Request Forum Traffic - Building Up Interest...?

[Aviador]

Hi forumers, the dialogue is on the quiet side at the moment especially when so much is going on at the moment in the aviation world....?

The number of people coming to view the site remains high and the number of registered users remains high but without the continued support of our users making regular contributions to the threads, the forum will cease to exist. I trust the reason why so many people are still visiting the forum is because we share a common interest in airports and aviation in general. Discussions about any topic relating to aviation are welcomed here from anybody. You don't have to have specific knowledge to make a post, you just have to have an opinion or information you would like to share.

After many years of working at Leeds Bradford Airport I will shortly be leaving. I have a life long interest in aviation and Leeds Bradford Airport. I am happy to continue to provide this forum for everybody to continue to use and enjoy but if people don't show an interest and take part I may have to re-evaluate whether it is worth while to continue the forum at a personal cost to me.

 

[Aviador]

it's a temporary measure whilst the forum is quiet. In tests it has proven to encourage new people to join the forum and take part. It's not a permanent measure, when the post count rises I'll change it back.

 

[andrew.clarkson]

Hi there aviador. I couldn't agree anymore with it. Only happy to comply with it. Andyc

 

[Aviador]

Thank you for your support AndyC.

 

[Aviador]

As part of the forums ever evolving process I'd be interest to hear if anybody has any ideas for new forum modifications. This can be anything related to building up forum membership to security or sponsorship.

I'll be looking at all sorts of modifications over the next few weeks.

https://www.phpbb.com/customise/db/modifications-1/

 

[BSL-2km]

Hi folks

I have had a few blogs/forums over the years, and generating traffic is not easy...

If anyone here posts on other forums of any description they should have a link to this forum as their signature.

Instead of using a bookmark to get here, if all members regularly searched for this forum with google or yahoo and follow the links, it seems to greatly increase the search profile, Avaidor can verify this by using the 'traffic' tools in Admin to determine where visits came from..

Keeping up the good quality and varied content will always encourage 'readers' to eventually post and become active members...

Just a few thoughts

 

[Hassaan]

How about an easy-to-view mobile version? Probably wouldn't build up interest though but easily accessible for users though.

I'd suggest better advertisement?

 

[Aviador]

Thanks for the feedback guys.

Advertising the forum isn't easy. Paid advertisements cost a lot and it's more than the forum can afford. Google traffic is by far the best source of new visitors. I do do advertising on free advertising sites and blogs but this is time consuming so I do it as and when I can. Usually I will advertise a particular forum such as the Birmingham forum rather than the site as a whole. It is possible for people to help me with this by writing a story or article of around 200 words about Forums4airports or a subject within Forums4airports and submitting it to a blog or forum with a direct link to the subject in question on here. This is known to be really effective in getting new members especially if the blog or forum is related to the subject.

As for the mobile app, we had a mobile version of the forum, not actually an app as such but again these cost money to maintain. The mobile version didn't allow advertising and with increasing numbers of users accessing the forum using their mobiles it inevitably led to a drop in forum income from advertisements. If in the future a modification becomes available to allow advertising on the mobile versions I may reintroduce the mobile version.

 

[ls27]

Good, Aviador, at last something to put in the car to let other enthusiasts know there is an excellent site available.
.

 

[Aviador]

You want car stickers? That could be arranged.

 

[ls27]

Yes please.

 

[Aviador]

Roger! We've had them in the past. It's probably time I got some new ones. It may take a few weeks to get them so bare with me.

 

[ls27]

Much appreciated

 

[Hassaan]

It would be nice for most of the airport forums to be as busy as the Bradford one which is streets ahead of the others for whatever reason.

I think one way forward, is to kindly ask creators of blogs centered around the airport (Birmingham has one for example, and it's quite popular) to promote/direct people to the respective forum.

 

[Aviador]

I worked at Leeds Bradford Airport for more than a decade so it's inevitable that forum will achieve the highest number of users because I've been able to recommend the forum to people at that airport.

Making your airport forum popular is a mammoth task. It's all about critical mass. The Birmingham forum for instance is actually doing very well but it's yet to achieve the right number of "posters" to achieve critical mas but it's nearly there. We have a sizeable number of "lurkers" who visit the site regularly but don't post. Many will come to the site for up to a year before they start posting.

As for blogs, I'm more than happy to return links to any website or blog that supports Forums4airports

 

[Hassaan]

As far as recommending the forum to people at the airport is concerned, would a sort of 'flyer/leaflet' (placed around areas at the airport) be a way forward?

You make a good point about posters. There are currently, seemingly about 4/5 active posters on the Birmingham forum who post in various threads. I believe the Bradford forum has various posters.

 

[LBA787]

Hassaan13 I don't want to nit pick but the forum and the airport is Leeds/Bradford. Not Bradford... Funny enough PIA call it bredford airport for some insane reason!

:crazy:

 

[Hassaan]

Hassaan13 I don't want to nit pick but the forum and the airport is Leeds/Bradford. Not Bradford... Funny enough PIA call it bredford airport for some insane reason!

:crazy:

Apologies. And it's an accent thing - my parents call it Bredford too. 😆

 

[LBA787]

Thanks for the info.

:crazy:

 

[Hassaan]

Anyway, apart from blogs, I've contacted owners of enthusiast websites to suggest maybe listing the respective forum. Also, the Twitter/Facebook accounts of the airport. No luck yet, though.

 

[Aviador]

Thanks it's much appreciated. As I've said before, I'm more than happy to return a url link to sites that provide a link here.

Exteral Links: forum112.html