How to increase traffic to forum?

[Xee]

Hi all. I help run the forum at www.bearsfansonline.com and really want to see if there any ways to increase traffic. We started with a core group of posters in 2009 and since then have only added one active user. I'm worried if we don't bring in some fresh faces, my core users will start to leave.

That being said, does anyone have ideas how to go about doing this? We've tried holding contests but they haven't resulted in any new sign-ups. Don't really know what else we can do. I'd greatly appreciate any tips, suggestions, etc. Thanks in advance.

[RyanKent]

There is a basic SEO rule: content should only be available via a single URL on your website. There are some legitimate reasons to break that rule. If that happens, you need to take additional action such as use the canonical tag to identify the primary page.

Your home page situation is NOT a legitimate reason to break that rule. It's poor web design. It needs to be fixed. OSE is doing its job correctly. OSE is calling your attention to a SEO issue which requires your attention.

SOLUTION: Remove all references to the /index.php page on your site and replace them with the / page. Also add a 301 redirect from the index.php page to the / page so anyone who bookmarked or linked to the /index.php page is seamlessly taken to your home page.

[Xee]

Well, I've posted on a variety of forums on how to address this issue yet haven't gotten any responses. I'm not sure why OSE shows two different results as /index.php is the landing page for both URL's. /phpBB3/index.php is the absolute path and www.bearsfansonline.com forwards to that page as well.

[RyanKent]

You have a duplicate URL issue.

Your home page and the /phpBB3/index.php offer the same content. This is an SEO issue which needs to be fixed.

In order to implement best SEO practices into your site, it begins with solid website architecture. I have not used phpBB in a long time. I would suggest to check their official site for an add-on or extension which takes care of SEO issues.

[Xee]

Thanks the quick reply. We have a tumblr and twitter account which we link to on our forum main page (we deleted our facebook account). Regarding competing sites, I'll be sure to see if they're actively doing to attract members.

One question on a little tangent though. My current campaign is for "www.bearsfansonline.com" but when I went to OSE I saw that the page "http://www.bearsfansonline.com/phpBB3/index.php" got a much higher score (it's the landing page). Should I be making a campaign for the page instead? I'm not really sure what to do with this information.

[Francisco_Meza]

I like the idea of finding fans of other local teams. I am a San Diego Padres fan. I like sports so when baseball is not in season, football is. I think the chances of a sports fan liking more than one sport is quite high.

[RyanKent]

There are tons of ideas you can implement. A few suggestions:

• visit similar sites for other teams and see what they are doing to attract members. Copy the good things, leave the bad.

• visit other Chicago Bear sites and look for ideas the same as above.

• network with other Chicago sites such as other sports teams (Bulls, WhiteSox, etc)

• start conversations which people would find interesting. "Should the Bears fire their head coach?", "2012 Chicago Bears draft choices", etc.

• interact with others who talk about the bears on Facebook, Twitter, blogs and other sources. Let the world know your site exists.

• add social networking to your site. Allow users to log in with their social accounts.

These ideas are just a start. There are dozens of ideas.

Of course, it would help if this was football season. It would also help if the Bears had a better season