Traffic will generally start out slow to a new discussion board but there are things you can do to speed it's growth.
First, make sure that it LOOKS busy. If someone drops by and the last post was made 2 weeks ago, they will get the impression that noone ever visits and they won't see much point in posting or visiting.
Post to your own forum. Stimulate discussion with helpful information that you found or links to something unique.
Ask you list members to drop by to help kickstart your forum. If you've built a sense of community on your list, they'll want to help you out.
Ask your friends to help out. Just ask a handful of online friends to drop by periodically and post or comment on a post. Be honest with them and tell them that you need help to get it going. They will understand and when the forum starts growing it's own they will want to come back more often just because it is a popular place.
Find sites that offer lists of forums. Email the webmaster and ask that your forum be added to the list.
Post to other forums and blogs and leave a link to your forum. This will help the searchengines find and index your forum. This should eventually bring in some traffic though perhaps not a lot.
A good place to start is my blog at
http://WillieCrawford.com/blog/ Google visits this blog everyday, so if you leave a post with a link back to your site, the spiders will go take a look. Don't spam the blog, but feel free to leave a comment on one of the threads.
That should get you started.
Willie Crawford
Willie Crawford
http://ProfitAutomation.com
Easily Triple Your Website Conversions Today!