Ideas to increase activity

[L_I_S]

I never implied you did. But that's what it's becoming and I've already pointed out why that's going to bring the forum down further. I don't know how many other forums you're on but when the forum becomes a place to dump a link to your work/video or whatever, people stop visiting and just go straight to the source(in our case it would be YT and networking sites) which will always win over a forum.

[Royal Freakiness]

We should make many bf/forum ads and share it with others
advertise this forum
"wanna learn how to fs? don't be a b**** and register NOW. check out the freestyle help section..."
I think many bf/forum videos might help.
Maybe fser of the month, of someone could make a montage of the best tricks in a month
and then at the end advertise this forum
I still believe the best way to go is more activity on the fs sections
in time, the other parts will improve

[Adi]

I agree with both of you.

L_I_S, the key to a successful forum is good content as you put it.  I totally agree.

Royal, yes, we need to promote the forum but we need to throw EVERYTHING at it all at once. First, everyone must pull together and post on here A LOT for about a week or two.  During these two weeks, I can send a mass email to all registered forum and social network members.  I can also advertise on our FB page.  We can ask others to advertise the forum too.  However, the activity has to be high on here when we do this so the place looks busy.  The new people that show up for the first time or for the first time in months/years should be impressed and be inclined to register/post.

I would also like to have something new on the front page as well so we can push people here for two purposes. 

I think we need to decide what we're doing with the front page.  Do we want to make bf.com the center for freestyle comps?  If so, what's the best way to do it.  We can have 3 permanent judges who judge the main comps, but we can also have small comps like best trick of the week, or best video of the week, which would be judged through votes and a poll.

[Adi]

First change... redsforlife is joining our admin team since he's been really involved for a while now.  Now his username shows up in lovely green. Yen is still in his same position and I'd like for both of them to work together.  Yen is tied up right now so he doesn't have much time but hopefully we'll see him around more often.  He's given me a heads up so I'm aware of his situation right now.

[Adi]

Change #2 - guests can now read topics as well. We used to prevent them from doing so and in turn also blocked search engines from viewing threads and listing our topics in search engines.  Now everyone can read our topics.  If people like what they see, they will register and post.

Making the place more open and friendly.  Less restriction will hopefully bring more eyes and eventually posts.

[redsforlife]

Change #2 - guests can now read topics as well. We used to prevent them from doing so and in turn also blocked search engines from viewing threads and listing our topics in search engines.  Now everyone can read our topics.  If people like what they see, they will register and post.

Making the place more open and friendly.  Less restriction will hopefully bring more eyes and eventually posts.

That's actually probably a good thing. The only other forum I post on, Sherdog, I actually found out about it through reading through threads that came up in google searches. This will help us out too. If I became interested enough in a forum to join it that way, someone will do the same for BF. Now, we just need more interesting topics.

[Royal Freakiness]

I have a GREAT idea for advertising! Once we make a lovely promo video, we could share it on youtube channels like
http://www.youtube.com/user/Copa90football
www.youtube.com/user/kick

we could also ask those famous fsers who are registered like Skora, Gautier, Azun and appear on here once in a while or even once in a blue moon to promote our forum. One combo is enough.

[redsforlife]

I have a GREAT idea for advertising! Once we make a lovely promo video, we could share it on youtube channels like
http://www.youtube.com/user/Copa90football
www.youtube.com/user/kick

we could also ask those famous fsers who are registered like Skora, Gautier, Azun and appear on here once in a while or even once in a blue moon to promote our forum. One combo is enough.

We need someone that is particularly good at editing and producing videos, maybe even being the voice of BF to run the Official Youtube account. There needs to be regular videos, so people will want to subscribe and see the name regularly. If anyone is interested, PM me samples of your videos and some ideas you would like. I am going to judge on quality and will review with Adi and Yen whether they agree.

[Adi]

Royal, how would sharing it with those channels work?  Would they upload or link to our video or something?

You are great with Youtube.  You should get involved with our channel and maybe head those efforts?

[redsforlife]

Royal, how would sharing it with those channels work?  Would they upload or link to our video or something?

You are great with Youtube.  You should get involved with our channel and maybe head those efforts?

I know KickTV spot lights particular things on youtube, but I don't have a clue how to get involved ourselves. That STR Skillschool guy has apparently been spotlighted on both, and I think it has to do with connections. He's terrible at both  football and freestyle. lol

I think getting on that will be quite difficult, and it may even be impossible. Focusing on our own channel is probably the best thing we could do. Also, lets get interviews of famous, controversial, and other types of freestylers within the community. Give people something to watch and talk about.

[Royal Freakiness]

Royal, how would sharing it with those channels work?  Would they upload or link to our video or something?

You are great with Youtube.  You should get involved with our channel and maybe head those efforts?

When tokura won red bull street style they showed a little of the highlights and an interview with edgar davids about fs
Also, Lotar and Edek's (SoccerArtTeam) video of random skills and fs was shared on one of their weekly videos showcasing random stuff about football around the world
Arsenal Christmas Obstacle Course & the Indestructible Soccer Ball - The Whip
I thought we might get a spot on that video in particular
That's if it's a really well made promo

Also, about joining the BF youtube channel team, I'll really have to see if I can do it. Can you mention some of the stuff you need me to do for the youtube channel?
Because right now I'm really busy, and starting next week I'm having a second job too... so i'll be extra busy
I really come on beyondfootball to relax my mind, and that's about it. I love fs, and discussions related to them, that's why I love beyondfootball and I really want it to succeed and see a lot of activity on here. I'm not so sure about adding more load on my head really.

[Adi]

Yeah, totally understand.  You've contributed a lot to the community already so thanks for that.  I understand if you're busy and can't take it on.

As far as what we're looking for, I'm not 100% sure.  Maybe Jason can provide some details since he's the only one looking out for the channel so far.

I think you know the scene better than most of us and we'd be more than happy to let you get creative with it.  Let us know if you have any ideas.

I think a helpful thing would be to post interesting, funny comments on other people's videos, then get others to Like it so we show up at the top.  It's somewhat Blackhat, but maybe we can use all our accounts and like a comment made by BeyondFootball that says something like "oh man so many noob comments on here. talk with real freestylers and watch real freestyle at beyondfootball.com/forum."  Of course not exactly that, but something fun and catchy.  Then we can like it with our separate accounts and get it up there for people to see.

We can also send private messages to people on Youtube letting them know about BF.  For example, "hey man, noticed your freestyle comment on X video. you should check out beyondfootball if you haven't yet. we got lots of freestylers there."

I think doing the dirty work like this and really telling people about the site would help the most.