blog. Its easier to maintain a good blog because its all about the work you do. A forum depends on the work of others.
Blog is definitely easier to maintain as compared to forums. When it comes to monetizing, I am convinced that well-established forums can generate considerable revenue. However, setting up a forum itself can be a daunting prospect, let alone establishing it (!) Most established forums have been around for years
Your question should be 'which is easier to maintain'. I'd say a blog as long as you can provide good content. A forum needs a vast initial investment to make it look lively. The moment a forum stays stagnant, everything is lost. A blog on the other hand is much more flexible.
To answer your question, I’d like to offer this discussion of blogs and forums. First, blogs and forums share a lot of common features. They both allow you to post content. They both allow users to comment on posts and to comment on other comments. In this way, both blogs and forums create a arena for conversation between you and your customers. Some difference… Forums generally require registration before users can post comments. In addition, focums often allow users to send private messages to one another. Ultimately, forums encourage “community.†When users register for a forum, they are not only able to find information on topics that interest them, but they can easily connect to other people who share the same interests. In this way, forums are just as much about connecting people as they are about providing useful information. Blogs also encourage dialogue between users, but in a different way. First, blogs do not necessarily require registration (though you can set yours up to require users to register before posting). In addition, blogs do not allow privte interactions in the same way that forums do. The point of a blog is more about the posting of articles and other topical content. Whether the blog is informational or merely a place to share opinions on selected topics, users interact with this content (or at least with a focus on content). They do not necessarily interact with each other. One important feature that blogs offer is RSS. Bloggers can setup their blog to offer RSS feeds. Users can then subscribe to blogs that they enjoy reading and receive new posts to an RSS reader or mobile device. In effect, users don’t have to go to your website to enjoy new blog posts - they just open up their RSS reader, cell phone or PDA and anytime you post something new, they can read it right away! From a search engine perspective, blogs do tend to get more notice. In my experience, forums can be harder to optimize. Posts are often short and the format tends to be very dynamic, making it difficult for search engines to grab hold of the content. With a blog, posts become permanent pieces of website content. You can use permalinks and other features to help search engines find your posts. And, since posts are often focused on a particular topic, it is easier to use relevant keywords to increase your search engine rankings. At the end of the day, both blogs and forums are useful in their own ways. It is important to ask yourself what you are trying to accomplish for your website. And, don’t forget, these tools are not mutually exclusive - you can have both! Source: amyriversdotcom
Now assuming I can have a forum...with generated post...members...threads etc. For it to appear if it had been around for awhile...would that make any difference?
Forum can get the requisite amount of traffic if it were looking attractive to the target audience group. With large amount of incoming traffic, it is easy to take steps to monetize the same.
Blog because the users come to read what you have written. You just market some products using your blog posts
blog is easier to manage but if u talk of scale - forum can reach much massive proportions in comparison and may make more money if popularised
By saying 'Generated', do you mean making use of a bot here? If yes, i'd say, no ot doesn't work. Bots can't answer questions and would make the forum look spammy.
It depends.But I think a forum is harder to manage,compared with blog.But if you have enough confindence,why not have a try?You'll benefit more from a well managed forum.
You should be looking to use both blogs and forums in your marketing and keeping customers up to date on your site happenings. You can even cross post your daily blogs to your forum to get feedback from visitors. I would say search engines would favor forums over blogs as you will get more incoming links with a good popular forum.
Search engines love forums, but only if they're established and have been around for a while. Blogs are much easier to start with in my opinion because they can start getting some decent SE traffic within a week if you set it up right.
Most definitely blogs get good search engine response, and easier to maintain. I had a couple of different forums, and between security and keeping out the unwanted spam, it was a nightmare, plus you need to dedicate a lot of time to getting it going.
it's a pro/ con situation. A forum can earn you more IF it's popular and run correctly. A blog is more of a sure thing and it's easier to run. It just depends.
well it's like I know a guy who sells fully populated forums...I'm not sure how he does it. I'm guessing it's done something like autoblogging. But anyway, it features questions...and real truthful answers and such. But anyway, what I seem to be picking up is that...for immediate money blogs is the way to go. But I have the time to invest in a forum...then that's somewhat of a bigger money maker. ?