MEMBERS - HOW DO I GET THEM?????

Every group on DA has the same problem when they first start - how to get lots of MEMBERS? Of course some groups seem to naturally attract members quickly while others seem to attract few or none. WHY IS THIS SO?

In my experience, members will join a group which looks interesting and active (when it is in their field of interest) but they will shy away from groups that look dead, or badly managed, or slopppily set up. Even a brand new group with 1 or 2 members can become member-attractive quickly and here is how to do it...

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MAKE YOUR GROUP LOOK LIVED-IN

If your group looks empty with no content and no activity, are you REALLY surprised if people pass it by without joining?

here are some ESSENTIALS which you MUST have to make your group look more lived-in:

AVATAR
Get an AVATAR! Even a dodgey one is better than one at all! Groups with no avatar look boring and un-cared for. Avatars are your first form of advertising - they show people at a glance what your group is about, and how well-managed the group is (for instance, childishly drawn avatars give a childish impression of your group, super fantastic sexy avatars give a super fantastic sexy impression of your group... which would your group rather have?

We have some FREE AVATARS in our avatar gallery which you may use for your group. If none are suitable, then we also have a list of people willing to MAKE you a custom avatar or else you could get a friend (or yourself) to make one. Just make sure you GET ONE from somewhere.

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PROFILE CONTENT
You need to set your profile up with widgets relevant to what your group will be providing (ie: art, RP, fanfics or whatever).

Here is a list of widgets I always like to put on my groups:

Left hand side:

Blog (Optional, 1 only showing)
Gallery folder (featured)
Gallery List (folders)
Collection (Favourites)
Activity
Group Info

Right hand side:

Affiliates
Admins
Deviant Display (Members)
Newest Members

Things that should NOT be on the front profile:

Gallery contributors (put that in the gallery instead)
favourite Artists (put it in the gallery instead)
More than 1 blog type widget (Either have 1 blog OR recent blog entries but not both as too much text looks bad on the front profile)
Active Members (keep that for your own info on About Us or something, not on front profile)
Weekly/Monthly Stats (keep that for your own info on About Us or something, not on front profile)
Twitter - if you are not actually USING Twitter then this widget should be removed from the group
EMPTY widgets - if they are not being used and have no content, remove them until a later time when you need them

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SOME THINGS TO REMEMBER ABOUT PROFILE CONTENT

People are kind of lazy - because of this they do NOT want to read through novella sized lists of RULES or UPDATES on the front page. The front page should be like a SUMMARY of what your group offers to people. It should be interesting and attractive. Informative (of group content) without being too wordy or over-the-top.

Try to LIMIT the rules and text to a few paragraphs. If you have LONGER things you want to say, do it on a BLOG and put the RECENT BLOGS widget up with descriptive titles so people can tell what each blog is about. I like to put my summarised rules in the top of the ADMIN widget as it saves the custom widget for use elsewhere.

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GALLERY CONTENT

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FAVES CONTENT

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AFFILIATE WITH OTHER GROUPS
It is IMPORTANT to affiliate with other groups as it is another form of ADVERTISING for your group. people will see your groupp AVATAR when they visit your affiliates and if the avatar is interesting, they will come and visit your group to check it out.




******* STILL IN PROGRESS. wILL UPDATE AFTER DINNER TIME!