My forum

[miamiheat40]

I made my forum heatforum.hqforums.com :: Index its about sports and no one signed up can you guys review it for me.

P.S. Whall youre there sign up .

[davebarnes]

Looks very boring.

And, no, I won't sign up.

You need an attractive homepage with photos to make it exciting.

[miamiheat40]

How bout now I changed it

[Paul B]

Originally Posted by miamiheat40

How bout now I changed it

I can't actually see any difference. As it states at the foot of the very large and very empty forum:

Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2005 phpBB Group
ar_grey Template Made By Superaktieboy

Other than the poor quality logo at the top, which would be better as a gif than a jpeg, what is there to talk about?

[miamiheat40]

Do you know anybody who can help me.

[davebarnes]

miamiheat40,

Now, you are just being silly.
Showing the logos of the sports does not make it interesting.
You need to put some serious and intelligent effort into this.

,dave

[miamiheat40]

Im not being silly about this its my first time making a forum and I came here to get help. Be more specific on what I should add. Alot of sites advertised here are marketing sites mine is a sports site.

[ctabuk]

miamiheat - cool down - thank you

[davebarnes]

Originally Posted by miamiheat40

I came here to get help. Be more specific on what I should add.

1. Get some professional design help. I don't mean you have to hire someone, I do mean that you should find an artist who can create an "attractive" site.

2. Learn how to change the design template that came with your forum software. Integrate that forum into your new design.

3. Look at other sports sites and steal ideas. Sports Illustrated, Fox Sports, CNN, ESPN, etc.

[ran_dizolph]

I have been working on an issue similar to this with a client of mine. He wants a forum/chat room/comment board on a topic he feels strongly about, but has nothing in the way of content to work with.

You have to think of how you're going to get people there. Look at sites like webproworld;
they have people writing articles, valuable articles, with information people WANT. You need to get some content rolling before the traffic comes in.

You should (perhaps with the aid of some sports-fan friends of yours) start writing articles and posting them...make 'em as interesting as you can. Controversy can also be a big selling tool in your articles...get people talking about your site.

And like the others have said, ditch the graphic...it's brutal.

Hope this helps.

[miamiheat40]

Originally Posted by davebarnes

1. Get some professional design help. I don't mean you have to hire someone, I do mean that you should find an artist who can create an "attractive" site.

2. Learn how to change the design template that came with your forum software. Integrate that forum into your new design.

3. Look at other sports sites and steal ideas. Sports Illustrated, Fox Sports, CNN, ESPN, etc.

Thats what I'll do look at other sites and make something simillar to what they have thanks

[ArthurKay]

Wow... that's all I have to say.

Your homepage is like a gazillion miles long. You should try only listing the individual sports forums on your homepage (NBA, NFL, etc), not each team. Save those for the interior pages.

Also, your logo (or page header... whatever you want to call it) is WAY to big. If your browser doesn't open to a full screen (with a high resolution) you don't see the forum until you scroll down quite a bit. Either make this much smaller, or remove it completely.

Just my two cents.

[yougottakickalittle]

My first question is: "Why would anyone want to visit this site?"

My second question is: "Why did you create this site?"

There are thousands of forums out there for folks to talk sports. I have no reason to use yours and I'm not sure why anyone else would either. That's harsh, but honest. You have to give folks a reason to want to visit your site.

So why did you make the site? If you want to give people a place to talk sports, that's fine. But they have so many other options - options with clean, clear and compelling designs, lots of other users to chat with and a list of other benefits a mile long.

Are you trying to make money from this forum? If so, you're wasting your time. Monetizing a forum like this is pointless. You have to have a compelling product and a steady flow of traffic to make money. I don't see that here.

[miamiheat40]

I changed the background of my site and have sgrunk the logo a bit, Oh and why post at my site. Why post on any othere sites, just because they got big names like Fox or Pro Sports Daily.

[sformby]

A start, but you need to take the advice of others and revise this further. Good luck.

[miamiheat40]

Im still workin on it

[node-net]

At first i thought firefox was having a problem but then i realised that it was meant to look like that. Thank god i am a soccer man.

[miamiheat40]

what is that supposed to mean

[davebarnes]

What node-net meant is that "as a soccer (football) fan he has no reason to visit your website as it does not cover soccer". He is implying (and I am directly stating) that your site is ugly and somewhat non-functional.

[ran_dizolph]

okay, so aside from the obvious fact that there still really isn't any reason for anyone to join your forum, would you PLEASE do something with your header graphic.

It's ugly, and causes horizontal scrolling in my browser. No good.

Please find someone who has a bit of background in design to fix this for you. Just keep in mind that the maximum width a graphic should be is about 780 pixels in order to eliminate horizontal scrolling in most browsers.

[flsurfkarma]

Miami... let me show you a forum that was put together in about 10 minutes and looks 110% better

Frostproof High School Class of 1997 :: Index

This is actually for my high school reunion coming up.

If I were you I would go with some great colors, lose that HUGE banner and make something that looks very tasteful. Currently your forum just shows what not to do.

[Jeff Colburn]

What are you doing to promote the site?

Write sports articles and put them on free article sites, with a good resource box of course.

Put comments on other sports forums, again, with a good resource box.

Write a weekly, or monthly, sports article for your local or regional newspaper.

Do whatever you can to get your forum's name and link out there.

Have Fun,
Jeff