Tips for driving traffic to your community

A community without people isn't much of a community. There are many methods to help drive traffic to your website initially; here are a few tips and suggestions.

Friends and family

Once your website is ready to launch you'll need someone to pass on the word. The most popular websites ever—including Facebook, Twitter, HotOrNot, and countless others—got their first blast of traffic by sending out a single e-mail to all of their friends announcing their new website, and asking for their friends to tell others. In the case of Facebook, this single e-mail sent by Mark Zuckerberg turned into an incredible viral loop which is still going six years later. Create a compelling e-mail explaining your Community Purpose and send it to as many friends and family members as you can muster.

Social networks

Twitter and Facebook have become virtually a must-have resource for any website that's starting up. With a collective reach of over a billion users and with...