Just launched My site:

I just launched my new forum 3 days ago (www.talklounge.net) its a general forum with 700+ posts after the first 3 days, I was just wondering if anyone here had any suggestions on advertising, or gaining members? We want more active posters, and what not, what sites and things do you suggest I do to get it more active?

Get a better skin.

It wasnt my decisiion, it was my partners, so Thats not an option :\

Well you just said it was your ''partners'' which means you both/all have a say in this matter. I agree, change the skin.

Make some banner advertisements for it, and then trade links or buy ad spots.

Write 2/3 paragraphs on what it is about and post it on various forums.

Generate meta tags.

Trade text links.

I would like to make a suggestion that you allow people to read the forums without signing up.

I personally would not want to join a forum unless I could see what sort of thing was being discussed. Plus, people are more likely to want to join and post if there is something that they are able to read and have an opinion on.

EDIT:

A few other things. Are you going to have a main site, or is it just the forums?

Why not get a few affilaite buttons together and let people affiliate freely with you? Maybe make a sticky about it on one of the main forums?

Provide people with codes to use in their signatures which has you banner on it. (Make sure tha banner is relatively small, and you host it!)

Definately get a new skin.

Which skin would you all suggest us getting?

Originally Posted by BrokenFaith Which skin would you all suggest us getting?

Get one custom made.

Sort out the current design on the site. If it's a premade one, get a custom one designed, because using a template does not make you look very serious as a forum.

As for gaining members, try to post competitions or such, something to get non-registered readers interested enough to register, and get those non-readers through advertisements on other forums of similar genre to make sure you attract the right sort of visitors.

1) Get rid of your partner.

2) Identify your audience.

3) Get a custom skin.

At the moment you have a "techy" looking skin that i've seen everywhere and totally doesn't fit the niche of the site. No one will bother joining in it's current state. Also, consider opening with just a few forum categories, it looks very bare with so many forums and so few posts.

Be creative. Think about how you're going to attract members, why would they even want to join your site? Think how many hundreds of general chat forums there are out there! You need to come up with something unique you can offer. If you think forums are easy, think again....it's alot more than just buying a vb license and whacking a skin on.