HELP: Starting a new forum

Wasn't sure which forum to post this thread, anyways...

I run a web design & development company and we are starting up a new forum for our site:

http://ewebdevelopment.net/forum/

I was wondering if anyone has any tips on how to bring in traffic to the forum and to get people to sign up and actually post on our boards. Should i run some sort of promotion? etc. If someone could help out i'd appreciate it! Thanks.

Hello http://ewebdevelopment.net.
First of all, get some friends together and start some threads. If you promote the site and new visitors see zero or two posts across the board, they will be unlikely to participate.

I just registered and will log in from time to time. Good luck!

Pretty good advice.
It will become perpetual after a bit.
I will register and try and contribute.
I may keep it in my box of favours and ask you to sign up for my forum when i get it sorted.

One of the most overlooked ideas in forum development is contributing yourself. Some people may get a little tiffy, but register 5 or so names, and start new threads, and reply to them with those different names.

If I go to a forum and I see 1 name with 30 posts, and 32 posts total, I'm leaving. If I see 30 posts by 10 different names, then I may stay...once the ball gets rolling, you should just use the one name you want.

Also, try to have soemthing that keeps people coming back...advice, free services, etc.

UPDATE:

Well i ran 2 advertising promotion offers to new members and it seems to be working. In the past 5 days we have gained 19 members and still climbing