What is the best way to get people to a forum?

alot of ppl including me want to know techniques to jumpstart a forum. I guess I could invite some friends to get the ball rolling, and can pay a little amount for some legit people to post for me! but are there any other ways

thanks!

Try to run some sort of interesting contest where users can participate and can win cash or other gifts. This will encourage users to join.

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I sent an email to 300 people with the sites URL

If your struggling just out the URL in your signature of sites

Provide some incentive to the users to join and participate in your forum like pay per post etc, (Untill your forums get momentum.)

i think the best way is to go to other forums because you know that these people are really forum posters and do offer some remuneration for their efforts

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There are great active forums around, you need to spell out what is special and unique about your forum. If it's attached to your site, then use the site to encourage feedback and discussion; eventually, the forum will generate its own.
Also, avoid pop-ups, flash, or ANYTHING that might put off potential visitors; start simple and clean, then you can develop as you wish, once you've generated an atmosphere and content that's worth visiting.

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post in other forum about yours.
probably your best chance

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when i first started my forum i made 100 topics myself and 200 posts (about 1 more post per topic i made)
This kick started the forum but was very boring and annoying to do...
However then i released the site and put it on banner exchanges and put in the header that i was offering $5 to the person who posts the most... (ran that for one month) and word spread
i only paid the $5 out to one member but still loads of users carried on posting.. i kept posting 5 topics a week or more and then after about 2 months of running it i was at the stage to not do any posting myself of content unless i really wanted to...
now i just focus on marketing and keep the users updated