Forum Contests are Amazing for Traffic

A great way to give your new or mature board a boost is a contest. No matter what your forum's niche is, if people hear about cash and prizes, they'll be all over it. One contest I've seen the most success with is a $100 cold cash giveaway. Now, if you don't have $100 to spare, you can ask for sponsors, or find something of yours to giveaway or sell for cash. You know those gift cards and certificates you get from that one aunt you never see, well you finally have a use for those. Its smart to have place prizes for your contest if its cash, you want to at least have two places, but I personally saw the best results with three.

If you do decide to run a contest, be sure to make the rules of entry very specific, especially if you offer multiple entries, not everyone is honest. If you do offer multiple entries, I suggest you give them away not only for signing up, but referrals and high post count. User activity is key in any forum, but especially if you are new and looking to hit it big.

After your contest, you should have a fair amount of active members, but it may be a good idea to announce plans for future contests, creating good hype. To keep your regular members interested and new ones coming in, have a reputation of having fresh contests every 2-3 weeks. Be sure to advertise on other sites about your upcoming contests. People may be suspicious of your first, but once you have made a name for yourself, you'll see how much support other communities will have for you. And remember, money invested now is possible profit in the future.

Last Word
Reaching out to bloggers for contest hype is also a great idea. Offer extra entries for writing a post promoting and linking to your contest. This can not only draw in additional traffic, but make you a friend to the blogging community, a site's best ally.