Originally Posted by jon

I’m going to jump back into this thread I think. In reply to your “ if you were the owner of DiscussBiz what would you change / do differently than what we're doing now?” comment…

Like already mentioned, I would pay someone to design a really nice new skin. I would stay well away from the bland, stock-photography, cliché layouts that you see all over the place and go for something completely different. Bright colors, big fonts give it a unique style. I would try and make the forum appear more “fun and friendly” rather than corporate and business-like but at the same time make sure the site doesn’t loose its professionalism.

I would completely drop all of the adverts on the website in the first few months. For the few cents you will be making on them they are pretty pointless. I would only add adverts to the website when its got a solid user base and is getting a decent amount of traffic. I would also try and find another way to make money out of the site, forums are notoriously bad money makers when it comes to adsense and other PPC banners. Offer a premium membership upgrade with added features and the like.

Buy a copy of vbulletin and port the posts over.

I was going to rant on for longer but I need to head out now. That should get you started though.

Oh, and talkfreelance was designed by Tarun Hari, you can view his portfolio at vbcustom.com.

The best thing to do is not look at it as if you want members... get solid FRIENDS to join.. They will get there friends who get there friends.. Get people who want to be there.. to be there... then in no time you will notice others joining etc..etc...

3 years later... big well known forum