serious guild problems

so i used to be in a big alliance as an officer basically running things. i never had experience recruiting so i didnt i just ab'ed answered questions and helped members. well about a month ago i made my own guild with about 7 to 10 members then i took a break... promoted an officer to be leader, lost all of my members, and now i have no1. now i lost my place in the alliance because the lead guild switched. i dont know how to recruit or go about it i recruit here and there but i get alot of robbers who just leave.
if i try to run with high standards it seems like the people that can meet them are already in one... plz help

Join an existing reputable guild. That way you get people with high standards without having to bother with recruitment.

In my experience, it's really difficult to start a guild with just a single person. When I started mine, I started it together with some of my family members, since we all wanted to be in a guild together to be able to hang out together. Having this core really helped us a lot because it set the atmosphere of the guild, and new members coming in felt like they were part of our family too.

Even if you can't gather a core, the other most important thing you should do is to define your goals for the guild. Saying, "Oh, I just want to lead a guild. Friendly, helpful, PvE/PvP" is a generic recruiting ad, not goal, and is not going to draw people in. Take some time to think about specific values you want your guild to have, what aspects of the game you want to focus on, and what you'd like to achieve with your guild. Specifically, ask yourself, "What makes my guild different from other guilds?" The more you narrow your focus, the more likely you are to find members who will stay for the long-term to help you reach these goals. There are constantly people looking for guilds who have come from other guilds that have died, or who have just gotten the game. Find those people who share your goals and ideals. Your job as guild leader is to be able to inspire others to work with you towards these goals.

whats reputaable.... i figured if i said i need officers they would jump right in but... nope sure enough

thats how mine got succesful but my friends dont play nemore

This is so true, almost every single guild ad reads something like "Mature PvE/PvP guild looking for members, have hall and cape". Something to differentiate you from the bazillion other guilds out there is more likely to attract attention.

If you want to be in your own guild and your heart is set on that then look for the guild tag next to someones name and if they don't have one whisper them. Most likely they wont answer or they say no. Occasionally you get someone who says yes. Many people just leave the guild the very minute they are in it and you can't do anything to stop that than just keep them interested or have your guild become very active. My advice to you is not to promote any member who says that they would like to help recruit. Make sure they are loyal first. Because I had a guild with 40 members then promoted a member to an officer and that night when I was logged off deleted all the members. Recruiting by giving your info about the guild in local chat is a waste, I do it a little and occasionally get some members but so many people do that and people ignore that and don't bother with it.

WORST way to promote a guild imo.

youll only get a vast majority of freeloaders and people who want to be officers for no other reason than to BE officer...and then seeing as theres no people to "order" they will leave.

i suggest you just be truthful to people when inviting, and dont just invite anyone. If they stick about then they will in all likeness make good officers in your budding guild, if not...then its no loss.

Quality over Quantity makes for a better game experience (imo).

Thats how the guild i'm in runs and although its only smallish (20/25) its stable.

Good luck ! ^^

I don't know, to me it just sounds rude. I had people do it when I was guildless and I found it -really- annoying.

I learned a long time ago that starting your own guild from scratch with no one is really hard, and sometimes when you have someone it's still hard - even friends don't necessarily have the same views :P

So my advice is to either join a guild that suits your need (try to find one via this forum) and see how things work. It's a good way to gain experience. Another would be to start with a friend, or with someone who has the same goals/views as yours. A suggestion to find members would be to PUG stuff, depending of your goals, and see the people most suited for it; or recruit in the recruitment thread.

A stable guild that has years of experience, rules and structure already set up - and people know them to be of quality. My take at this point in GW is not to bother with starting up a new guild, 'cos they might probably only last a max of 2years before GW 2 is out and I suspect there'll be a big change of players or methods of guild/alliance recruitment/structure. Join something that already works, and has been working for a long time. For all you know, that guild might eventually gather spin offs, and by then you'll have enough buddies to start a new guild.

Considering the amount of time between GW2, the amount of content between now and then or at least what is probable to most people and the current trend of people leaving the game, it is a safe bet that now is not an entirely favorable time for a new guild. Guilds that have been active since the game's conception are drying up. Why? People are getting bored with Guild Wars.

Title grinds, which since they were introduced with Nightfall only could hold people's interest for so long. You can only rage through 3 campaigns (2 short ones) and an expansion in so much time. Factions and Nightfall both take less than a week for a casual player to hit their level cap and there is no sense of skill trainers; everything is handed to you at the beginning of the game, and then at regular predictable intervals. Or whenever you hit a major town.

If you want to make a guild, you have to have a few things:
A solid core. These players will not leave your guild, they will go inactive and quit first.
There has to be a reason for them to log on fairly regularly. This is the biggest hurdle today, what is there to do? Find something and cater to those people.
An active alliance with similiar strategies and points of view. That way if something happens and your members start leaving, your remaining members have people to play/interact with. Worse case, have somewhere to go if you tank.
Competant leaders. First 5 to join are officers is very, very bad for business. Anyone you promote to be an officer should be trusted to sit in the leader spot if necessary without RED ENGINE GORED ENGINE GORED ENGINE GORED ENGINE GOing things up. If they can't, they shouldn't be an officer. That or you should be very clear about their roles, such as sender of invites or make everyone an officer. No guild leads their guild the same as another.

A simple bit of advice, as Alex has said, NEVER recruit new members by offering them an officers post! That's just a recipee for disaster, as you are handing status and control to somebody completely unknown to you. You need to get to know your members properly before you make officers of them. They should have proven themselves and earned it. In fact I agree with pretty much everything that Alex has said, including the solid core of friends, and I don't mean casual in game aquaintances either, I mean folks who you have spoken to outside of Guild Wars as well.

Set standards, and stick to them! It's a real mistake sacrificing your standards just to boost membership (been there, regretted that, went back to our standards!). Slow recruitment can actually be a good thing, I would rather have a few good members every couple of months, than dozens of rubbish ones that either leave or mess up the group social dynamic with their very presence. This said however, it can sometimes be useful to have an ally guild that is quite different to your own (only 1 mind), this gives you somewhere to direct folks to who really don't fit into your own guild, without been an overly bad guy (I've been the bad guy who has to kick somebody purely because they didn't fit, it's no fun).

Get a guild website, it gives you somewhere out of game to discuss things, and also allows your members to contact you when you are not in game. It also makes planning events, or seeking help, much simpler.

Finally, the guild that plays together usually stays together! Just chatting isn't enough, you need to be doing things together as well, whether it's doing missions, quests, vanquishing, or organised guild events (roleplay can be a right laugh when done with a light heart, and not too much seriousness! It's amazing what that pool/beach party can do for your guilds group dynamics!). A guild is like any other social group, the less folks interact, the less they want to.

Wol