If you want to improve traffic to the forums there' s a few things you could try:
1.Increase size (and maybe even move) of the forum button. Personally, I like it where it is because I' m used to it. However, the fact remains that many people probably wouldn' t notice it unless they were looking for it. It' s just tiny and obscure at the end the strip.
2. Put a larger link, " discuss in forums" under each video/article.
3. Become affiliates to other gaming sites. They display a link to Kikizo while you display a link to their site. This isn' t specific to the forums but it can' t hurt.
4. You could have quotes of forum members taken directly from the forum chosen by Kikizo staff. Then placing these quotes in (subject matter relevant) high traffic areas. These quotes being links to the actual post where the quote is taken from.
General improvements to the site and forum (in no particular order) :
1. Let us upload our own avatars...please.
2. Get rid of the clutter on the main page. I don' t see the point in repeating links when you can simply make a link larger instead. The entire left column except the E3 stuff seems like fluff. I would get rid of all the repeat links on the main page. Getting rid of the redundant text would do a lot for ambiance.
3. Wider and shorter. No one wants to scoll too much on the main page.
4. I think the forum needs a better search engine. We basically can' t find anything old in the forum except by reading everything page by page.
5. Consider placing more older content from the main pages in archive. In the main Page for example there' s currently a
news headline about a Gears of War Bundle for Christmas (that doesn' t need to be on the front page anymore). There are too many headlines and links, it' s sensory overload.
In short, the site looks too much like a news paper rather than an entertainment site.
6.EDIT: FIX THE BUGS! The one that I' m sure pisses us off the most in the forums is the one that loses our post and gives us some shit about " invalid subject title" . It seems to happen when we take a while to type and post a comment. It seems to only happen when we least expect it. Even if we have a stroke of pure genius and type a post inspired of absolute clarity that only occures once in a person' s lifetime the bug won' t give a shit and will send your post into the abyss of nothingness. Thank the 1' s an 0' s for " copy paste" , which I will use again before pressing OK. .
Not that I' m complaining...I love the site. Keep on Keeping on.