2 questions on forums pleases ... 1) what is the best and most recommended software to use for a forum? 2) I have a new web site im about to launch and i want to add a forum area to it ... any suggestions/tips on how to promote it and market it?
I would use a Vbulletin if it is in the Budget!! SEO is already set up in VB but you will have to do a little work to promote and link it up!! If you need help, please PM me!!
you can go with mybb incase you do not want to spend for vbulletin. also if its initial stage then its not recommended, probably u can add up a blog. later a forum once u have good traffic to ur site,
are you saying not to start a forum in the early stages of a web site? im building a 'news area' that will be like a blog.
could be information , once blog is filled up u can have forum. making up a forum before the blog is more hard work.
I usually go with phpBB, then if my forum becomes more bigger, I upgrade to vBulletin, cause their's a thing so you can transfer your data over.
I'm in the vBulletin Fanclub! Populating your forum will be the hard part. Even with the proper promotion, without a core member base, it's hard to find people willing to post. As an admin, be active on the boards, and while you need to enforce your rules, remain a part of the community. No one likes a dictator! Make sure the forum is free...no one wants to pay when there are likely free alternatives. Though feel free to have subscription levels to access higher parts of the board. While paying members likely will not generate a lot of cash, they can certainly help to pay it's hosting... Get good hosting (I suggest A Small Orange, feel free to PM me for a referral link ). A stable host will go a long way in keeping members logged in. Feel free to have ads, just be un-obtrusive. No one likes in your face ads, pop-ups, or the like. There are some great mods on vbulletin.org for such practices. Don't have too broad of a forum theme, though don't get too specific either. Your members will want to have enough variety to be able to post, but too many will be overwhelming. Promote your mods internally based on the conduct of the member, not mearly for their post count. You'll find they are much more effective that way. Don't bother paying them...but do offer them a few forum perks (a mod forum, an email address, larger inbox, bigger avatar, etc). Cross your fingers!
i am using this free to make forum SMF.And I have no problems with it.Though I am planning to buy a vbulletin license when I have the enough funds.
If you want free PHPBB3 is nice ... SMF also ... But if you are willing to pay 80$ per year or 160%$ fopr life time just go for vbulletin. Vbulletin is the best without any doubt. and use vrewrite for best free seo hack from vbulletin.org with yahoo/google sitemap generator Thankyou.
I use vbulletin and love it. It is very stable and their support is great. If you can afford the price it is well worth it
In the early stages, if there is no one in your forum it can really hurt everything else on your site. Until you have traffic you might also consider a blog in a subdomain.
It doesn't matter which forum you use, it's what you make out of it. But you may want to go with the forum that is the best at offering what you want. When you make the forum, don't make a bunch of categories. It makes your forum look emptier. Make a few, let them grow, then make more. You will probably have to do alot of the posting at first yourself unless you want to hire forum posters or have friends to help.