[Jodamiss]

I need to know how to get more members. Like some advertising. I think I am going to put a flyer at the library for my website and see if that helps. Any other ideas?
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[4girls2many]

Jodi, are you looking for more members for your playgroup or message board? Starting with the library is a good idea. You might also want to try dropping flyers off at pre-school's, churches, fitness clubs. Anywhere Mom's hang out.
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[Leah]

Hi Jodi -

When the weather gets a little nicer you can go out to parks too and pass out your flyers or if you have play areas such as Mc Donalds that are indoors. Especially if you see a mother alone with their child.

Our libarary has story time so we would pass out the flyers to moms there.

I know you have a message board for your group which is great for members, but some moms might get overwhelmed in the beginning. I think you might be getting some moms looking at your site, but not know where to start. Even with these boards here we get many visitors and even people who sign up who end up not posting.

Is there anyway you can make the board private until you approve them, just for safety reasons? I don't want to discourage you in anyway because it looks like you ladies put a lot of thought into it. We always used Yahoo groups with a filter on it so only approved members could read the messages...that way you won't have any weirdos showing up at a park that you post.

What we would do is meet all the new members on a specified day once a month and then do approvals once we met them in person - this was for online requests. Of course they would automatically be approved if they met at the library or wherever.

We get 100's of people a week viewing the Florida section and usually people mention they get at least one new member a week from posting on Childavenue.com. You can also try MatchingMoms.org they have a place where you can post too and we have partnered with them to share traffic and individual listings.

Anyway, I have also written an article on starting a playgroup if you are interested
http://www.childavenue.com/pages/playgroups_pages/articles/start_a_playgroup.html

Leah

[Beth]

I had business cards made up with our group name, site and email addy on them and the moderators of my group hand them out to potential members. We have gotten most of our members from the playarea at our mall. We mall walk twice a week and hand them out to mothers who are alone with their children.

As for security on the forums, I use invision too and have it set up so guest can only see certian boards. No one is allowed full access until they are met in person. We only meet new people at a public place and never at someones house.
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[heather_Roach]

Hi! I don't have the money to print up flyers or business cards so I put an ad on Craigslist (in the Groups section under Community), babyzone.com, and playgroups.com. You can just do a Yahoo Search (or whatever search engine you use) for playgroups and many of the sites have a place where you can list your group. Then, when people go to the site and search your area for a group yours will be listed!

That's just what I did anyways!

-heather
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*~* http://groups.yahoo.com/group/BeavertonBabies/ *~*

[ModestoMommy]

Recently our group was in a slump. No one was coming to the playdates. I think it was because of the nasty weather. I decided to create a group on MySpace to invite new moms to join our group. It was such a good idea. Our group grew from 30 registered members to 58 registered members in just 2 weeks. We've had at least 10 moms at our last three playdates. So if your group is in a slump try starting a group on www.MySpace.com.

[tendereyes]

[Baybeeluv]

Another great and free option is to post an ad under groups on craigslist. * www.craigslist.com *

Best of luck to you and may your group be busting at the seems soon!!
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[Katy_Mom]

[Elle85]

I print my own flyers at home. I use Microsoft publisher to create a cute flyer. So thats cheap. I also am on other sites and add the group on my signature so its out there when I comment on things. I put group pages on mom sites or popular sites like myspace, facebook, cafemom, lilaguide, etc. That kind of advertising is free.
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Visit Mommies in Clear Lake

[SuperSand]

I think it's a good idea to start a meetup via meetup.com. That's how I found my current playgroup.
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