Do You Know "The Secret" To Attract Users To Your Discussions?

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Actually there are several secrets, and I will spill the beans on what I know in this discussion. I'll start from the top and work my way down. The first place I start is with "my interests". If you visit the link for my personal interests... http://mylot.com/highlyclever/lists (You can insert your own username in place of "highlyclever" to see how these interests are ranked on your own account...) you will see my personal interests ranked according to the number of users that have registered with these interests. My highest group is "Watching Movies", which currently has 40,520 signed up as interested in this category. Second is "Make Extra Money" at 38,975. Third is "Reading" with 38543, and so on. My secret #1 for generating a discussion that attracts users is to post a discussion that will show up where there are a large number of users. With 28,234 users currently signed up in the "mylot.com" interest category, this makes for a very good place to post discussions. Secret #2 to attracting users is to post discussions in places where there is a high volume of discussion activity. In the interest bar that I see at the top of a page like this one, I am told when the last activity took place on one of my interests. Here, I see that "questions& answers" received activity 6 minutes ago; "write poetry" 7 minutes ago; "life" 8 minutes ago; "make extra money" 9 minutes ago; "mylot.com" 12 minutes ago; and so on. Two categories that I frequently see in this grouping are "make extra money" and "mylot.com" -- myLotters are actively interested in discussions for these two interests, so one way to attract users to your discussion is to post in these two interest categories, or in whichever interest category you may see frequent activity. Secret #3 is to add an image to my discussions. I am not currently able to add images whenever I would like to each discussion comment, but every user has the opportunity - when they *start* a discussion - to add a picture. This picture appears off to the right hand side of the discussion when it shows up in lists of discussion results. What good does a an image do to attract people to a discussion? It makes the discussion stand out. (I tried to add a picture to this discussion. Did it work? I hope so. Sometimes it does not work... I hope that my red picture stands out on the page so that it catches the eye and draws attention to the thread.) Adding a user picture to a discussion is like what people do when they list products for sale on eBay. As eBay buyers are scrolling through a list of search results, the listings that catch their attention are the ones that have a catchy picture. Some people use this opportunity to put up their best picture of the product for sale; other people upload eye-catching pictures - hoping that eBay users will click through to see what they have for sale in the listing. I use pictures on many of my myLot discussions hoping that they will attract users. To do this, I can use my digital camera; or I use a digital editing program and create a little graphic. (As you can see, I do not have much talent for graphic drawing, yet these graphics and pictures can be eye-catching.) Next, when I "start a new discussion", the left-hand side of the screen shows my options: "discussion interest", "discussion subject", "discussion details", and then a few inches down in little blue letters on the screen it says "add an image". (If you cannot find this link the next time that you start a new discussion, press "Ctrl" and "F"; in the search box that appears, type: add an image This should highlight the text for you to add an image to your new discussion. You can follow the steps from there.) Secret #4 is to create a provocative discussion title. Who wants to read a boring discussion? If you start a discussion called "my dirty socks" - who is going to want to read that discussion? It sounds disgusting! Yuck! But if you say, "Surefire Easy Tips For Cleaning My Dirty Socks" ... that might attract a few users. Write a discussion title that you would use as an eye-catching headline for a newspaper or for an advertisement to get users to come and see what you have to say. (Did the words "The Secret" catch your attention in this discussion?) My last secret, Secret #5, is to consistently provide substance in your discussions. If a person stumbles upon something that you write elsewhere and finds that what you have to say is interesting, then chances are that they will come looking for what you have to say in other places, too. They may even add you as a friend, so that they can continue to follow all of the interesting things that you have to say. Provide value in your discussions, and give people a reason to keep coming back to find out what you have to offer them... and this is probably the biggest and best secret for attracting users to your discussions. These are my top five secrets. Do you have any others that you would like to share? I am always willing to learn a secret or two from you, too!