Previously, i read in many articles that adsense on forums it not good and that it doesnt really convert. However on another post here some member disclosed that he really earns from his forum based website. Am confused, is a forum for adsense a good idea? IS it the niche that determines? who owns a forum based website here and how is adsense performing? Get the best webhosting<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
It is as good as the website.Even much.Because one forum could have 100 000++pages + topics this means more and more ads.More pages wil be indexed by search engines,more ads will be shown to people=>more clicks. I doubt you can create 100 000++web pages
The Ad click rate on Forums is very less. Usually CTR rates are about 0.2% or so. You will be lucky if you have batter CTR rate. However, in a really good forum you the traffic is huge and you can make money by selling advertisements.
Forums normally have very low CTR comparing blogs and sites. If your forums gets lots of visitors and you have placed you ads well, you can surely get a decent revenue out of it. BTW, what is that "Get the best webhosting" Link doing at your post? Remove it or an infraction point is waiting for you.
I have been using Adsense on forums for about 5 years and it has consistently performed. As was mentioned, on a forum the CTR is lower than other sites that focus on Adsense targeting. I averaged 0.38% last year. This will very much depend on the forum, though. My forum has very little "chit chat" and is mostly on topic discussion in the mobile and wireless industry. Adsense has good paying ads in that sector and they do get clicks. If you have a less moderated forum in a more general genre, then you may not do well. This site also gets about 500K uniques a month and I think the non-member uniques will drive more clicks than your members. So using something like vBSEO could help with that.
I own a very biggggggg forum, so here is my experience. Adsense performs decently on forums based on how many 'new' visitors you can get to your forum everyday. When your forum is new, you get decent CTR (I used to get 3 - 4 % CTR) as your members tend to click on ads. But since forums mostly run based on repeat visitors (members), they will soon get accustomed to your forum and click rates drop drastically (Regular members usually don't click any ads). So after some time (lets say after 6 months), your forum settles for low CTR. If you work hard and get new visitors everyday, you can maintain CTR of around 2 % (Usually varies between 1 % - 2 %). However forums perform consistently. There won't be huge shifts in revenues once your forum CTR settles down. Forums are good to get your repeated visitors (if you can maintain the forum good). However I don't suggest having a forum alone as your website. Just have a blog / CMS as front pages and then provide forum as additional functionality. For example, your website www.abcde.com should have the content (You can also display latest forum threads on your home page). And then a link on homepage should take the visitors to www.abcde.com/forum/ where forum is installed.
Build something like a portal on your subject additionally to forums. Shoemoney's site nextpimp.com is such a portal with some topic sections + forums. He's made a HUGE money (>100K/mo) from this forums site in the 2005. (See The Money of Shoemoney)
Great tips buddy - once your have the forum activity, then its time to build upon its success, and build a portal site.
So, thanks people for all the good info. Since we are kinda convinced forums are the way to go, Whats your choice of a good niche for a forum then?