Don’t tell anyone this, but I’m actually in multiple guilds. I’m not cheating on my guild per se. But these guilds are involved with different games that aren’t a main focus.
Unsurprisingly, can you guess the most popular page of a guild’s website?
It would be the forums! Home and news pages don’t even come close. I suppose people just head straight to the forums with a direct link and bypassing the front pages entirely.
If your guild is young and you’re looking for ways to help ignite a little bit of life into them, I’ve seen these threads made which help draw people out of the woods.
- Picture thread: Can never go wrong with the guild picture thread. People are naturally curious about what the real person behind the character is like. There’s always that one person who elicits the “There is no way that person sounds like that”.
- Music thread: This is a great way to share and introduce your fellow guildies to what you like to jam to during game play. Oddly enough, the thread in my guild seems to just die whenever I mention Lady Gaga or Beyonce.
- Movies thread: People love discussing their favourite movies along with upcoming flicks that they want to see. Movie trailers are usually posted to offer an idea of what can be expected.
- UI thread: My personal favourite. This type of thread has the added bonus of discovering new addons or layout styles that you might never have thought of. I’ve even helped players in the past boost their abilities quicker by suggesting small changes to their interface.
- Quotes thread: Someone say something stupidly quotable? My guild has had their own share of soundbyte moments. No doubt yours will have some. Keep a running thread going whenever someone says something exceptionally hilarious to help relive those memories.
A word to the wise. I’d strongly recommend staying away from political or religious topics. Those can be powder kegs.
When I was GM I had set up my guild website the same way. I had a Off Topic zone and we employed those very same threads. Needless to say, I was supprised how many people were shocked I really was a girl. I mean I sounded like one, but seeing was believing I guess. We also had a share a link thread. It went to all over the place from exersicing infront of your computer to how to change professions. I enjoyed the communication and felt closer to my guild after those doors were opened.
The most popular thread ever on our guild site was “guess the movie quote”. That went on for years, literally.
We also have something called a “low content thread” where people are free to post funny quotes or weird thoughts or a picture or a link or whatever. I think people like not feeling obligated to post legit content!