How do we get more people coming onto this site?

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LIONS then DAYLIGHT

LIONS then DAYLIGHT

Banned
How do we get more people coming onto this site?

Obviously compared to the bigfooty "cricket board" this site is lacking in the traffic department. Problem is the cricket discussion on BF is crap - the end result of a number of factors.

In no particular order

a) Over-officious moderating
b) The intrusion of a lot of "part-timers" who only know the basics about cricket
c) Posters who get frustated when Australia doesn't win and as such they call for over-the-top changes and selections.

In saying that this site still needs more users to regularly post, this in turn will attract more users.

How is the advertising for this site going? We have to think outside the square?

Maybe some of us could organise some forum raids on the BF cricket board?

Fact is this site has been around now for some time and yet the posting rate is severly lacking.
 
Re: How do we get more people coming onto this site?

First off, this site is BigCricket and not BigFooty. I'd rather we keep the BigFooty talk to BF and not here. I know you're angry with the way the board works over there but I'd rather you keep it to PM's rather than vent on here.

Secondly, BigCricket is an international based cricketing discussion forum so we are after a wide range of posters from different countries and not just posters from Australia. While recruiting some posters from BF's cricket board would be a good idea, most have already given the indication that they are unwilling to leave that site to come here plus there's the added fact that 99% are from Australia and we are trying to get away from most of our posters coming from there.

At the current time, we are working on a few things in the hope of bringing more posters to the site. We already get a fair number of visitors already but most seem content to discuss local cricket rather than first-class, List A or international cricket however that has been changing as our country and international boards have been getting more traffic and posts.

As well as our own advertising you are most welcome to do your own. Word of Mouth is a very, very effective way of advertising on the internet so if you feel that way inclined, you can spread the word about BigCricket. We are slowly getting more traffic though, interest is up at the moment compared to this time last year. People are beginning to realise that this site is very good for cricket discussion compared to many other sites. @|

By the way, doing a forum raid is not a good idea LtD. I don't think you'll win many friends over there and the likely result will be you copping a lengthy ban.
 
Re: How do we get more people coming onto this site?

Agree with Ljp86 with regards to the criticism of Big Footy. Whilst we may be 'sister' sites that is as far as it goes. If you have an issue with something over there, then talk to the guys who run it.

We advertise when needed but at the moment things are quiet, mainly because of the nature of the board and the demographic of the regular members. We are trying to broaden the user base but it takes time.
 
Re: How do we get more people coming onto this site?

Hello boys and girls
these are my thoughts. Whether they help or hinder is up to interpretation.
There always seems to be a lot of guests viewing but not a lot posting. Many would be loathe to post at the expense of ridicule maybe or just happy to be an onlooker. I personally think that if you dont post on a reasonably regular basis then you are not offering this site a lot. Encourage people to post. Maybe have TOP SITES staring you in the face when you log onto BC. This may encourage competions to compete against each other. Maybe on a quarterly basis. There aint enough people posting on local cricet sites to keep it interesting. Most times you will log on and maybe read 1 or 2 posts. You then either reply or move on. Word of mouth can only expand new members to these sites. I personally have been rejuvenated, thanks to The Wizz by getting involved in the Fantasy Cricket League. This keeps me on line longer because it is somewhat interesting. I do think it can be revamped somewhat though. 1 test & 1 one dayer is just not enough per week. Double that, double the teams and more simmers would be fantastic. As we know they only take 2 or 3 minutes to read and thats it for another 24 hours. I'm certain The Wizz and I could arrange a team through the DVCA website. Breeno could get a Jika team up and running. Word of mouth and a little bit of fun I believe people would jump on. I would put my hand up to moderate and sim if need be as would The Wizz. That would not be a problem.
Yes this mainly involves Australians cant help that. I personally am not interested in the talk back rooms like spin bowling and fitness etc but that doesnt mean anything. I get frustrated reading 3 page essays from the keyboard wizzes that dont make too much sense and are far too much politically correct. Sometimes more is not so great. Lots of garbage on here from adolescents that shouldnt even reach publication. I dont believe anyone should start their own thread until they reach 300 post at least. I also find it amusing that posters are racking up their numbers on sites like "whoever posts next wins". I'm not sure if that is the exact thread but very similar. I think is is too accessible for time wasters and hecklers to be involved so maybe we can make it a little bit more elite by making people post more often. Once they start posting more often I think they tend to settle down. Villian to good guy sort of thing.
Thanks. Cold Case.
 
Re: How do we get more people coming onto this site?

A large percentage of the guests will be 'bots', whether from the various search engines or from other sources.
 
Re: How do we get more people coming onto this site?

I will also try to address your other points:

Local cricket - you're correct in thinking that currently the potential pool of 'members' is small but that is largely due to the fact that a large percentage of the club section is located in one area of Australia (Victoria). This is a hangover from Big Footy.

How do we address it? Well, the logical answer is to push out into other states around Australia and ultimately, world wide. This is the long term aim but at the moment there are still a number of problems (mainly things like sock accounts) with regards to the local boards that need to be ironed out before looking to expand. It would also need a 'man on the ground' which I simply can't at the moment, well, not in Australia anyway.

For the time being, a 'Top Site' competition may be an idea but it would only truly work if there was an incentive on offer. The question is, can we attract an individual/organisation to offer that incentive?

Fantasy area - sure these add value to the site and have the desired effect in keeping people online. However, it does require a certain amount of effort to run and keep going. We've tried to expand the competition in the past only to have it fall to pieces, this has included having sides from each of the main competitions but you need to have dedicated members to make it work.

In terms of the number of games, again this is mainly down to the number of people willing to actually sim them. If more people volunteer then I see no reason why the number can't increase but it does need people who are in for the long term (a season at least).

The 'back room' talk area offer massive potential for the site but they have admittedly been allowed to drift somewhat. Although you may see little point in them, they attract fresh meat to the site and from a wide catchment than the local club scene. This is the type of member that will grow the site and help to promote it to a wider audience.

As for the game areas (or however you want to term them) and post counts, personally, I don't see an issue. Post count signifies nothing of any great importance, if you got there with 50% truly great posts or 75% crap posts, what does it matter?

There is a 'reputation' system which if used correctly is a great way to denote those who generally post stuff worth reading, as opposed to those that post dross.
 
Re: How do we get more people coming onto this site?

Although BC is still relatively small I think it is a great positive that in the last year or so we now seem to have developed a loyal 'core' of about 20 or so regular posters.

Getting more non-Australian posters has to be the aim for the site's future.
 
Re: How do we get more people coming onto this site?

Yeah your mate Cold Case here needs to watch what he says, maybe he's a phenomenally good cricket player and has been for many years, but many of us on here are learners including me and I enjoy writing on here rather than sitting watching the crap that's on TV in the UK. This site and the thread that I write on regularly serves a genuine purpose in that not only do I learn from it myself, but the feedback we get on the threads suggests that the people that contribute and discuss their progress learn from it as well, so comments like -

"I personally am not interested in the talk back rooms like spin bowling and fitness etc but that doesnt mean anything. I get frustrated reading 3 page essays from the keyboard wizzes that dont make too much sense and are far too much politically correct".

God knows what he means by saying the threads are poltically correct, or is that suggesting when some 14 year kid says he can't do something we all turn round and call him a ******** instead of making suggestions as to what he might do?

I personally promote this site on a regular basis on my blogs elsewhere and if you search for more or less anything relating to Wrist Spin bowling using Google the thread that I patronise, it generally comes up in the first 10-20 options. So matey boy there needs to watch what he says because I'm pretty sure I get you a fair bit of traffic.
 
Re: How do we get more people coming onto this site?

For instance at the minute there's 4 people on-line. 3 Blokes that contribute to the wrist spin thread and Mas. Your newest member - I think he may have joined in order to contribute to the Wrist Spin thread, maybe you could ask him?
 
Re: How do we get more people coming onto this site?

I think the thread you started and continue to contribute to is a classic example of what the coaching area can and does add to the site. The more we have, then the wider the range of people we'll bring in.

Hopefully, the coaching side of things will be getting as boost very shortly, just need to cross the 't's and dot the 'i's on a new feature.
 
Re: How do we get more people coming onto this site?

Well, I don't want to say too much as it's been a long hard slog to get it far as it is now, but hopefully it will happen.
 
Re: How do we get more people coming onto this site?

someblokecalleddave;359564 said:
Yeah your mate Cold Case here needs to watch what he says, maybe he's a phenomenally good cricket player and has been for many years, but many of us on here are learners including me and I enjoy writing on here rather than sitting watching the crap that's on TV in the UK. This site and the thread that I write on regularly serves a genuine purpose in that not only do I learn from it myself, but the feedback we get on the threads suggests that the people that contribute and discuss their progress learn from it as well, so comments like -

"I personally am not interested in the talk back rooms like spin bowling and fitness etc but that doesnt mean anything. I get frustrated reading 3 page essays from the keyboard wizzes that dont make too much sense and are far too much politically correct".

God knows what he means by saying the threads are poltically correct, or is that suggesting when some 14 year kid says he can't do something we all turn round and call him a ******** instead of making suggestions as to what he might do?

I personally promote this site on a regular basis on my blogs elsewhere and if you search for more or less anything relating to Wrist Spin bowling using Google the thread that I patronise, it generally comes up in the first 10-20 options. So matey boy there needs to watch what he says because I'm pretty sure I get you a fair bit of traffic.
Click to expand...

If these specialist sites help individuals in any way that I am fully for it. As I said in my freedom that I dont personally find these interesting. I am at the other end of the age scale at 40 and do find some feedback quite questionable. I would suggest to the youngsters learning the game out there to listen to all your coaches. Ask your parents for advice regarding injuries and then seek the appropriate help. I would urge young cricketers to find their own style and what they are comfortable with, whether it be a batsman or bowler. From this base players can finely tune their unique skill by various coaching and training methods. A most helpful hint would be to pick the brains out of good players you know of. Ask them how they do this, how they do that, what would they do in this circumstance. Take all of this information on board and at your own discretion.
 
Re: How do we get more people coming onto this site?

Yep, I fully agree with this, but do you think here in the UK there's anyone that knows anything about Wrist Spinning at club level. Mate it just aint happening, I'm in a club that loves a bit of spin and they're generally very supportive of anyone giving it a go, but their knowledge and understanding beyond bowling a Leg break and a Top Spinner is absolutely minimal. Being able to bowl and teaching people to bowl is also two different Kettles of fish. The other thing is even if they could teach it, it strikes me that most of them are really cagey about passing the knowledge on as well, so I reckon the forums have their place in this respect. But your other points yeah - if you can get someone who knows what they're talking about to teach you how to do it go for it.
 
Re: How do we get more people coming onto this site?

someblokecalleddave;359729 said:
Yep, I fully agree with this, but do you think here in the UK there's anyone that knows anything about Wrist Spinning at club level. Mate it just aint happening, I'm in a club that loves a bit of spin and they're generally very supportive of anyone giving it a go, but their knowledge and understanding beyond bowling a Leg break and a Top Spinner is absolutely minimal. Being able to bowl and teaching people to bowl is also two different Kettles of fish. The other thing is even if they could teach it, it strikes me that most of them are really cagey about passing the knowledge on as well, so I reckon the forums have their place in this respect. But your other points yeah - if you can get someone who knows what they're talking about to teach you how to do it go for it.
Click to expand...

Like the old Italian concreter. Who will never pass his knowledge onto no one at the chance of costing him money.
I on the other hand love to pass on hints of my craft but there just aint enough kids or adult players wanting to learn. They obviously know it all or just not interested in furthering their repetoire.
 
Re: How do we get more people coming onto this site?

one criticism i have with the site is the international cricket sub forum, there are some very good threads in there and they are often removed off the main page by some unimportant cricket news, surely cricket news should have its own sub forum IMO, and just call it cricket headlines, i think people are getting confused about what should and should'nt be posted in that sub forum.
 
Re: How do we get more people coming onto this site?

The site as a whole is currently being looked at, from the basic design to the layout of the forums and sub forums.

Changes will be made in due course, hopefully just before the start of the Australian domestic season.
 
Re: How do we get more people coming onto this site?

There also seem to be a heap of posters who post in the club cricket bit of the forum but never post in the International board or the Australian board to talk about international cricket?

It seems a bit odd.
 
Re: How do we get more people coming onto this site?

LIONS then DAYLIGHT;389026 said:
There also seem to be a heap of posters who post in the club cricket bit of the forum but never post in the International board or the Australian board to talk about international cricket?

It seems a bit odd.
Click to expand...

Personally that's what I think is great about the site. You don't have to come to the site to join into the international section, maybe you just want to talk about how your club and other clubs went locally, and then pop over onto the hints and tips section to receive some great coaching to help you move on.

I have been reading BC posts for almost 3 years now, and it's only been a year since I have actually signed up, before then I didn't bother because I didn't think it worthwhile. This site has come along in leap and bounds and I hope it continues to do so. I believe this is the best site on the web for cricket.

More outside of Australia users is the only thing really.
 
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