Ever since the web 2.0 hit, everyone has taken notice to how they can make money by building an online community much like MySpace.  True, there is a lot of money to be made in doing this, but the trick is to actually get users.  As they say, there is power in numbers.  Your advertisers will only be able to justify spending their hard earned dollars in advertising with a website that has good, quality traffic.  Far too often though, a start-up online community’s popularity can rival that of a deserted island.  What to do?  Here are a few suggestions for you:

Make Sure it is Simple to Join
There are many online communities on the Internet today.  Surprisingly though, a ton of them make the sign up process incredibly tedious and difficult.  Don’t be surprised if a large percentage of your target audience can’t wield a keyboard and mouse as well as your third grade niece can.  The sign up process needs to be very - and I repeat - very simple.

Don’t Charge your Members (yet)
Imagine for a second if you will, that you have just gone live with a niche community website.  As visions of 3 million paying members dance in your head, might I ask that you consider something:  Who is going to pay to be a member of a website that has no members?  There are likely dozens of online communities for the same niche you are targeting that are free.  You first need to focus on getting your bulk of members up first.  Worry about charging future members later - when it is actually worth it to them to pay to be a part of a community.  Even then, it may prove to be best to keep your services free.

Spend Time Building your Member List
There are two ways to build your member list - with time, or with money.  If this is a start up venture with very little capital, I recommend going the time route.  How?  Become a staple in online communities such as yours and invite them over to become a free member of your website.  I am NOT advocating spamming other online communities, so you will need to be very careful in how you do this to make sure you do not irritate anyone and operate inside the boundaries of said online community.  You can also post ads on free websites such as Craig’s List, inviting people to become a free member to your online community. 

Solicit free membership to your friends, family and acquaintances
Ask friends or family members to become a member and post messages on your website.  The more active users you have, the more likely you are to succeed. 

Patience and Dedication
With anything in life worth pursuing, it will take patience and dedication.  How do you get 10,000 members to your site?  By being patient and sticking to having potentially only a few dozen new members per month to begin with.  It is a snow-ball effect:  The more members you get, the more members you will get.  To put another way:  The more members you have, the more interesting your online community will be to others, and will entice them to sign up as well. 

Once you start, keep going!  It may seem like you have a small base to begin with, but as time goes bye, if you put in the dedication needed, your community will grow large and you will attract advertisers before you know it.

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