Hey, I have a desire to create a forum but I have a couple of questions: 1. How much competition is too much, e.g. 10 other forums = too much? 2. If you know of any - what are the best free forum hosting sites where you can use SMF, or do you know of any better "free sites" e.g. (proboards) 3. Other than selling ad-space, using adsense, and using affiliate programs - is there any other significant ways to make money from a forum? 4. How specific should the niche be in order to get best results? I was thinking of creating a motorsport-drifting forum but I think it is way to over fished - what is your opinion? Thanks in advanced BenderFry
1. It really depends how long you plan on being in the game for. In my experience, forums don't just explode with traffic unless you're offering something uniquely different to all other forums within your given niche. 2. Don't use "free forum hosting". They're tacky. If you *must* go free, just find a free webhost and install the BB yourself. 3. It really depends on your forum. There's little point in you starting out a forum with a subscription option that costs 20$ a month, if you've got no bonus content to offer them straight up. But, other ideas do include monthly subscription, contests & donations. 4. Whatever niche you do choose, keep your boards small & generalized to start off with. Compact them into only a few categories so that the activity is centralized. People will not register at a forum that seems to have no traffic.
Forums require alot of time and effort.. most of all it needs great advertising. You should have patience and a great plan before starting
1. This depends on the subject of your forum 2. I suggest you use a cheap webhosting like godaddy. And the best free forum script is phpbb i think 3. You can add some sections where only upgraded members have access, but I think the best way to make money from forums is selling advertising and banner spots 4. I don't know this one
Can anyone suggest a Webhost for PHPBB which includes your own domain name -> I would like to keep it under 10$ a month but that may just be dreaming .
Less than 1 out of every 500 visitors will remain active on your forum for longer than 30 days. Educated guess. Truth: When visitors go to your forum they often look at how many posts are there. If you only have a couple hundred posts in each category they will be quick to turn away. You're first 3 to 6 months are going to be hell and you won't see more than $20 during those 3 to 6 months unless your getting huge amounts of traffic. I would save your money for something more profitable.
Does anyone know what would be more profitable? (Other than owning a website which gives a sales letter to a product) Thanks
Get dedicated to a website mate and forget the money side. I always used to think of making money only when I started and that was my downfall. Think of starting a nice fresh site to begin with, then once you have a top site with loads of content and some visitors then start to make money from it, by selling ad space and using things like Google Adsense. You need a lot of patience to start off with, I learnt that the hard way. Feel free mate to share your MSN with me, I will add you and basically teach you everything that you need to know!
Make sure that your forum's topic is not simple and has a value for people. As long as your forum offers something that is not a common knowledge, people would come looking for info. good example tax forum - you want it or not when tax season comes you will be searching the web for info another quant finance forum - the topic is so complex that thousands of people (finance professionals, students, individual traders) are searching for help, coz they can not figure it out themselves bad examples: sport forums, game forums (unless very specific and about a very popular game), generic forums (not specific, will not attract people.. they would rather go somewhere specialized)