Forum Url: http://gamersunite.smfforfree4.com
Purpose: I've been reading other peoples guides and found that there is not really a guide that focuses on getting everything ready, this is not for everyone, if you don't like it. Don't use it. It's up to you what order you do these in, this is just the order i did it in

Before you advertise

Step 1: Get 1 or 2 people that you trust to be admins, without admins your forum could easily be spamed the death out of and any chance of having a good forum wrecked. Also make sure they will be active!

Step 2: Make a section or stickied post stating all your rules, my rules are
1) no racist behavior
2) no sexist behavior
3) no abusing admins or website
4) no abusing people
5) no advertising

Step 3: Set up all your boards, in my opinion a General board is a must. Unless your website is 100% focused on one thing

Step 4: go through all the tutorials (links are toward bottom of post) and i suggest setting up the warning system, and any others you like

Now you should get some advertisment

here are some links to advertise
http://www.smfsupport.com/support/advertise_your_boardblog-b11.0/
http://www.simplemachines.org/community/index.php?board=6.0
http://www.google.com/addurl/?continue=/addurl
http://search.yahoo.com/info/submit.html
http://search.msn.com/docs/submit.aspx

As you get members offer them something, like if they get 10 members to regiseter they will get something, that is up to you. Don't go big and offer admin becuase they could easily just be doing it so they can get a position of power then abuse it.

Also every now and then put a poll up asking something like, should we get an extra feature e.g chat box. I personally don't like them I think they take up way to much space. But really if you want to attract people it's not up to you let your members decide.

Here are a bunch of guides teaching you how to add features


Setting up a Portal
http://www.smfsupport.com/support/guides_and_tutorials/guide_complete_guide_to_setting_up_the_portal-t7729.0.html

Redirecting URL's
http://www.smfsupport.com/support/guides_and_tutorials/get_a_free_redirecting_url-t2264.0.html
(although they shorten the URL, they often have downsides such as adds and decrease in enjoyment)

Guide to forum ediquitte
http://www.smfsupport.com/support/guides_and_tutorials/guide_to_forum_ediqette_and_design-

BB codes and basic HTML
http://www.smfsupport.com/support/guides_and_tutorials/guide_bbcode_and_basic_html-t936.0.html

Adding a background image
http://www.smfsupport.com/support/guides_and_tutorials/guide_how_to_put_a_background_image_on_

Adding a chat box
http://www.smfsupport.com/support/guides_and_tutorials/guide_chat_box-t6881.0.html

Warning systemhttp://www.smfsupport.com/support/guides_and_tutorials/guide_creating_a_warnings_system_with_pictures

You could just go and add every single one above/you can find, but i suggest not cluttering your forums. It makes them look less attractive and it's harder to find things.

Also you should hold a vote on whether they want a shorter, redirecting domain eg www.example.tk/net.tc etc. i have found many problems with my .tk domain, it works fine on my phone, but on my computer it stops me logging in properly and using the admin section.

Hope you find this usefull, and hope all goes well with your website!

If you think i should add some more things, please tell me

RaZoR/Tawr

Forum Url: http://gamersunite.smfforfree4.com
I must admit you have a very good point there but i think you misunderstood me i said, if you get 10 members to register you get mod or something along those lines, not the first 10 members to register get mod. Also when i said about getting 1-2 admins, remember this is a section on how to Start your website, i meant that you should get 1-2 admins to start

Judging from my own experience both on my forum and here in support, there should be only one Administrator to start.  Then add a Global Moderator.  If you are just starting you shouldn't need more than that. 

In my experience, it's been ideal to have one Administrator per forum and one Global Mod for 50 - 100 members.  My forum here is in it's infancy but I am a Global Mod on a very large, (1500 members), forum and the formula I mentioned has worked very well.