while I or a staff member joins your forum by the User Name of "Forum Blog Rater" and collects the feedback needed, you will get a reply in your topic in the google groups page letting you know your forum is rated.

If you need help or have a suggestion e-mail me at ForumBlog@googlegroups.com

Get your forum rated :)