How Did You Get Your Site Up and Running

Discussion in 'Role-Play Discussion' started by Cait, Nov 21, 2016.

  1. Cait
    Angry

    Cait Resident Game Owner

    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?
     
  2. Star Army
    Spaced

    Star Army Resident Game Owner

    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.
     
    Elena likes this.
  3. Will wlaker

    Will wlaker Newcomer Game Owner

    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.
     
  4. SithLordOfSnark

    SithLordOfSnark Resident Game Owner

    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.
     
    Elena likes this.
  5. Cait
    Angry

    Cait Resident Game Owner

    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 :)
     
    Elena likes this.
  6. Jimlock

    Jimlock Newcomer Game Owner

    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?
     
    Cait likes this.
  7. alphaSHIELD
    Chatty

    alphaSHIELD Newcomer Game Owner

    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!
     
  8. hypnosis
    Apple Fan

    hypnosis Newcomer Game Owner

    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.
     
  9. Mim
    Relaxed

    Mim Resident Game Owner

    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.
     
  10. dragonwriter

    dragonwriter Newcomer Game Owner

    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.
     
  11. Sage

    Sage Newcomer

    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.
     
    Elena likes this.
  12. Nixie

    Nixie Newcomer Game Owner

    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 :)
     
  13. John Hurt
    Caffeine Fix

    John Hurt Newcomer

    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
     
  14. ScottRyder

    ScottRyder Newcomer Game Owner

    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.
     
    Elena likes this.
  15. Zahara Dessert

    Zahara Dessert Newcomer Game Owner

    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!
     
    Elena likes this.
  16. Elllie

    Elllie Newcomer

    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.
     
  17. valucre
    Magical

    valucre Resident Game Owner

    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
     
  18. Gwendalyn

    Gwendalyn Newcomer

    By working hard with a whole team
     
  19. NOXRPS

    NOXRPS Newcomer

    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
     
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