How can we get new people to join and old to come back?

Hey I think we can all notice how quiet things have been since the start of May. Now it is June 8th and it is still pretty quiet.
This is not good.

I am out of ideas on how to expand. I am no longer on MO (I refuse to go back because I'd just cause drama due to all the people I hate there) so I can not keep spreading the word there. I have tried on my facebook page several times. I have had a link in my skype status. I have posted the link to here on my own dead website (who's activity only comes from me since its my home page on my firefox)
I have asked close friends but they are just too stubborn.
I'm getting to a point where I think I need to settle on the fact I need to look around on other sites and make a presence there JUST to "advertise" us and maybe get myself a T-shirt made for me to wear around town of the banner.

We've already put in money for this site. We've bought the domain name and got rid of pesky ads. (thank Saint and Monja) and even put up a Minecraft server. I don't want to see that wasted.

So; I request to YOU the Members of Blargaria to figure out ways to expand and do what you can to make it a reality.

I think it really needs to be a group effort, for sure. If any of us want this thing to become more than what it currently is, it's important that we spread the word, not only within our social groups, but on other websites and social media as well. Perhaps things like a Steam group would also help to draw people in, by having  the most affiliations/advertising we can think of. There are a lot of free and easy ways to spread the word; the issue getting people to listen. Places like MO are somewhat niche; places like this, that branched off from something niche like that, require special care.

If we do focus in on niche sites, forums, and other groups that people are members of, we may be able to draw in some more people.

HOWEVER, we're missing something major: a hook.
What do we have that can draw people in, and keep them coming back? What do we have that makes us unique? MO is billed as a place for otaku to meet others like themselves. Blargaria isn't particularly obvious in what our goal is, and people hearing the name might be confused. So, like a site such as "eBaumsworld" (lolololololol) where the name has nothing to do with what it is, we need to come up with a means of making people want to join, stay, and bring in new members of their own.

If we can come up with something like that, we'll be golden. Things like the Minecraft server are great to keep people here, but, for bringing them in... not so much.

I wouldnt go the route of paid advertising, myself, as that can backfire as a lost cause wherein money burns with little to nil effect. Come up with a hook, spread the word within our inner circles, and expand naturally to the point where we can become self-sustaining, is a good goal to work for, I say.

...perhaps creating media content to drive people to the site? How about we get members Vlogging, or posting Let's Play's, with URLs and redirects to here~? Maybe even anime/manga/cartoon/movie/TV/book reviews; anything~! That sort of thing can at least peak curiousity about Blargaria in those already peaked in curiousity about the video they're watching. If we do an en masse social media, forum, gaming group, youtube blitz of content, as a means of free advertising, as well as a way to get everyone involved and build the site, then it could also double as a means of sticking around, as the site grows further. Things like "Steam game rewards" or some such could also come into effect, based on views, likeability, a referral program, or something similar.

These are just a few ideas, but I can't see how we could possibly going wrong in doing something as such. The more exposure we put out, the better, and the more people advocating for Blargaria and representing it, the merrier the potential for increased numbers will become~

I personally can't do the paid advertising since I have barely enough money to buy a gallon of milk a week right now.

HOWEVER I have been thinking of doing a let's play/theory/review channel up on Youtube. Mostly for the fun of it. Only problem is I don't play a lot of new games (mixed reasons being no personal interest in new games and having no money for new games. last "new" game I bought as Xenoverse back in February)

I can certainly do mentions to BG on that channel but I will be building up from zero reputation. I barely had one when AMVs and GMVs were all the rage 7 years ago when I was into that thing.

I was going to go ahead and make a twitter and maybe tumblr accounts and try to make friends there. I can try going to a couple forums I'm randomly signed up to but don't actually do anything on. Doubt I'll make any real progress there since again; zero reputation.

We can't do anything for the actual name of the forum now. We're too late for that. We settled on this name since every name we came up was already taken.

I am not great at coming up with ideas on how to hook people into things and none of my really close friends seem to have that gift either. So that part I would like help on.

I don't have dreams of making BG into something huge like DeviantArt or something. That'd be too big for me to handle.

I am trying to think of a good name for myself for Youtube though. I was thinking "The Geek Overthinker".

What is happening? Am I missing something, I know I haven't been on in a while but what's this? Something to make new people and old people join in and make em stay?

That minecraft server is good for making them stay, if they have minecraft (i don't have one). Um what about playing some MMO's like making a clan and stuff where we can stay in touch and still get new people like (Dragon Nest, Runescape, KUF2, blah bla bla.) Or you know , give out cookies to everyone?

I don't object to the MMO idea except I don't really play them. The only "two" I play are Star Trek Online (which I've learned no one here plays) and Dragon Ball Xenoverse which isn't much of one.

As for STO I DID rename my fleet (which is basically a guild) from Neon Pixel Squadron (a fleet between me and my close friends who all stopped playing) to Blargaria's Fleet.

As for why; its because I've noticed (as well as some others) that some of the first members have just stopped coming. Some like Voca and Key have actually left without saying anything else besides that they were leaving.
This whole thread could just be premature worrying since June did just start, finals got over, the high school year is getting over (seniors should have graduated by now since I recall my family throwing me and my friends a grad party on June 6th 2009)

maybe people will come back and I'm just worrying for nothing.

I've promote this site to my friends on Facebook, twitter, and other social media.

~i just thinking about to get more new users~

make accounts and groups on websites!
facebook, youtube, game websites!! randomly add people and allur them to the idea of blargaria!
same with drama webpages tho they tend to be very constricted. if they see advertising they might really aswell instantly block ur user....
there are many ways, also possible to do it payed ofcourse.... but idk how much this would cost.. nor how efficient it would be really?

I concur with what's being said.

We lack the hook that will make people come and stay.
It's easy to say that we're nice and all, but people are quick to make first impression.

Without something memorable, we won't be seeing much clientèle.

What exactly should that hook be though, you've got to think this through...

Alright I will elaborate on some of my ideas, the mo aspect could bring some people in but I feel we will need more then that,

What we need is something that also draws people in as well before they even come to the site so to speak.
Maiotaku does not have to worry about this really being a dating site it gets people on there by fueling them with the hopes of finding somebody.

We on the otherhand will need to have something like that so I will list a few ideas and some more as we discuss some of them,

Firstly A tinychat group would increase activity or at least reasons for somebody to stay rather then just one Skype group we would have a more personal chat which could be used.

I am pretty sure this is free as well although I am willing to pay out of pocket if it is not, but either way it would draw some activity at the very least.

Secondly we should have a google group as well along with that perhaps a few members could volunteer on listing the latest news for games and anime or any fandom that we want to, we of course would be overshadowed by other news sites but it would provide members another reason to stay on here since they could find out the updates on this site.
If anybody here has journalist experience that would be very nice,

Thirdly we should net some activity with other sites such as cosplay.com and deviantart for the more creative side here,

People with deviantart accounts and whatnot if possible could create a group on there, along with making a cosplay group if we have enough cosplayers on the site as well with cosplay.com

Besides that I feel if we could implement the ability to upload art and whatnot under our profile that might give people a little extra to stay here as well.

Right now Maiotaku has the ability to upload multiple pics and give your profile some basic changes like we do minus the pic part, if we could add to that by having a ability similar to deviantart except more basic then it would give more reason to  come here due to better personalization on profiles. This one may be costly though with adding those kinds of features.

These are all just ideas mind you so take them as you will,
These however are not main hooks just helpers to gain more audience that at least stay on,

As for main hooks I will list some soon,

Colress wrote:Firstly A tinychat group would increase activity or at least reasons for somebody to stay rather then just one Skype group we would have a more personal chat which could be used.

I am pretty sure this is free as well although I am willing to pay out of pocket if it is not, but either way it would draw some activity at the very least.

We already have this. That green block in the bottom left corner of the page (on desktop or laptop web browsers. Bottom of the page on mobile devices if not looking at the site in mobile version. Mobile version lacks it.) is our chat provided by chatango. It DOES work but not many people come on it and its usually dead. I have no experience with Tinychat but if I recall its 18+ only which shaves off like half of our user base. Chatango's main downside is that it requires signing up to.

Also we have a music player but there hasn't been any new requests for the playlist in a long time. We currently have 123 songs.

Colress wrote: Secondly we should have a google group as well along with that perhaps a few members could volunteer on listing the latest news for games and anime or any fandom that we want to, we of course would be overshadowed by other news sites but it would provide members another reason to stay on here since they could find out the updates on this site.
If anybody here has journalist experience that would be very nice,

I have heard of this "google group" you speak of but I have no friggin clue what it is.
I have no problem with the whole latest news and stuff but I personally wouldn't be able to back that one up. After the 4th of July I'm gonna need to get more hours or a second job in order to friggin survive which means I'll be even less available (meaning we need another moderator or two)

Colress wrote:Thirdly we should net some activity with other sites such as cosplay.com and deviantart for the more creative side here,

People with deviantart accounts and whatnot if possible could create a group on there, along with making a cosplay group if we have enough cosplayers on the site as well with cosplay.com

I actually HAVE a DA account (look for the Deviant Art thread under Art and Written works) but I haven't done shit on there in years. I CAN do something over on my Fanfiction.net account provided I get back to writing. (I'll mention it in my most popular fanfiction story: "The Unwalked Path" as well as my own profile page)

Colress wrote:Besides that I feel if we could implement the ability to upload art and whatnot under our profile that might give people a little extra to stay here as well.

Right now Maiotaku has the ability to upload multiple pics and give your profile some basic changes like we do minus the pic part, if we could add to that by having a ability similar to deviantart except more basic then it would give more reason to  come here due to better personalization on profiles. This one may be costly though with adding those kinds of features.

These are all just ideas mind you so take them as you will,
These however are not main hooks just helpers to gain more audience that at least stay on,

this however we can't do; at least in regards to changing the site. I WISH I could implement something like that but its basically stuck like this. I wish I could change it but I can't. I think there is something about a "gallery" in the admin panel that I can enable but I have no idea of its capabilities. I can tell right now its not for any one profile but it is something. We shall play with it.

Colress wrote:As for main hooks I will list some soon,

Please do.

I have a DA account. Also thinking about giving out fliers during the next con.

I'm back. Sorta. Life and stuff.